Don't hate him because he's ginger...

My sole encounter with the lucrative ‘Bleach’ franchise occurred almost 2 years ago, and involved the entire first season, 2 flatmates, copious amounts of Scotch, and a refreshingly violent bout of vomiting. Whilst ‘Dark Souls’ isn’t quite as invigorating as that, it’s still managed to make me a happy chappy.

To the unwary, Bleach is a Japanese anime series that centres on a young chap called Ichigo. I won’t spoil things too much, but extenuating circumstances result in the necessity for him to hit things with a big sword. As is the way with these Japanese shows, he’s accompanied by a large roster of characters, all of whom look bloody ridiculous. It’s like Dragonball Z but in its favour it doesn’t feature a million episodes of some goon charging up and shouting like someone’s had a vehement disagreement with his balls.

Bleach is perfectly suited for a beat-em-up game as the show features lots of climactic one on one duels. Developed by Treasure (a name that causes mass collective orgasm amongst the ‘hardcore’.) ‘Dark Souls’ is easy to get into, but difficult to master.

Normally, I’m the first to be cynical about videogame spin-offs of popular telly and film franchises, particularly if they’re anime, but all credit to Treasure, they’ve proven me quite wrong and made one of the best 2D beat-em-ups on the DS.

The first thing that hits you is how good it looks. It’s a big ruddy treat for the eyes, with smoothly animated sprites colourfully prancing around the little DS screen. It’s big and gaudy, in the best way possible. It's another sterling example that the DS is a powerful piece of kit, more than capable of running gorgeous looking games.

The characters move smoothly whilst they pummel the snot out of each other and there's nary a hint of slowdown anywhere. It looks especially dazzling when a character unleashes one of their super silly special moves (these can be initiated either via pad and buttons combinations or via the touch screen, once you either give or take enough damage). The screen flashes and shimmers with bright lights as your little man goes in for a 2D kill.

Of course looking amazing isn’t everything, but you can rest easy because Bleach plays beautifully. It’s perfect for both a ten minute bash or a three hour battle orgy. It's simple, but there's much to do. In addition to the standard walloping buttons, you can move your character between two fields, which doubles as a very useful dodge mechanism. You also have a button that sends your character into a dash that lets you avoid any damage (a little like another Treasure favourite 'Astro-Boy: Omega Factor').

There's a large character roster to master as well. As with all beat em ups, the main character is the best all rounder. He's fast and powerful and a good starting point for newcomers. Then you get the more specialised characters. There's a robust fella with a weird arm, who's big, but powerful (his name escapes me, and I have too much self respect to look up Bleach on the internet). You also get smaller characters that whip around the screen like greyhounds, but pack very little punch. There's definitely much to master with this game.

In addition to the usual special moves, you also have 'spirit cards' which are accessible via the touch screen and imbue your fighter with various handy super powers. For example, one card reduces the amount of damage you take, while another boosts your offensive capabilities. The effect these cards have is time-limited so you need to learn to use them wisely.

It isn’t original by any stretch. If you’ve ever played a Street Fighter or King of Fighters, it’ll seem very familiar. Walk right, jump around and punch man until he falls over. But the beauty of Dark Souls lies in its replayability. Like all the best combat-centric games, it features a simple, yet deceptively deep combat system. Sure, you could just romp through the story mode spamming the punch buttons, but where’s the fun in that? The fun in a game like this comes from learning the ludicrous combos, mastering the special moves and opening a can of ginger whoop-ass on your hapless opponent. After a few hours, you’ll be parrying, dodging and decimating like it’s second nature.

The online portion of the game is also fantastic, with lag-free bouts and a refreshingly comprehensive match-making mode which ensures you always fight a person of similar ability. You can even turn off certain gameplay features - such as the ability-changing 'spirit card' system - to ensure you always get a fair and even scrap.

If there’s a niggle, it’s that it’s extremely similar to its predecessor ‘Blade of Fate’ (I wish they’d drop these overly dramatic subtitles). Aside from the odd tweak here and there, it’s the same game. It’s also been available in Japan for a year and a half, which is a pain in the hole for us patient Brits. The story mode is also going to be nigh on incomprehensible for those that don’t follow the show religiously. I'm vaguely familiar with the show's premise, and it even confounded me during some moments. However, these are slight cracks in a marble worktop of beat-em-up excellence. If you like fighting games and have a hankering for some top-notch pugilistic action on the DS, then ‘Bleach: Dark Souls’ is well worth a punt.

It's encouraging to see that despite the depressing flood of casual 'me too' titles the DS is afflicted with some developers can still use the machine to create a suitably hardcore experience. If you're after a DS title that will get your pulse racing then this is well worth a look - although it should be noted that its rather similar to the previous Bleach outing on Nintendo's portable.