Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator Review

Back in the sixth generation of consoles, there was always a backup in the fighter genre, in case you couldn’t get your hands on Street Fighter, Tekken, or Mortal Kombat. Whether it was Guilty Gear’s XX line or the Isuka one-off, the games were known for their stylistic visuals, outstanding individuality and uniqueness between it’s characters, and over the top and addicting action. Yet, as the franchise stagnated during the end of the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 lifecycle, gamers relied on other titles, before Guilty Gear came back again, in the form of Guilty Gear Xrd Sign.

It was an absolute triumph of a fighting game, and took the spotlight in a middling year for fighting games, and the industry in general. It brought back all of Guilty Gear’s best traits and moved it into the umpteenth degree. And while the game continued it’s highly competitive and critical stances (even going so far as winning Best Looking Game over at Giant Bomb) And it’s reception brought back a guaranteed sequel. So does it not only improve on what made Sign great and innovate at the same time, or is it a misstep for a series on the brink of a fighting game breakthrough? Short answer, they killed it again.

Gameplay:

Casual or inexperienced players should definitely crack a couple of tutorials first

In terms of flow while fighting, Guilty Gear has consistently knocked this out of the park, and does so again here. From stretching out combos to blocking at just the right moment, the game has a far more achieved sense of nuance that hasn’t been in the fighting genre for years. Yet, this isn’t a fighting game you can practically wing at. Guilty Gear requires practice on top of practice, until you’ve memorized every move in extraordinary fashion.

On top of an exceptional learning curve, Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator has a couple of new tricks up it’s sleeve for hardcore fighting game fans. These include supers that unleash catastrophic consequences, and learning options in order to go from defense back into the battle. They seem small and inconsequential, but Guilty Gear is the fighting game where everything matters to a tee.

Better yet, the game differs from the rock paper scissors approach a lot of fighting games have

Story & Design:

Character designs are wacky, but in the best way possible

While Guilty Gear excels far and wide in the gameplay department, I don’t think it will attract the same type of attention story-wise, due to how lore heavy and off-putting the whole thing can be. There’s a near hour long visual novel with no dubs, and I could easily see this being confusing to someone getting the game based off of a friend’s recommendation. This is another one of the reason’s it’s important to go back to the basics too.

The same goes for the game’s online systems, or at least the presentation. It’s not hard to create a game, but the options could take some getting used to. (Like having to invite friends using a more manual direction) Besides this, the rest of the package is pretty sturdy, with little to no server issues or grating bugs.

The leadups are great aswell

Presentation/ Visuals & Audio:

Arc and Aksys have nailed even the stances, making the game look beautiful before it rises once again

While the new additions to the game’s cast don’t revolutionize the gameplay, their artistic designs are breathtaking. This isn’t particularly due to the costumes or fanservice, but more or less how all of these characters components flow so smoothly in fights. It looked good back in 2014, and it looks even better now.

The same goes for the lengthy cutscenes, whose animations energy will gravitate nealry all players. Now if characters act out an in game meticulous fight or courageous battle, you don’t necessarily feel like you are missing something, as 99% is in the game anyways, for all your glee.

A defiant character closeup

Conclusion:

Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator is the best fighter of 2016, and with Injustice 2 being released not even in the next six months, I’m pretty certain it will keep that title. It’s attention to detail is refreshing, it’s models inventive, and it’s gameplay hooking and enormous in depth. It’s hard to think that fighters can get any better than this, but Guilty Gear continuously sets the bar.

Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator gets a 10/10 (Masterpiece)

We’d like to thank Aksys Games for giving us a code!

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