BlazBlue: Continuum Shift

Continuum Shift retains the traditional 2D fighter gameplay of two characters participating in a duel on a two dimensional plane. A match can consist of one to five rounds known as "rebels". To win a round, one player must either deplete the other one's life gauge to 0 by inflicting enough damage through various attacks or by having more remaining health after the round's timer depletes.

During each rebel, players fill a Heat Gauge which can be used for advanced techniques such as Distortion Drives, Rapid Cancels, Counter Assaults, and certain characters' attacks (Jin/Hakumen). The Heat Gauge can be filled via dealing damage, taking damage, and perfectly blocking attacks. However, some mechanics from the previous installment have been changed or completely replaced in the transition.

The game is set after Calamity Trigger. A few days have passed since the reported raid by Ragna the Bloodedge, the 13th Hierarchical City "Kagutsuchi" forgets to celebrate New Years, as his alleged involvement in the "Mysterious Bombing" and "Huge Pentacle Sightings" becomes the talk of the town. With the NOL offering no official explanation, the citizens voice their own theories, exaggerating and spreading rumors like wildfire. Completely indifferent to the state of the city, Ragna bides his time—waiting for the chance to achieve his true objective, and the enormous "power" that has ensnared him.

Following the end of the time loop, Rachel meets with the machine Takamagahara, who reveals they have released the murderous ghost Terumi as a pawn to acquire Azure. Terumi possesses the living robot vessel Hazama. Hazama massacres a large amount of NOL employees to create the Kusinagi, a sword that can kill a god. He orders Tsubaki to kill Noel and Jin, but she fails and loses her sight and succumbs to Hazama’s mind control spell.

Gaming Bus awarded the game a B+, citing as pros great tutorials, Abyss Mode, storyline, gameplay, difficulty adjustment, Stylish Mode makes game accessible to new players, online gameplay, a balanced versus mode, and the soundtrack. However, it did note that Unlimited Mars is unaccessible to new players, the game requires much faster reaction times than Marvel or Street Fighter, the learning curve can be a bit steep when learning to play against humans, and that the game will not appeal to those turned off by anime character designs.

At the 14th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated BlazBlue: Continuum Shift for "Fighting Game of the Year".