For the past couple of
years, Sammy has created a smash hit franchise called: Guilty Gear and each
version has proved to be better than the last. This year they have released
Guilty Gear Isuka upon the gaming world. This game adds several new things to
the mix, such as four players fighting at the same time, new arenas, new
characters, and a slew of other things. With all these new enhancements, is this
game better than its predecessors? Read on to find out!
Unlike Guilty Gear X2, Guilty Gear Isuka sports a lot of new changes and
additions. The biggest and most identifiable change is the ability to play with
up to four characters on the screen at one time, think Smash Brothers or Power
Stone. Players have the option of playing, a two on two, one on three, three on
one, or even a free for all! This creates total mayhem of action going on
the screen, but the interesting thing is that you never really get lost in the
action. The Guilty Gear series is known for its huge flashes and seemly endless
energy, and adding two more contestants into the mix would think it might get
you totally lost, but it never does.
Things only gets weirder from here…..
Which brings me to
another point; I have not noticed any slowdown at all in this game. This is very
surprising, and greatly appreciated, since this game has over the top
animations. When I heard that the developers were adding in the ability to fight
with up to four characters at a time, human or CPU controlled, I thought that
this would create havoc on the framerate. The reason is that there is always so
much going on during a two player fight, what would a four player fight bring?
But thankfully the developers solved this problem so gamers get a silky smooth
fight each time.
To make this game more challenging Guilty Gear Isuka has two planes of
existence. This means that fights are not on one single line but players will be
able to move up and down between two rows. Players must now use a lot more
strategy and change their tactics when fighting a game, since moves can be
dodged easier.
Not only is there plenty of fighting in this game, there is also a
side-scrolling action game. Players will select a character and go from stage to
stage beating the goal for that level before they go on. The character that they
choose to play as will have all of their special moves from the regular game.
This provides a nice break from the arcade mode, and gives the game a lot more
replay value.
Lots of explosions.
The game plays like a
dream, since the controls are very responsive. There are many different
characters in this game, and each of them has a different fighting style, which
is great to see in fighting games. Each of the characters has many different
color schemes but if you don’t like them, you can always change them up with the
color palette system.
Players will be able to tell from the moment that they boot up this Guilty Gear
game that it has a very anime inspired theme to it. Throughout the course of any
given fight, players will be treated to the flash, lights, and many other things
that will remind them of watching almost any anime series. This is a good thing,
because it takes wild direction that many anime series have and runs wild with
it.
The characters choice that the players in this game have is fantastic! There is
an abundance of different types of characters in this game, and I am sure that
you will find one that fits the type of fighter you like. Many of these
characters have very odd story backgrounds, with bizarre weapons. For instance,
this one character is chained to this humongous key that makes different faces
while you are fighting. It is little things like this that make this game
priceless, as it never takes itself too seriously.
Besides having unique weapons,,
each of these characters is nicely detailed and has a wide variety of animations
that are smooth as silk.
Four player fighting action!
One of the biggest
complaints in Guilty Gear X2 was the lack of variety of backgrounds, and that
many of them had the same look and feel as the previous game. So the developers
took this to heart, and made all of the fighting environments look extremely
different from one another. The artwork used for the backgrounds is simply
astonishing to look at, because it is so detailed and look awesome.
The musical score that is used for this game fits it perfectly. It features
heavy rock and roll theme that will make you want to crank up the radio while
you are playing. The sound effects that the developers use are also really good,
features loud explosions and bone breaking hits. Everything sounds really good,
and makes the game that much better!
Guilty Gear Isuka is rated T for Teen. It will take up to 234KB on your memory
card for game saves.
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Gameplay: 8.8
The controls to
Guilty Gear Isuka are very responsive and act according to what you press. One
of the best things about this series is that even though there is a huge roster
of characters, each one has their own fighting style, and unique weapons. How
many fighting games you know have weapons such as huge keys, shadows, food, or
even a six foot scalpel? This makes the game unique and really fun to play!
Graphics: 9.0
The characters are highly detailed, have a very nice set of animations, and
are nicely modeled. The backgrounds are also nicely detailed and have a lot of
background animations to make each level feel more alive, especially when it is
compared to other fighting games on the market. The best thing about this game
is even though there is a lot of action, flashes, and other things going on at
the same time, the frame rate never drops.
Sound: 8.7
The musical score
for Guilty Gear Isuka is really good, and fits the overall theme that it
conveys. The sound effects are really great from the loud explosions to anything
else you will hear in the background!
Difficulty: Medium
The game offers several different difficulty modes, from beginner to maniac,
and each of them proves to be a challenge! The game takes you back to
“old-school” fighting, where you have to work for the wins, even in the easiest
settings.
Concept: 8.6
Players can
definitely tell that Guilty Gear Isuka is an anime inspired fighting game, which
is a good thing. The game takes a lot of different concepts from action anime
series, and places them in this game. I loved how you can now play with up to
four characters on the screen at one time; it provides some insane action that
will always leave you wanting for more.
Multiplayer: 8.8
The multiplayer
for this game is really great! Players will spend hours playing in this mode,
since playing another human is better than playing against the AI. Plus with the
addition of fighting against your friend with CPU controlled characters is also
very fun.
Overall: 8.8
Guilty Gear Isuka
is a great fighting game that you should have in your game library. It has
smooth animation, great graphics, and wonderful gameplay. If you love fighting
games or a fan of games that are worth your time and money, than pick this game
up; you will not regret it!
