Guilty Gear X2 PS2 Review @ Gaming Target

Written by Tim McGrew on April 29, 2003

Review: DESTROYED!

This past year, about half a dozen or so new fighting games have been released or announced across a number of platforms and this boom is extremely sudden given the dismal state it was left in around 2000 and 2001 after Street Fighter III Third Strike had come to pass on the Sega Dreamcast. The fighters now cross all platforms, including the original Playstation which saw the release of Inuyasha in the first half of April and the recent release of Soul Calibur II in Japan. These fighters, both 2D and 3D, seem to be piquing the interest of gamers as they are brought to life anew with new character art, new battle systems, and online possibilities that allow for a wide variety of competition across the globe though only one has seen release thus far stateside with such a feature in the form of Capcom Vs SNK 2 on the Xbox. Still, it's a very exciting time for fighting fans and with the solid work from companies such as Arc System Works, Capcom, SNK, Namco, and Sega being produced today, the future is looking quite rosy as well. Presently, there are a great deal of fighters that can be picked up right now at your local game store, but the most recent and quite possibly the best and most original release in ages, is Guilty Gear X2 (GGX2).

Unlike most fighting games which prefer flair over style, Guilty Gear X2 breaks that priority and takes its more insane character ideas and applies them to a fighting engine that is fast and balanced as well as easily accessible even for the newest of gamers. There are characters that fight with guitars, throw money as a projectile attack, use cursed yoyos to inflict damage, ride dolphins right into victory and fight with Japanese tatami mats. It's quite possibly the most balanced and original set of characters a fighting game has ever seen and each one has plenty of special moves and attacks that make them even more enjoyable to play. There's no mirror characters, or characters who are from the same martial arts school who fight in a similar style like the Shotos from Street Fighter so those searching for variety will definitely find it here with the game's twenty plus character roster.

Though original character designs are pretty rare these days what with the hundreds of game sequels flying off of development tables and onto videogame store shelves, anyone could tell you that an original design is only as good as its artist's creativity and Arc System Works never disappoints. Though the weapons and capabilities are fully realized with the sheer variety present in character attacks, Arc System Works has gone the extra mile and hand drawn each and every character in the game in a high resolution mode that brings out the incredible amounts of detail like no other fighting game before it. From cloth to metal and from skin to pavement, the artists truly know what they are doing as every character moves with a degree of fluidity that gives every 2D character life through actions and motions. Mouths are properly synched with their voices and the number of special effects layered on top of the hand drawn sprites is astounding and meshes incredibly well. Those fed up with the pixilated looks of recent Capcom and SNK titles will soon find plenty to love here as simply going from GGX2 to Capcom Vs SNK 2 will be a difficult procedure as one is clearly far more beautiful and vibrant than the other despite GGX2 having hand drawn 2D backgrounds as opposed to Capcom's 3D computer generated style.

Though I could stop there and just let the game's look and style sell itself first hand, there's still a great deal to talk about in terms of what you can do once you rip open the game case. For starters, the numbers of game modes are succinct with just about any other fighter, but the way each unfolds is what sets GGX2 apart from the rest. The Story Mode, for example, actually has a story worth reading and playing through replete with one on one battles with a pre determined set of computer opponents unlike Capcom Vs SNK 2 which has a generic story for every character in the game. Aside from the story mode, there's the mission mode, which gives players a specific challenge when entering the battle such as half health or no Burst Meter which really handicaps your character when taking on a fully capable computer opponent who may be able to move twice as fast. Completing levels in this mode unlocks the majority of special features in the game including a massive array of artwork as well as a few of the game's secret characters.

Holding this smorgasbord of features together is one of the most solid and accessible fighting engines created today. Players from all walks of fighting gaming experience can easily jump into this one for a quick play through or two as well as a deep and technical match with opponents bent on mastering the ins and outs of every character in the game. It also helps that the controls are tweaked to an incredible degree that is both responsive and fast taking full advantage of the battle engine which predominantly favors offensive strategies as opposed to defensive.

The game features four basic buttons of attack including slash, hard slash, kick and punch as well as a dust maneuver which has been mapped to a button on the PS2 pad as opposed to pressing three separate buttons on the face. Dust attacks basically launch your opponent into the air making them highly susceptible to a very damaging air combo. Each attack button has its own set of special moves with a specific motion on the D-pad similar to just about every other 2D fighting game released today. A primary portion of the combat is done up close and personal with an incredible amount of speed and combos executed by pressing a specific combination of buttons deal a varied level of damage based on the current flow of the battle making even one-sided matches last a bit longer.

In addition to that, players walk as if they were in quick sand, but almost every character is capable of performing a dash move on the ground or in the air by simply tapping forward or back twice on the D-pad increasing the game's speed even further. Plus, the balance of the characters has been tweaked greatly giving new moves to certain characters and removing others to make each character more equal even with the advent of the brand new characters present in the game.

Though playing the computer is actually very entertaining for a time since its AI is punishing and relentless even after the first couple of battles on just about every difficulty, the crux of the game is still most entertaining when fighting against another human opponent. Though this risks the possibility of terribly unbalanced gameplay, it's still far more engaging to face an adaptive human opponent rather than scripted AI. With that said, online play should have been a given with GGX2, but that is something that will be remedied with the next sequel. Despite that, the game is still incredible while player alone or with a couple of friends.

One of the most impressive features of GGX2 is the game's sound library which is a collection of hard rock melodies brought to life with real instruments rather than the majority of synthesized fighting game soundtracks used today. In the case of GGX2, the soundtrack for the game is a love hate relationship as fans of the original Guilty Gear X will recognize and love the beats recreated specifically for this game from the original soundtrack while those who loathe metal and guitar will hate this soundtrack through and through. Plus, each character speaks in their original Japanese dialogue which will please fans of the series. The sound effects themselves are never subdued for anything and the clang of weapons as well as the scraping of fist on flesh is as vibrant as ever even on mono sound setups. There's literally nothing to complain about here unless you absolutely hate hard rock and Japanese voice acting.