What do you get when you cross high-stakes dodgeball, no-holds-barred baseball, Super Smash Bros., and a wee bit of Jet Set Radio? More than likely a pulse-pounding headache you’ll miss the second it’s gone, and Lethal League Blaze is ready, and doesn’t give a single, solitary care if you are. Because it’s coming. At long last.
Lethal League Blaze is the sequel to indie platform fighter Lethal League, a fighting game with a twist; rather than knock opponents out of the arena directly, there’s a ball. You hit the ball. The ball goes fast. The ball goes supersonic. And then your opponent goes bye bye.
Originally a flash game, Lethal League has been steadily evolving, culminating into what it is now. Launching with only five characters, Blaze brings the total cast to ten. Other changes include throws, a new health meter, items, and stunning, improved visuals that pop out in glorious ways, especially during camera-spinning special knockouts, a marked update from the mostly static sprites of the previous iteration.
Also added is a single-player mode, giving life to the setting, and a rich narrative as you go about tossing, bashing, and slamming anyone who gets in your way.
Much of Blaze is centered in its visuals. The stage itself will change the faster the ball goes with repeated hits (such as one stage becoming drenched in rainfall), and when it hits 1,000,000 MPH, the entirety of it blacks out, leaving only you, your opponent, and the ball. Blunting, a tactic that’s not flashy in the slightest, but more beneficial than it seems, can reduce momentum of an out of control ball. Boring, but it might be just what you need to make sure you don’t get pasted, and can help turn the tide back in your favor.
Lethal League Blaze has been on the console backburner for quite some time, and it’s no secret fans are happy to see it finally get a definite release date.
Coming in not long after Q3 starts, it’ll be exciting to see if the game itself holds up to the hype it’s been building.
Jet Set Radio composer Hideki Naganuma lending his musical skills to the soundtrack is another big draw, and time will tell whether Lethal League Blaze knocks it out of the park, or whiffs hard.
The game is due to drop July 12th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Until that time, stay and play savvy, gamers.
