Get Reloaded With “Guilty Gear X2 #Reload”

by Louis Bedigian

“There is a crazy amount of unlockable art that you can view and mess with through the Gallery of the game.”

Feeling guilty lately?  I know you have been.  I see you thinking of other games.  You were once loyal to a particular genre, a particular style of gameplay.  But as the times began to change so did you.  You turned your back on your heritage, your one and only true love.  You tossed aside the best thing you ever had for a romp with another.

Was it worth it?  Was the first-person shooter satisfying?  You know it wasn’t.  First-person shooters are great, but nothing compares to what you once had.  Nothing compares to two-dimensional arcade fighting, the kind you can no longer find in arcades.  The kind you rarely find anywhere.

Wait, I think I see something.  A glimmer of hope!  (Takes a closer look.)  Nope, I was wrong.  That was just the light reflecting off my car.

But wait…there is a glimmer of hope!  I can see a bright, shining star!  It’s Guilty Gear X2 #Reload!

Developed exclusively for Xbox, this reloaded version of Guilty Gear comes with exclusive features, including online play.

Sean R. Scott (Producer) and Russ Mock (Lead Quality Assurance Analyst) recently dropped in to give us the scoop on their awesome fighting game.

Guilty Gear X2 #Reload is going to include both punishing moves and combos.  We know what combos are, but what are the punishing moves?  How do they differ from combos? 

Russ Mock: Punishing moves are meant to describe the move like an adjective. It’s not a different kind of move.

Sean R. Scott: There are several special moves in GGX2 to compliment the various normal moves; to name a few there’s the Dead Angle Attack (a type of counter attack), Dust Attack (launches your enemy into the air), and you can’t forget about throws.  Use these moves and more in conjunction with normal moves to perform combos.

What are the Instant Kill Techniques?  Do they allow you to take out your opponent with just one attack? 

Russ Mock: Yes, you fill up the Tension Gauge and then press a character specific button combination to unleash a move that will completely decimate your opponent in one move.  You must land this move for it to work though miss and you will have to finish the round without using any actions that require the Tension Gauge.

What about the Overdrive and Psych Burst attacks?  What can you tell us about those? 

Russ Mock: The Psych Burst attacks are meant to turn matches around when you are on the defensive.  It is a quick burst that will knock your opponent back and raise your tension meter. The Overdrive is an attack that is awesomely powerful and is based upon the tension meter that increases as you attack or perform combos. Once this gauge is filled to a certain extent you can perform character specific Overdrive attacks on your opponent.  There is an easily accessible move list for all the characters that can be used during matches and that include all special moves, Overdrive moves, and Instant Kill moves.

I punch this ground, and with it you feel the power of my wrath!

“Ugh, I knew I shouldn’t have let you borrow my anime collection.”

Which characters are going to be in the game?  Who's old, who's new?

Russ Mock: Most of the characters from the previous games and some new ones, including some unlockables.  Sol Badguy, Ky Kiske, Axl Low, Eddie, Dizzy, Zappa, I-No, Testament, Faust, Jam, Chipp Zanuff, Millia Rage, Potempkin, Venom, Johnny, Bridget, Slayer, May, Anji, Baiken are all fully playable from the start. You can unlock Robo Ky, Cliff, and Justice throughout the game.  All of these characters’ origins and back-stories can be fully explored and delved into through the story mode feature in the game.

 

Go over the nine game modes, including Survival and Medal of Millionaire.

Russ Mock:

Survival Mode

Survival Mode is the key to unlocking many things within GGX2 #Reload, like EX, SP Shadow, and Gold forms to all the characters. Like most fighting games' survival modes, GGX2's will have you fight a random series of opponents and also powerful boss characters at fixed intervals. You will gain some health back after each victory but not necessarily all of it. The difference lies in the Level system. Each action that would've given you points in the regular game translates to Levels in Survival Mode, as combos or counter hits seem to be the fastest way to gain levels. Also, you will usually gain a bonus if you get a perfect or if you finish an opponent with an Overdrive. (However these bonuses do not necessarily translate to an increase in Level, especially in later Levels).

M.O.M. Mode

This mode works basically as a combination of Medal and Survival modes; the more hits you inflict on your opponent, the more a "medal gauge" on the screen fills up. You gain points by collecting medals and filling up the medal gauge, which will let you gain more high scoring medals. Once you defeat 20 opponents, the mode is over. You do not gain health back between rounds, but every set number of points a life item will pop out which will restore a small amount of health (5-25%) if you pick it up.

Mission Mode

GGX2 #Reload has a total of 100 missions.  Prior to the match the player will be shown the victory conditions that must be met.  Some you must win in a certain amount of time and others using a certain move, still others you must defeat your opponent with certain stipulations set against you.

Arcade Mode

In this mode you must fight and defeat computer characters to advance. Once you have defeated the designated number of characters, you finish your characters game and will then be able to view their endings. These endings will also be unlocked in the Gallery. You can also play 2 player games in this mode by pressing the start button on another controller.

Training Mode

This is a mode for practicing basic commands and combo attacks. Select your character and sparring partner to serve as your punching bag. If you want to adjust various setting during gameplay, push the start button to call up the training menu.

Two sharp objects are better than one.

VS 2P Mode

This is a Mode for 2 player battles only. This mode cannot be used unless 2 controllers are connected to the X-Box. Once a match ends the character select screen will appear again.

VS CPU Mode

This is a custom mode wherein you compete against computer-controlled characters of your choosing. The character selection screen will appear at the end of each match.

Story Mode

In this mode you are able to learn more of the story plots with each battle you fight, most of which cannot be revealed through the Arcade Mode. Get the full low-downs on the relationships between the previous known and new characters and find out the origins of each through a variety of awarding events. There are three different paths for each character to experience by performing different criteria in separate areas throughout their story.

Gallery Mode

This mode lets you view CG pictures and artwork obtained in Mission Mode, ending movies for characters who have finished their designated Arcade Modes, ending sequences reached in Story Mode, and other such things as the opening movie. Use the right and left direction buttons to switch between various modes. After calling up the images you can turn menu on and off with the Back button, move pictures with the directional buttons, enlarge images with the R trigger, reduce images with the L trigger, rotate images to the left with the White button, rotate images to the right with the Black button, and return to the Gallery Menu by pressing the B button.

Tell us about Guilty Gear X2's Xbox Live features.

Russ Mock: In this mode players can play against opponents online through the Xbox Live network. You can use the Xbox Live headset to talk to your opponents. You can access Friends List, Players List, Ranking Statistics, search for specific types of matches, or create your own. You can play regional (US competitors) or international (Japan, China, Korea, UK, etc). You can choose how many rounds per each match (1, 3, and 5).

What did it take to get such a fast and intense fighting game to work on Xbox Live?  Were there any difficulties that had to be overcome?

Sean R. Scott:

With the experience of the Arc System Works team and the support from Microsoft, bringing GGX2 to Xbox Live was a smooth process.

Backward attacks are fierce, but more importantly make your opponent feel like an idiot.

The character art is really something.  Who is responsible for it?  Was it the same person who worked on the other Guilty Gear games?

Sean R. Scott: The team from Arc System Works was responsible for building the entire game and as everyone knows they have a lot of experience with the Guilty Gear series.

Russ Mock:  There is a crazy amount of unlockable art that you can view and mess with through the Gallery of the game.

Guilty Gear X2 has Progressive Scan Video Support for 480p.  For our readers who aren't familiar with HDTV, what does this mean?  How much better will the game look running in 480p?

Sean R. Scott: Normal television is interlaced essentially showing half of the picture at any given time.  Progressive Scan TVs show all of the picture all of the time essentially showing a sharper, better looking picture.  So GGX2 looks [sharper] on TVs that support 480p, but no matter the format the game looks fantastic and players will love the artwork!

 

Thank you for your time.