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Kamen Rider Blade (2004) which runs on Japan's TV Asahi represents the 14th season of the long-running series which debuted in 1971. As the story goes, thousands of years ago, 52 Undead monsters battled for domination of Earth in all out war. Ultimately, the human Undead bested all others and scattered them into 52 cards locked under a mighty seal. As Kamen Rider Blade begins, the seal has been broken and all imprisoned Undead are now loose and in the hunt for revenge. With strange and dangerous matters afoot, a group known as the Human Evolution History Research Institute (aka BOARD) creates Henshin (Transform) Belts and the Rider corps to lock the Undead under seal once more. Two humans are chosen to become Kamen Riders - Kazuma Kenzaki known as Kamen Rider Blade and Sakuya Tachibana, aka Kamen Rider Garren. A third rider named Chalice also joins the fray under unknown circumstances and ambitions while a fourth Rider named Leangle wields powers based on the Spider Undead monster. If one were to play the PS2 Blade game and somehow ignore the grasshopper inspired costumes, one would not be faulted in thinking the game was Tekken-esque. The moves, the character animations, chain attacks, and the way battles are fought are highly reminiscent of Namco's flagship fighting game. Even the recoil of enemies when they are hit reflect on Tekken's recognizable style. Following the storyline of the Blade television series, Riders battle each other and various Undead monsters such as Bat Undead and Locust Undead in 3-D bouts. Fights are fast-paced and special attacks are ignited through the use of cards which are selected by rotating through a collection above a Rider's head. All of the special attacks are spectacularly executed with smooth motion-captured animation. Additional modes and options in Kamen Rider Blade include mini-games, an exhibition gallery for the monster cards, and a sound effects collection which culls audio bits from the game in an easy access menu. View the back cover and screenshots.
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