Graphically, Guilty Gear X2 is beautiful, it looks like an Anime film, from the intro to the build ups between fights, everything is geared to making you believe you are taking part in something epic. In game graphics are equally as glorious. Characters range from the slightly odd to the down right strange, with a cop who looks light a cross between a Jedi knight and a cyberpunk being the most normal and a witch with a heavy metal guitar, a bloke with a bag on his head and a guy taken over by demons being among the more unique.
However strange, it is the characters that make Guilty Gear stand out from the crowd. Each is different enough to ensure that it would take a small lifetime to master them all. This adds a more flexible approach as players can choose to stick with one of the easier to master characters or go for someone who fights differantly. With twenty characters to pick from there are enough freaks to find the perfect fighting partner for anyone.
The game plays brilliantly with all but the most damaging special moves being easy to pull off. Your characters also leap around with the energy of a Sega Zealot who has just found Panzer Dragoon Saga in his local bargain bin. What Guilty Gear X2 does is offer a whole new range of ways to fight such as a Death move which instantly kills the other character at any time in the match. If you miss the move your health and special moves bar disappears- meaning chances of winning the fight are greatly reduced.
Beyond death moves you receive other little innovations such as the ‘burst’ move that can be used to stop or start a variety of situations, a ‘dust’ button that stuns the opponent, ‘Roman Cancel’, combo sequences and countless other things you just do not get outside of a Guilty Gear X game. While the mass of moves to learn will likely put off a rookie, put in a bit of effort and you will soon find everything begins to feel like second nature.
Guilty Gear X2 is a stunning title with great graphics, sound, outstanding gameplay, characters that are innovative and a fight system that is phenomally flexible. This makes an essential game for anyone who likes a good fight.
9/10
Just picked up a copy of this. BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger was the first fighting game that ever really sucked me in and made me want to practice and get better, so I'm really looking forward to what Arc System Works did with this one. If only the fighting genre was more profitable so that there could be more devs making solid anime-oriented fighters. These games with their 2D anime style sprites just look so much nicer than the rendered 3D, as far as I'm concerned.
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