Following the announcement that Japanese game developer Arc System Works was working on a new Guilty Gear, connoisseurs of the fighting game genre couldn’t hide their excitement. But what really stood out were Arc Systems lead general Daisuke Ishiwatari’s final words saying the goal for next instalment is to create a “whole new experience”
The last game in the series was Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2, which introduced two new playable characters and rebalanced the existing roster, something which can be argued was needed.
There were also new story mode scenarios added, changes made to the online mode and it was the first game in the series to receive a simultaneous release across consoles and PC. Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 was met with high praise for its vibrant anime graphics and intuitive mechanics but failed with its lacklustre story mode.
That was three years ago, and after months of speculation Arc System Works finally invited a select few to partake in a closed beta for Guilty Gear Strive and the Daily Mirror were lucky enough to be included.
Guilty Gear’s gameplay has always demanded precision from its players emphasising the importance of linking attacks together giving players fluidity with their decisions allowing endless situations for players to be in.
Firstly the buttons have remained the same, with the inclusion of a sixth button. Characters will have access to punch, kick, slash, heavy slash, and dust. The inclusion of the dash button will allow players to dash or air-dash forward or backwards at the touch of a button.
However, players can still dash traditionally by tapping forward or back. Strive introduces some changes that will be noticeable from the offset. Firstly ‘Gatlings’ chain combo system has changed meaning combos are shorter for each character but the trade-off is that most moves deal higher damage.
Character move lists have been made smaller meaning there are fewer specials to learn and there seems to be no air tech at the moment. Many other core mechanics have changed for like Blitz Shield, Blitz attacks, Dead Angles, and Danger Time are all gone. There are still some original features that make a come back like the tension gauge and roman cancels which operate the same as before.
The RISC gauge also makes a return, dealing with brutal punishment for players being too defensive. Once the opponent’s RISC gauge is filled every hit turns into a counter.
Landing a counter hit in a specific way will make the camera zoom and everything will slow down, with the words “counter” superimposed in the background. This gives the aggressor plenty of time to think of a follow-up attack allowing you to dish some serious damage.
Taking influences from other fighting games Guilty Gear Strive has now added stage transitioning into it’s the gameplay. This caused characters to fly into another part of the stage when they have been beaten into the corner too many times, this means that each stage is actually two or three stages in one.
Arc System Works looks like they want to bring new people into the world of Guilty Gear by making the core gameplay feel less intimidating from the offset unlike its predecessors
Guilty Gear Strive changes don’t just end with the gameplay, Arc System works has completely given the U.I. a massive overhaul. The character select screen has clearly been designed to help players pick characters by adding important information.
Characters are sorted into four categories: balance, speed, power, and tricky. Each character is also given a star rating from 1-5 showing how easy or complex they are to play with.
Then there is also a short summary for each character’s playstyle, showing each of their gameplans. This will be great in helping newcomers pick the right player to start off with.
The redesign doesn’t stop there, the move-list has been given a spectacular face-lift. When players highlight a move whether it’s a normal or special move, the game will show you how to execute on the control pad and show a small video of what it looks like.
This will help with players learning and executing the moves succinctly.
Guilty Gear Strive looks amazing, possibly the best looking 2.5D fighter to date. Each character is presented in a delicious anime design, I can’t wait to see classic characters get the same treatment.
Each Overdrive (special move) can only be described as beautiful chaos. I could literally sit down with a bag popcorn and watch each move over again, just visually breathtaking.
The music in Guilty Gear Strive isn’t to my liking as I am not a fan of heavy metal or rock music, however saying that it does accompany the hyped game keeping the tempo up during each fight.
Guilty Gear Strive looks like it could be an incredible addition to the Arc Systems already amazing roster of fighters. As there isn’t a release date yet I feel that we could see some of the old mechanics return this new instalment as Arc System did stray away from what made the game what it is.
I am a little worried about Arc Systems releasing at the end of PS4’s life cycle, hopefully, this means we will see it on PS5 also. Even with some of these news additions Strive does still play like a Guilty Gear game but that could all change in the next couple of months depending on how this beta testing goes.
Guilty Gear Strive is set to be released for PlayStation 4 in 2020.
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