Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator Review

Let’s get this out the way from the start, i really don’t like fighting games. But, before you skip the rest to the bottom of the page dear reader, let it be known, liking fighting games or not, I can tell when a game is great, and frankly, this is a flipping awesome fighting game!

When you play a fighting game, your not really there for the story, you’re their for the flair, the takedowns, the movement and the satisfaction and thrill of defeating an opponent one on one.

The premise is just the same as every other fighting game, 3 rounds to decide a winner of a fight, with all the punch, kicks, and moves of an organised Russian football hooligan at a euro 2016 football match. The winner of the three round fight then goes on to the next round and so on. You’ve seen it all a million times in the Dead or Alive, Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct series already.

“this is a Japanese, bat shit crazy fighting game after all!”

There’s a very slight story mode where about 30 to 45 minutes of gameplay, depending on how rubbish you are, gives an insight into each of the 25 or so characters in the game. For example one, character i played, basically fought everyone to then join her restaurant. Interesting way to recruit people but hey, this is a Japanese, bat shit crazy fighting game after all!

Story mode, practice mode, online mode, with a fairly deep roster of characters, it’s all what you would expect.

I personally struggled with the control system though for a reason that is unforgivable in a modern day game. The tutorial to show what buttons to press don’t match the controls on a PS4 controller! It doesn’t take long to figure out what’s what, but is looks like the game was designed for another console and they forgot to update the control system for this!

Subsequently i struggled with even the tutorial, so much so i couldn’t even FINISH it! To be fair, partly that is due to me being utterly rubbish at these games, but partly it’s due to the game itself.

I also found the controls, when i did understand what each button will do, fantastic, apart from the basic walking around which is painstakingly slow! A player barely moves a millimeter when walking toward an opponent, but jump in the air, and maybe a special attack and you’re suddenly flung from one side of the screen to another.

“So far it’s all been so standard, but here is what separates this game from the rest. The style and presentation of this particular game, is just flat out brilliant.”

First of all the game runs at a galaxy chocolate smooth 60fps, which is just fantastic for a fighting game. But add to this the visual style is cut straight from a Manga Japanese cartoon, and it’s just achingly beautiful to look at. You are simply, well it feels like it anyway, you are simply playing a Manga cartoon fighting game of the highest quality.

The over the top visuals, and characterizations of the players is phenomenal. The game just oozes, flair, fun, colour and energy at every sensory level to be one of the most enjoyable fighting games i’ve played in a very long while.

Remember how i started this review with i don’t like fighting games ? I still don’t to be honest, mainly because i just can’t keep up with what’s happening on the screen to be tactical about my gameplay. My fighting technique is mash every button on my controller in a different fashion to hope I get more hits in than the other guy.

However if you DO like fighting games, then this needs to be added to your arsenal of things to play as it’s fantastic. I actually enjoyed playing this game more than i did Mortal Kombat or Killer Instinct, mainly because of the fantastic over the top fluid Japanese cartoon visuals. If i could really get to grips with the playstyle i’d sink hours into this game both on and offline. Great game.