It has been the year of fighting games. Dragon punches, quarter turns, blocks, double jumps, ultras, aerials, health bars, tag teaming, crossovers, and a whole lot more means it's practically 1997 all over again. Know what else that means? Incremental upgrades to a game with only a little added to make it new.

Well, that's the jaded attitude. Even the rather fantastic Super Street Fighter IV was technically an update, not a true sequel, and that is remaining true to Capcom's method of updating fighting games. ARC System Works is guilty as well, as any fan of the Guilty Gear series can attest, with annual updates and changes printed on a disc and sold for full price. And here we are, late July, with BlazBlue: Continuum Shift now available for the American market. Straddling the line between update and sequel, there is a lot of new content. However, where it really counts -- balance and new fighters -- it can initially feel a little anemic with only three new characters. But is it? Surprisingly, with BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, there is much more than meets, well, the drive.

Hit the jump for my review.