GUILTY GEAR Xrd -REVELATOR- – PC Review – by DarkLunarDude

DarkLunarDude
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Genre: Action 2D Fighter
Developer: Arc System Works
Publisher: Arc System Works
Release Date: Dec 14, 2016

Guilty Gear as a franchise has grown and shaped into something fans of the series adore, wanting things like new mechanics, or a new character to join in the mix, with each new game that comes into the lineup. However, Xrd -SIGN- left a big hole in the hearts of many a fan, with a lackluster story mode, and a training mode that felt geared more towards fighting game pros over the average player; so when Xrd -REVELATOR- was announced, everyone was hoping that Arc System Works would take a step back and address many of these issues. GUILTY GEAR Xrd -REVELATOR- is the latest release in the Guilty Gear storyline that was developed and released by long time creator Arc System Works, and while many new features, along with some old ones getting tweaked, got added to the mix, there were still a few creeping about that left a negative impact in the end.

Slashing off from where Xrd -SIGN- ended, Xrd -REVELATOR- puts it all on the line in hopes to improve where the last story mode failed, but to less success than expected. The story begins with a history of the events from the story from Xrd -SIGN-, ending with the capturing the Elphelt after the defeat of Justice by the hands of Sol Badguy. We are then treated to a welcoming event, set a few days after the events of this ending, where the world is now recovering from the effects of the battle between Justice, given more backstory than anything else as characters such as Leo and Ky speak about politics. We are then treated to a scene where Elphelt is struggling as she is trapped into the head area of the now weakened and disposed of Justice, as Mother visits her. We are given a story about how she plans to utilize Elphelt in controlling Justice, to remind humanity they are a stain upon the earth, and cleanse all the non-believers after Justice can get repowered in some fashion. The story from here tends to go all over the place, jumping from various characters, which is where I will mark my end of the story, but note, the story can become a wild ride if you choose to let it.

The story mode, however is where my first really big point of contention comes into play: the fact that they treated the story with no difference from the story done in Xrd -SIGN-. Maybe this is just me as a fighting game player who looks at a story mode as a way to let the player change the fate of how it ends, but they offer no real fight scenes to be had; except for the rare few scripted ones, if there are any to be found. This has been a common trend with many of Arc System Works games as of late, the fighting mechanics take a backseat, and it feels more like the story mode becomes a visual novel, than an actual fighting game story. It is my hope that one day, Arc System Works will go back to a story system similar to that of Persona 4 Arena or the early BlazBlue games where there was story to be had but it also allowed you to learn each character and how they play while getting that story.

Sit back and prepare to bash on those buttons as Xrd -REVELATOR- does not hold back the punches but, since there is so much to cover here, I am going to split this into two paragraphs. This first paragraph will focus on the beautifully redesigned training mode, and some of the various game play modes offered in Xrd -REVELATOR-. The biggest change to the game was the way mechanics can be used in various ways to outplay your opponent with proper timing, and they made a number of alterations to the training setup to make this work for players of any skill level. You still have modes in the dojo like combo, missions, and basic training. However, the tutorial is the shining star here, easing players into the game as Jack-o, a character from the roster teaches you, as Sol Badguy, how to do everything; from basic movement to combos and more. This tutorial, long and by far is the best tutorial I have experienced in a fighting game, as I felt the game was actually offering its hand to you, and not trying to push you away if you could not master a certain move. The collection is the next thing I want to talk about, with a few new modes added in to pass the time when you are not in the arcade or online. The collection still offers the traditional gallery where you can buy pictures and other fun bonus items for the ingame currency, like additional colors, but now the game offers a figures mode where you can buy stands and pose characters in various poses you earn by fishing. Fishing is also a new mode added to the collection tab where you can spend $200 for one fish bite or $2000 for ten, and earn various prizes such as character recolors, heads for your avatar in the multiplayer rooms, icons for the profile, different poses for the characters in figure mode, and much more.

Now let us talk about the meat of the game – the offline and online fighting offerings. The offline offerings, known as arcade, have some new and interesting options, such as M.O.M mode and Episode mode, alongside the traditional versus mode. Episode mode is an add-on to the story where you can play the events of each character in the game’s story a few days after the events at the end of Xrd -SIGN-, and while I do think this is a nice little touch of detail, I felt like this was what story mode should have had from the start: getting chunks of story but allowing you to learn how to essentially play as each character. M.O.M Mode is a challenge mode that allows the player to test their skills as any of the characters in the game under a time limit, and earn as many medals as possible. This mode is more of a challenge for veteran players who seek something that is harder then the episodes, but still not too unfair for newer players who want to give it a go.

Finally, let us talk about the online offerings that Xrd -REVELATOR- offers, and why I think this might be the weakest area of the game, in terms of overall choices. The online mode offers two setups, ranked matches and player matches, each one serving a different purpose. Ranked matches are the traditional fare where you fight various other players from around the worlds to see who is the better fighter, at the cost of points earned for your ranking, and as I played this mode, I found it only vaguely alive, as I played around three to five matches, many players will often decline a match based on your profile or skill level. The connection when you could fight someone, though, was crisp and rewarding. I did not really find the matches too laggy, which was nice. Then there are player matches, rooms set up by players with a maximum of 8 players to a room, who you can fight by going up to little arcade machines and joining in. These rooms are small, and a good way to have fun with 8 friends online ,or just random strangers, they even have a little soccer ball to kick around to pass the time.

With the main offerings spoken of, I want to talk about some of the areas I think these modes lack, and a few issues I had with a particular dlc the game offers. The first one is the lack of a gathering-style rooms in multiplayer, similar to that of SoulCalibur 5 where you could just be in one big room, talk to players and fight opponents. I will admit the player rooms are a similar entity to this, but those felt very limited, and 8 players does not compare to something like a gathering room where you could have 40 or more players. I would like to see something similar to that of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax where it uses the arcade machine mechanic but on a larger scale, allowing close to 40 players to fight each other at the same time. I also felt the lack of a gauntlet mode in single-player was a let down as well, removing some reason to play the offline offerings. One could say that the story mode was similar to a gauntlet mode, as the difficulty did go up depending on how good you were in each fight, but it only lasted for eight matches, hardly a challenge in most cases. Lastly, I want to bring up the alternate costume for Elphelt, a costume that one can obtain in game for currency but can also be earned by spending $1.99 on Steam to buy right away. I like the fact they offered this as a in game purchase for those who wanted to not spend additional money on the game’s content, but I felt like they could have offered an additional costume for, say, Sol Badguy or another classic character, alongside this to make buying the costume with real money worth it.

The visual package offered by Xrd -REVELATOR- continues to keep the cel shaded imagery the first Xrd game made classic, add in the country air that the music adds to the game’s story, cutscenes and fights. The cel shaded visuals of Xrd -REVELATOR- feel right at home with the rest of the series, allowing for dynamic backgrounds to interact behind the fighters, but not taking away from the overall experience. The cutscenes are well played tales of the events going on at the time, and the characters definitely shine in these as they should, bringing the story to life. The characters are some of the best animated for an anime fighting game I have had the chance to experience in a long time, feeling fluid and animated and not too stiff. The face work done here is excellent as well, setting a tone for each scene as the character reacts and plays up the mood of the scene at the time.

Get out those headphones because the soundtrack offered by Xrd -REVELATOR- is non-stop action with a wide variety of songs to choose from. The music from Xrd -SIGN- was one of my favorite parts that the game had to offer when I first played it and Xrd -REVELATOR- is no different, being diverse and changing based on who is fighting and what the scene is. The styles range from rock and roll, to country with a rock flare, and even a few classical pieces from when the scene calls for it. The sound effects were on point as well, something I have to give praise to Xrd -REVELATOR- for doing, as I felt like the sound effects in -SIGN- were under utilized for the most part, and the devs really took these a step forward.

Overall, GUILTY GEAR Xrd -REVELATOR- was a better experience than its predecessor in terms of the content offered but still missed the mark on some of them. A solid story continuation, an amazing tutorial system, an expanded collection system, healthy 23 character roster, an okay selection for offline and online modes, a cel shaded design, characters felt fluid and animated well at all times and an amazing soundtrack makes Xrd -REVELATOR- a good time in the end.

Pros:

  • Story continuation was what it needed to be
  • One of the best tutorial systems in any fighting game
  • A nicely expanded collection system in the game
  • The healthy 23 character roster allows for any play-style
  • Offline and online selections were okay at best
  • That classic cel shaded design keeping it real
  • Characters still kept there fluid and active motions
  • One of the best fighting game soundtracks to date

Cons:

  • Story mode still felt like a visual novel, more than a fighting game story
  • Lack of a multiplayer gather room larger than 8 players
  • No real meat to the single-player content
  • Episode mode felt like what story mode should have been

DarkLunarDude gives GUILTY GEAR Xrd -REVELATOR- a Drastik Measure 8.0 out of 10.0 (80).

For the price of $49.99 for the standard edition, or $64.99 for the deluxe edition on Steam, Xrd -REVELATOR- is a good fighting game, especially for a series that has such a long history, but I can only recommend it for those who really like anime fighting games, as the game’s offerings feel somewhat lackluster; or to true fighting game players, new or old, as the improved training system will help any player learn the mechanics quickly.