Guilty Gear X2

Looking back at my last couple of posts, I realize I have been neglecting the PS2/GameCube/XBox generation.  It’s strange, because I probably have more PS2 games than anything, seeing as I had a lot of disposable income and time when they were at the end of its lifespan.  I bought a lot of $10 games in those days.  

And apparently, Guilty Gear X2 was one of those games.  Released in 2003, its the third in a series of fighting games that date back to 1998.  While the game has its share of sequels, with the most recent coming in 2015, it isn’t exactly a mainstream series.  If I were asked to name fighting game series’ I’d go a long way before I got to Guilty Gear.  But is it any good?

I will start with two elements of the game, one very bad and one very good, that stood out the most.  Essentially, they will cancel each other out in my evaluation.

First, the bad.  Anime.  Remember the Cosmic Star Heroine review where I talked about obnoxious anime fan service?  Well, this is 100,000 CCs of anime fan service straight into your veins.  A random witch with a guitar.  An emo dude that fights with a pool cue.  A 16 year old girl who wears a nuns habit and a short skirt, who uses a yo-yo as a weapon and whose fighting style leads to constant panty shots.  That’s the kind of crap we’re dealing with here.  There’s a character named Sol Badguy...and he isn’t even a bad guy.  Its got cringe-y anime tropes for days, all the unnecessary bouncing boobs you could fit on a disk.  I’ve definitely seen worse and I wouldn’t quite put it in “embarrassed to have my wife walk in on on me playing this” territory, but its close.

Now for the positive.  The music.  It is AWESOME.  Like, top 20 game soundtracks of all time awesome.  I can’t think of any game that went so all in on the hard rock/heavy metal like GGX2 did (except for Brutal Legend, but that’s kind of an outlier).  These riffs are incredible and they really pace the action.  As it is this game plays fast and the shredding, speed/thrash metal soundtrack really adds something to it.

So now that that’s out of the way, how does the game actually play?  Pretty damn well.  You have four standard attacks, a kick, a punch and two slashes, and each character has a bevy of specialty moves.  There’s a good mix of button combos, “rotation” moves and charging moves.  You can dash forward or backwards by double tapping the Dpad and all of this can be done in the air.  A lot of fighting games have experimented with air combat and failed, but it works really well here.  The control is tight and responsive and the special moves work as they are supposed to, which is more than you can say for most fighting games.  With 23 selectable fighters, all with unique styles, there is a little something for everybody.

Perhaps the games biggest success is how it nails the “easy to learn, tough to master” space that fighting games should always strive for.  You will be able to stomp the first few computer opponents just by mashing buttons.  Soon, you will have to master special moves and chain attacks together.  To consistently beat the best opponents, you will need to master concepts like Roman Cancels and dead angel attacks.  There is so much to learn, but you could also pick the game up and have a good time without even looking at the manual or Gamefaqs.  To me, that is the essential feature that separates good fighting games from bad ones.

The graphics in the game are top notch.  As you could probably tell, I am not a huge fan of the anime style, but its well done.  The backgrounds are particularly awesome, they are well drawn and feature a lot of little details.  Few of the stages are static and the ones that still look great.  It’s almost a relief when you fight on one as all the cool effects in the other backgrounds can get distracting.  All the characters are well designed and the their animations all fit.

Really, everything about the game is quality.  I wouldn’t call it revolutionary or life-changing, but fighting game fans will really find something to enjoy here.  There is some fan service BS here, but it wasn’t bad enough to make me stop playing and the awesome music more than made up for it.  GGX2 has officially made it into my fighting game rotation.

8.25/10

Play this if:

You are bored of all the fighting game standbys

Games like Marvel Vs. Capcom have too much going on for you, but games like Street Fighter or Tekken don’t have enough

You like more mature oriented anime like Trigun or Akira

Avoid this if:

You really can’t handle the anime stuff

You prefer fighting games with combo systems like Mortal Kombat 3 or Killer Instinct (even then, you will still find some enjoyment here)