Queen's Blade Spiral Chaos Review - Part 2

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You'll recruit a large cast of characters from Queen's Blade including favorites like Reina, Tomoe, Nanael, Ymir, Airi, Nowa, Cattleya and many more (12 total), not to mention non-playable characters who appear as enemies or part of the story. Risty, Melona, Nyx, Menace, Aldra, Claudette, and Elina all make an appearance.

In addition to the wonderful treatment of all of the above, the gameplay is really enjoyable. As a great many Japanese PSP games do, Queen's Blade Spiral Chaos eases you into it's gameplay system starting from a simple foundation that becomes increasingly deeper and more complex as you progress. In it's simplest form, gameplay takes place as a series of missions, a mission consisting of a single board where combatants and enemies are positioned where you must clear certain conditions for victory. Victory condition normally consist of defeating all enemies, but sometimes Queens' Blade Spiral Chaos mixes it up a little.

The combat is turn based so you'll be moving your characters and issuing all commands during your phase, then responding to enemy actions during the enemy phase. The game allows counterattacks during either phase, so just because it's your phase doesn't mean you won't get hit, or conversely, just because the enemy attacks you, doesn't mean you can't come out on top of the battle. This system can make some games needlessly complex, but I found Queen's Blade to encourage strategic thinking that was challenging but not overly complicated or frustrating. You have the ability to make decisions that directly effect whether you win or lose battles without feeling like there is too much to concentrate on. The balance is just right and makes for some of the most accessible and enjoyable strategic gameplay I've ever experienced on the PSP or otherwise.

There are a number of nuances and gameplay systems that are layered together to create the strategy gameplay of Queen's Blade Spiral Chaos. I can't even cover them all in this review. One is the armor system. Each body part, broken into head, arms, chest, waist, and legs, is individually destroyable. However, you do not target body parts, rather each attack has parts that it naturally hits.

In addition to your hit points, you'll want to pay attention to the condition of your armor, as the destruction of armor on more than one body part will put your character into a "passion" state where they will either receive penalties or bonuses depending. As you can imagine considering the beautiful characters featured in the game there is also a somewhat voyeuristic element to the armor destruction system.

• Queen's Blade Spiral Chaos Review - Part 3
• Queen's Blade Spiral Chaos Review - Part 4

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