Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet

For those unfamiliar with the light novel and anime franchise it is based on, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet may seem weird – First, while there is online multiplayer, the entirety of the game is single player-centric. Additionally, the “sword” in the title may seem like a misnomer because the game revolves around guns. But bear with us, it makes sense in the end.

For the uninitiated, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is a 3rd person shooter RPG based on the Gun Gale Online part of Reki Kawahara’s Sword Art Online light novel and anime franchise. Unlike previous Sword Art Online games, Fatal Bullet follows a user-created custom character inside a VR MMORPG game called Gun Gale Online. The user character’s story will intersect with those of the franchise’s main characters Kirito, Asuna, and the rest of their crew.

The Online part of the name pertains only to the faux VR MMORPG. The player gets to roleplay a person who plays the fictional VR MMO called Gun Gale Online. The in-game world’s population of player characters are only computer-controlled AI. The actual multiplayer is limited to a couple of modes where characters either try to duel each other or fight alongside each other against a Boss Monster, competing on who gets to do the most damage before the monster falls.

Story

It is not surprising that the story is decent, given that the game is based on a light novel. Obviously, people who dislike Sword Art Online will not like the game’s story as it is an almost direct adaptation, but SAO fans will definitely love the twists and the game, as far as we know, contains a plot thread that is exclusive to the game. So it is still worth experiencing even if you have already read the novel.

Graphics

Befitting of a 3D anime game, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet uses a 3D cel-shaded engine that aims to simulate the look of 2D cel-shaded anime. While it is still obviously a 3D game, the visuals do a great job by perfectly showing its characters as inspired by anime visuals, without looking out of place in the 3D environment. Some versions (particularly the PC port) also take advantage of post processing techniques to add more flourish to the visuals, most notably its use of chromatic aberration. This gives the game a slightly blurred but cinematic look.

Gameplay

When it comes to gameplay, Fatal Bullet can be a bit of a hit and miss. There is obvious potential in how the game handles. The characters handle perfectly depending on how you build them (as expected of an RPG, leveling up gives you points that can be invested into different attributes such as agility, dexterity, strength, etc – with each stat affecting different factors such as handling of the character, damage, inventory capacity, aiming efficiency, etc.)

The aiming is also forgiving. There is auto-aim that is functional but will not do as good of a job as manual aiming. This means beginners can rely on the auto-aim at first, until they get accustomed to manual aiming where they can do optimal damage.

The combat is not perfect, though. Some handling issues are present particularly when it comes to the use of two non-gun weapons: the UFC, which is a grappling hook that can be used to climb up places require some getting used to. And the photon swords will require practice to use effectively, because there is no lock-in targeting, you will have to struggle with the camera controls a bit in order to avoid hitting a lot of thin air. Fortunately, the photon swords provide some of the most consistently large damages in the game (bested only by the slow and heavy sniper rifles), and provide the ability to block bullets and lasers, which provides a tradeoff to its limited range and unwieldiness.

The game, we feel, could have also benefited from a cover system. Fortunately, your character is very mobile so the lack of a cover system does not hinder survivability, provided that you can adapt to its more fast-paced gunplay.

Replayability

Another glaring drawback to the game is its length. The campaign is extremely short, and can be finished in one sitting if not for some artificial lengthening tricks such as the need to grind affinity for each of the side characters in order to get the true ending, and the addition of a fourth wall-breaking time-rewind capability to the plot. People who love grinding may find this a plus, but people who just want to go through the story once should read a guide first, so that they can fulfill all the requirements for the true ending on their first playthrough, thus removing the need to rewind and re-grind.

All in all, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is by no means a perfect game. There is potential for the game to appeal to people who are not fans of the franchise, but it has glaring flaws that may be dealbreakers for people who are just looking for a good third person shooter. So if you are coming in and looking for an anime version of The Division, you should temper your expectations or else you’ll come out disappointed. Fans of the Sword Art Online franchise, on the other hand, will definitely enjoy this flawed, yet faithful adaptation of the Gun Gale Online arc.

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 (Playstation 2)

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 is the second Gundam-themed crowd-brawling game on the Playstation 2, from the company that made the genre popular – KOEI. It’s basically Dynasty Warriors with the historical theme replaced by a mish-mash of all the Gundam licenses at that point – from the original Mobile Suit Gundam all the way to SEED, with each franchise lending two to four suits from its roster.

Visually, the game looks decent for a Playstation 2 game but pales in comparison to other Gundam games on the system (particularly Mobile Suit Gundam vs. Zeta Gundam,) as the suits look particularly tiny and the sparse environments do a poor job of providing a sense of scale. Additionally, many of the textures look muddy and the variety in environment design leave a lot to be desired.

Gameplay and combat is exactly what you’d expect from a Dynasty Warriors game – you pick a pilot, a mobile suit (you can mix and match, btw), and run around a map killing random enemy mobile suits along with the occasional boss suit. There’s a lot of stuff added to give the gameplay more depth - like the ability to boost dash and block, the ability to launch different types of attacks depending on button combinations and sequences, the gundam’s equivalent of a musou super attack, and for some suits – a transformation. However, the sum is less than its parts as they all result in combat that is clunky and imprecise.

The main trouble has to be with targeting. Pressing one of the shoulder buttons allows you to keep the camera steady so that it doesn’t rotate all over the place while you’re running around and wading through hundreds of enemies, but there’s no way to lock-on to a target. When you’re blasting and slashing your way through a ton of enemies, it shouldn’t be a problem, but when you’re trying to hit a specific mobile suit (particularly a boss), you’ll find yourself hitting thin air a lot of times as your enemy is thrown away from the path of your attack. The auto-combo feature further compounds this problem.

Mobile Suit Gundam vs. Zeta Gundam (GC/PS2)

There’s a port of Mobile Suit Gundam vs. Zeta Gundam for the Playstation 2 and the Gamecube, with the Playstation 2 receiving both an English and Japanese version. This review will apply to both since there’s very little difference between them outside of what the hardware entails (e.g. the GC version naturally has better loading times.)

Now for the skinny: Mobile Suit Gundam vs. Zeta Gundam is a third person action game based on Yoshiyuki Tomino’s iconic mecha franchise. The game puts you in control of a mobile suit, drops you and a partner in a large expansive stage, and pits you against enemy mobile suits.

The choice of mobile suits and armors is limited to the ones you’ll find on the original series, Zeta Gundam, Gundam ZZ, and the movie Char’s Counterattack. You won’t find any suits from the Gundam Wing or Seed franchises in here, and you won’t find any from the Unicorn series either even though that’s set in the same timeline.

Mitsume Ga Tooru/The Three Eyed One (NES/Famicom)

Mitsume ga Tooru is based on the same-titled manga and anime franchise from Osamu Tezuka. You play the role of the bald, three-eyed Hosuke Sharaku, who is supposed to be the last of his kind. The intro shows that another three eyed man named Prince Godaru invaded Sharaku’s city while riding on the ancient tank Gomorrah, Godaru then destroys a large part of the city and kidnaps Sharaku’s friend, Wato Chiyoko. From thereon, you play a sidescrolling/platforming action game similar to Mega Man, using Sharaku’s ability to shoot energy from his third eye and his ability to summon an ancient spear called the Akai Condor, which not only serves as a powerful offensive projectile, but also as an additional platform if you need to jump higher. There’s also a store that you can access at the beginning of each stage where you can buy upgrades for your health, weapons, etc.

Basically, if you enjoy Mega Man, you’ll enjoy Mitsume Ga Tooru. Especially because Mitsume ga Tooru isn’t punishingly difficult. There are a number of things that make it easier than even the least difficult Mega Man game, the most notable being the presence of a health bar, which means you don’t die from one hit. There’s room for mistakes in this game. The controls are fairly responsive and there’s no floatiness so it’s not difficult to do precision jumps despite Sharaku’s limited mobility. Besides, the Akai Condor will help you reach places beyond Sharaku’s jumping ability.

Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst (PC)

If the title hasn’t made it clear yet, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst isn’t the first entry in the series. In fact, it isn’t the 3rd one either as the series goes way, way back as it traces its roots to the Clash of Ninja series on the Gamecube. However, it is worth tackling because it is the first one to be ported to the PC, which is amazing because the PC isn’t the platform of choice when it comes to fighting games and games based on anime/manga franchises. Yet here we are, UNS3FB for the PC, with UNS Revolution reportedly following suit.

The Story

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst is a 3D cel-shaded fighting game based on Masashi Kishimoto’s extremely popular shonen franchise, featuring a story mode that takes you from the first appearance of the masked man (spoiler: who claims to be Madara Uchiha but is eventually revealed to be someone else) all the way to the fourth great ninja war.

The progression of the story isn’t linear, as it uses flashbacks to tackle key points from the past (pre-timeskip stories are only addressed in flashbacks.) Additionally, the ending deviates from the story in the manga and anime, probably to give it a proper ending – which it can’t if it tries to remain true to the manga’s (which is still unfinished.)

Dragon Ball Origins (Nintendo DS)

Dragon Ball Origins is a third person action adventure game in the same vein as Legend of Zelda, based on Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball manga and anime franchise. Note the absence of the “Z” prefix – this game is based on the early parts of the series, with a young Goku who exhibits powers and abilities above those of normal men, but not at the point where he shoots lasers that can level planets and move faster than the speed of light.

In a way, this is a good thing because this allows the game to focus more on exploration and challenging combat, because Goku doesn’t have the option to just Kamehame Wave every problem until it gets solved. As mentioned above – it’s a Zelda-like game so you’ll be fighting various cannon fodders, the occasional end level boss, and will be faced with various puzzles. There are a couple of frustrating parts in the game, as some levels that require backtracking, but the puzzles themselves aren’t too difficult and can be solved without the need for a FAQ.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (Nintendo DS)

The Nintendo DS isn’t exactly the handheld of choice if you want games based on the Gundam franchise, so Mobile Suit Gundam 00 should at least get points for bringing the franchise to Nintendo’s dual screen handheld. To wit, it’s the best action Gundam game on the DS, but that isn’t saying much considering that it’s the only one on the system (the Gundam Seed-based one was cancelled for who knows what reason.)

The game is Japanese-only, and can be text-heavy. Thankfully, the game itself is an air-combat-based shooter, so it doesn’t require an understanding of the story. And the menus and dialogue scenes can be navigated easily. Personally, I just pressed A like spastic madman until the giant-robot-shooting action starts.

Gameplay-wise, Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (Kidou Senshi Gundam 00) uses an engine similar to the one on the PS2, where you’re basically piloting an airplane shaped like a Gundam. There’s no ground combat, and while you do have a melee attack, it’s not as useful as simply shooting down everything that crosses your path. The fact that you’ll end up destroying enemies before they get close enough to recognize makes the game kind of lonely – you’re a lone Gundam shooting down various dark-colored shapes.

Rurouni Kenshin: Enjou! Kyoto Rinne (PS2)

Rurouni Kenshin: Enjou! Kyoto Rinne is a 3rd person action adventure game for the Playstation 2, based on Nobuhiro Watsuki’s popular manga and anime franchise, Rurouni Kenshin. The story follows the series closely, taking you from the start of the series (with Kenshin’s fight against Jin-E serving as the tutorial) all the way to Makoto Shishio’s defeat.

Let’s get this out of the way first: Rurouni Kenshin: Enjou! Kyoto Rinne is quite possibly the best Rurouni Kenshin title to date (even besting the two PSP fighters) when it comes to adapting the series into game format. However, it can also be inaccessible to people who can’t read Japanese, despite being an action title. The reason lies in the fact that the fights are framed by a story mode that requires you to walk around town and talk to people, with some parts of the story requiring you to talk to the right NPC and say the right thing in order to advance. Saitou Hajime’s story mode, for instance, will stump non-Japanese speakers because it requires you to solve a murder mystery.

Thankfully, there are translations and FAQs floating all over the net, or if you just want to unlock the survival and boss rush mode, you can just download/copy a save with all the characters unlocked (since the game is playable on PCSX2, this becomes an easy task.)

When it comes to gameplay, once you get past the story parts, you can start enjoying the meat of the game. As mentioned above, it’s a third person action game that puts you in control of either Himura Kenshin, Saitou Hajime, or Sanosuke Sagara (with Aoshi Shinomori also available as an unlockable character.)

One Piece Grand Adventure (Gamecube)

One Piece Grand Adventure, which is based on Eiichiro Oda’s long-running pirate-themed shonen manga/anime franchise, is a multiplayer fighting/party game for the Nintendo Gamecube in the same vein as Super Smash Bros., with the key difference being that the action is shown from an isometric third person view, whereas SSB shows the action from a 2D perspective.

The characters in One Piece Grand Adventure are rendered in a slightly cute-sy form, with heads that are slightly bigger than their bodies, but not disproportioned enough to be considered as comical in nature. The level of detail is exceptional, and you do get a good representation of the characters from the series – there are 24 in total playable characters, but you’ll have to unlock them through some special conditions (more on that later) – and the settings encountered throughout the story.

As implied above, Grand Adventure is not your straightforward fighting game. You can jump, attack, grab items for use or for throwing, and perform special attacks, but you also need to navigate the arena/stages, which are littered with environment hazards, traps, and support items. Add the fact that there can be as many as 4 characters and a couple of interactive NPCs on the stage at once and you have yourself a very chaotic game. As I said, it’s more Super Smash Bros. than Tekken.

Dragonball Z Tenkaichi Tag Team (PSP)

Dragonball Z Tenkaichi Tag Team is basically Budokai Tenkaichi 3 in portable form, with one major change: as the title implies, it now features true tag team action wherein 4 players can fight in the arena at the same time. BT3 only has 1 vs. 1, with the ability to switch to different characters.

Graphics-wise, they chose to forego cel-shading and just went with the traditional textured polygons, which sadly made the game look rough and less anime-like, especially when compared to the other series of Dragonball games on the PSP, the Shin Budokai series. It still looks good so it’s not a dealbreaker. It just feels like a step down visually.

Gameplay remains largely the same. You fly around a large stage and have the option to use ki blasts, gigantic beams, or melee the heck out of your opponents. All of the combat features that you would expect from a Dragonball game are there – in-game transformations, beam struggles, teleports, meteo attacks, etc. You won’t miss anything if you’re approaching this game straight from Budokai Tenkaichi 3. However, there’s one minor change that kind of breaks combat a bit: your opponent can now move while you’re in the middle of launching a super attack.

Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo (Wii)

Let’s get this out of the way first. Unless you’re a REALLY, REALLY big fan of the Dragon Ball series – the one with Goku as a young boy with exceptional martial arts abilities, not the one where he’s a blonde man who can punch cities into dust – you’d best stay away from this title. That’s not to say that Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo doesn’t have any redeeming value. It’s a actually a decent game, Dragon Ball fan or not, and has extra content that would put other games to shame. It’s just that even with all the polish, graphical and content-wise, it still only comes off as a mediocre game.

Adding insult to injury, the Gameboy Advance’s Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure manages to do everything that Revenge of King Piccolo aspired to do and more, for a fraction of the hardware power. Which means Revenge of King Piccolo is further demoted from being a mediocre game to being an unnecessary one.

Mobile Suit Gundam vs. Gundam Next Plus (PSP)

Mobile Suit Gundam vs. Gundam Next Plus is a 3rd person arena shooter that takes several dozen gundams from the franchise’s long, storied history, and pits them against each other in deathmatches (anywhere from 1 vs. 1 to 2 vs. 2) in large expansive battlegrounds set on various locations ranging from urban city landscapes to outer space.

The Game and the Story

This is more of a commemorative game for the Gundam franchise’s 40th anniversary, so you won’t find much in the way of story. It just takes two to 4 mobile suits/armors from each series and gives you a chance to pit them against each other. The lack of a story isn’t much of a problem, as this is all about action-packed fights between some of the best-looking mechas in the history of ever.

The controls are fairly easy. You just use the analogue or digital pad to move, the face buttons for various long range and melee attacks, and the shoulder buttons can be used for super moves and assists. Some characters have screen filling attacks or transformed modes (e.g. the Unicorn Gundam’s awakened state) that provide damage or speed bonuses.