We’ve covered the fighting system in-depth in our
review of Guilty Gear X2 so we’ll avoid traveling down that road again. It
has been almost two years since that review, however, so we thought we’d see how the fighting system has held up over the month. Right out of the box the game plays well and the controls will be familiar to anyone who has picked up a 2D fighter in their lifetime. Combos are easy to link-up thanks to a fairly intuitive system and the characters have a satisfying amount of control to them. There’s a significant change and it was done in order to accommodate the new four-player action. In order to turn around you’ll have to press the R1 button, otherwise the character will continue to face in the same direction. It’s a bit disorienting when you jump in for a combo and end up on the other side of your opponent, but it’s pretty intuitive once you get used to it. It would have been better had there been an option to manually turn the character around, it would have made one-on-one battles easier and more familiar.
This is one great looking game, proving that a next generation 2D-fighter can indeed be comprised of beautifully rendered sprites. This game makes Capcom Vs. SNK2’s art direction look amateurish in comparison. The characters are sharp and look great against the beautifully rendered backdrops. There’s really a great sense of beauty inherent in the game. Whether it be the girlish looking boy or the demon possessed thug, every character just looks amazing. Every move looks great, featuring some of the most impressive animation ever seen in a 2D fighter. In order to squeeze every last bit out of the graphics department, the game includes support for High Definition monitors, taking the game to an entirely new level.
Nice touches are strewn about the game such as dust clouds that arise in the wake of your characters, bright visuals that can blind a cat and my favorite, minute versions of your characters by the energy bar that mimic your character's current actions. Making contact with the enemy yields an equally pleasing result that is very anime-ish but like everything else, feels right at home in this game.
This isn’t to say that the visual look of the game is perfect. Sometimes you’ll notice some pixilation when executing some of the game’s flashier moves. Other times the backgrounds just don’t quite look up to par. We also had a few problems with the game’s interface because while the fighting portion of the game looks great, the interface just pales in comparison. The character selection screen, which requires you to move your pointer over the portrait of the characters, seems kind of strange as it promotes some characters more than others. It should be noted that the game rarely shows hints of slowdown, even when it is accommodating four or more players.
I also appreciated the audio for what it was. Isuka doesn’t depend on crystal clear samples and high quality music in order to press the issue, it’s an arcade game at heart so the sounds are rightfully tinny. They have that hollow and loud feeling that you’re accustomed to hearing amongst the hustle and bustle of an arcade. It’s not amazing but it fits in well for this kind of genre.
If you’re looking for a 2D fighter look no further than
Guilty Gear Isuka. Sammy Studios is intent on bringing the gaming style of yesterday to the gaming masses of tomorrow. And if you ask us, it’s doing a damn fine job. Anyone who is remotely interested in fighting games simply needs to own this game.
A
A new character, new four-player support and a side-scrolling mode build upon what was already the best 2D fighter on the market. If you love 2D fighters you simply must own Guilty Gear Isuka.
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