Analysis: BlazBlue & The Learning Curve

Gamasutra: Have you ever tried to get your mother to play a videogame? I attempted this many times in my youth. For her, it was like one of those nightmares where you're driving a car and the breaks don't work. For me, it was a unsuccessful fight to suppress my instincts as a backseat gamer (Shoot the monster! Shoot him! Now jump. JUMP!). I am very thankful for her patience.

Learning how to play a videogame for the first time can be like learning how to walk on the moon. Experienced players know generally how their actions will be interpreted by a new game, since most games are built up out of commonly accepted conventions which makes it easy to try something new. It takes minutes to adapt to a new game if you know what to expect. As a result, it's easy to forget how hard games are to learn in the first place.

This I why I'm glad I picked up BlazBlue. It reminded me, for the first time in a long time, that videogames are hard. Knowing nothing but the basics can get a player through the game's lethargic AI, but the computer can't compare to a human opponent. There are a huge number of concepts and gameplay mechanics that aren't even relevant until you get really competitive.