A Classic Gem in Fighting Game History

Posted on 2011-04-05 07:42:39 by Vexer_Zero:

Being an 'Arcs' Fanboy, you may wish to disregard this review, as I'm fairly sure it's totally biased. However, that is for good reason.
The Guilty Gear series is one of the best and most colourful 2D fighters around, even today. The cast of characters is pretty huge and whilst nothing compared to your typical KoF game, the variety between them is something that should be applauded.read more Be it stoic, haiku writing nightwalker Slayer or the pool playing professional assassin Venom, each has their own distinct style of combat that fits their personality traits to a tee.
Graphically, the game looks very good. Whilst as has been said often, sprite fighters are much harder to animate well when compared with 3D, but the game never looks bad. A few dodgy move animations here and there does not mar the impact of the game's aesthetic, especially with all the colour and flash jumping around the screen from the over the top moves.
And the music! The soundtrack is a metal fans greatest wish. The music is composed by Daisuke Ishiwatari, who clearly knows what he's doing. Seriously, the soundtrack is golden.
What I consider to be the most interesting point of this game is the story mode. Before playing an Arcs game, I was totally unaware of a story that was so detailed. As can be seen from the sprites, the game takes on the anime style and as such has an anime storyline, full of twists and turns. I suppose if you aren't a big fan of anime, don't let it hinder your enjoyment of the game itself. You can probably ignore the story, I just quite enjoy it myself.
I suppose I have to make a complaint. It only seems fair. Those who are not so inclined to fighting games will probably find this to be a bad place to start, but only from a technical perspective.The bosses in this game are no pushover (although I'm not sure how they match up to Geese Howard or their modern day BlazBlue equivalents) and may make you get a little angry. Also, the technical side of things may weigh you down a bit if you aren't willing to give the game a little time and have some patience.
Also worth noting that the port itself (from the original Xbox and PS2 I think) works fine, not many hitches as far as I can remember. Although you will want a gamepad, seriously.
So, bottom line. Fighting game fans that haven't already played this game should definitely pick up a copy. It has a place in virtual history for a reason, its Gold. On the other hand, being a fighting game it takes a particular type of player to enjoy it. If you fancy something different then you can clearly afford it with the more than reasonable price.