Bleach. It's a clean and tidy title. Take that as you will, but it's nothing short of the truth - Bleach is one of the Nintendo DS' finest fighting titles to date, and it's a very clean toilet apart from the dirtier fighting games that have come out for the handheld system. Yep, it's confirmed - this Bleach really does make the fighting genre shine!

Bleach: The Blade of Fate is a 2D fighting game presented in Anime style with familiar faces from the Bleach Anime TV series. But then, it's a little deeper than that, because Bleach can accommodate up to four players brawling on one screen. It's nothing like Super Smash Bros. though, so don't get the wrong idea. In Bleach there are two tiers to each stage - maybe there's a road and then a pavement or a sidewalk (for our readers across the pond), and you can fight on either tier (road or pavement) by quickly pressing L, hopping to and from the different platforms to selectively kick the crap out of one of your three opponents. Of course, it's possible to have all four characters fighting on one tier, but that's when things get a little messy and sometimes it's difficult to get a hit in sideways. But never fear; the AI seems clever enough to realise that when you switch tiers, one of your enemies will follow you for a good fight.

If you don't fancy all that action on one small screen then you can play 1v1 or some of the other modes that play by traditional fighting game rules, like the Story mode, which breaks up the action with a couple of anime drawings, speech bubbles and some witty dialogue, or the Vs modes, or multiplayer with a friend offline or online - although it's worth mentioning that if you do go online and have a four player battle as opposed to a 1v1 then you probably will experience a bit of lag, unfortunately.

I always enjoy a good fighting game, but I never can master those really spectacular combos. I sometimes feel a bit excluded from the fighting games that rely heavy on combos and Bleach is indeed one of those games where combos are essential, especially seeing as each character has around eight combo attacks, each looking spectacular in their own right and incorporating their traits. One character is a little fiery, for example, so all his moves are spectacularly portrayed with flames, sparks and embers. But I digress - what was I saying about those complex combo strings? Oh yeah - there aren't any!

Well, maybe that's a slight lie, so allow me to fully explain - casual players who want to see all the beautiful combos and test their devastation without memorising complex sequences of button presses are in luck, because you can use the moves through the touch screen with the touch of an onscreen button! Each move is simply labelled such as 'Special A', so nothing fancy there, but pressing those little touch screen buttons makes the execution of combos easy, fun, fast, tidy, and very appealing to a player like myself. But at risk of upsetting those readers who enjoy fighting games for the combo mastery, it is possible to use the buttons to string together the special attacks - or, you could have both options enabled, so you've always got the touch screen to fall back on. There are some super special attacks that require you to charge up your power from great fighting and good defending, then you can trigger these and they stop the fight, delivering a special Anime sequence that is superbly pleasing to watch - unless of course you're on the receiving end.

Bleach has another trick up its sleeve too. When playing the Arcade mode you can unlock cards to build your deck, which can consist of many cards to use during battle. Some cards will benefit and fortify your attack or defence for a short period of time, while others might hinder your opponent in some way, such as forcing them to crouch or preventing them from jumping, or even reducing their attack power so that you take less of a beating. There are dozens of cards to unlock for building your deck and once your deck is complete, random cards appear on the touch screen throughout the fights for you to activate. You can only use a certain amount per fight, but they can be responsible for turning the tide of a battle, or helping you make a comeback from a really bad beating.

With all of the above taken into consideration, it won't come as a surprise when I tell you that the fighting in Bleach is epic and always tense. Firstly, because of the card system, you're never guaranteed a win and you always have to be on the lookout for when you opponents use cards for their own benefit, as you might have a card to counter it. Special moves look the business and they take off a large part of the health bars, but it's not like a normal fighting game where a couple of special moves will end the fight - no, each fight lasts around five minutes. That's a meaty fight by anyone's standards, and if every minute of that fight is tense then you have the recipe for a game that is bound to last you a long time because of the addictive additives that hide deep in this recipe for a fisticuff delicacy.

As I've already touched upon, the graphics in Bleach are fantastic, with familiar characters, Anime special move sequences and a colourful palate of other moves - there's nothing that your eyes will tire of, even after prolonged play. The sound side of things is equally as good; each character has their own set of catchphrases and war cries for each special move, while there are loads of great sound effects for special moves, explosions and the like, mixed in with some cool Japanese inspired fighting music - it all makes for a great combo, as it were.

This Bleach is powerful stuff. It cuts through the grime of other games in the genre, washing away the competition without a second thought. Its generous selection of modes, options, characters and multiplayer keeps the lasting appeal up, while its unique card and deck system makes for some unique and epic battles that are a joy to experience, with easily executed special moves and the option to fight with another three players to really keep things interesting. If you want a fighting game with a bit of elbow grease then you need look no further than Bleach: The Blade of Fate.

Reviewed by Dexter Pearson for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).