Back in the day, you could get by with just scraped knees.
In fighting games, I mean.
None of this combo nonsense, no hyper gauges, if you said “False Roman Cancel” people
would just look at you funny.
Hell, even now, people will look at you funny, unless they play a lot of Guilty Gear.
And that’s a segue!
Nope, this isn’t Guilty Gear.
But it’s made by Arc System Works, the same people who made Guilty Gear, and Blazblue,
and... erm.
Fist of the North Star.
But this is different!
This has 3D models!
It’s still a 2D fighter, though, and every other art asset is strongly rendered in a
kind of storybook-slash-watercolor style, but it’s still an Arc fighter.
It’s just a kinda stripped-down, simple, and less hectic Arc fighter.
A little more oldschool than their usual envelope-pushing faire.
Less a battle royale and more a Battle Fantasia.
Here’s where you include great-evil-threatening-the-world.h, assemble a team of high-spirited fighters,
including a corpulent king, a catgirl waitress (because the game is Japanese, after all),
a dude riding a laser chainsaw, and... a rabbit in a hat.
With a magic wand.
And constellations.
Look, it’s obvious that aesthetic trumps sense in this particular venture.
And that’s simultaneously the best and worst thing about it.
If you’re coming into this with fresh eyes, yeah, it’s a fighting game.
It’s got a colorful cast, all the usual fruit like training modes, online multiplayer,
art gallery, the standard package.
There’s a full story mode for each character as well, and these tend to be a little light
on the fighting and a little heavy on the radio drama.
But it tells a cute story, in its very storybook setting, and it’s fine at what it does.
The actual game mechanics are sound (if a bit low-tech), the models look decent enough,
and the backgrounds are interesting and well-crafted.
(I have to question how comfortable those old women are with having a duel to the death
right in the middle of their village, but they seem happy enough with their ringside
seats.)
That said, this game comes with a pedigree.
And if you’re familiar with those that came before it, you’re probably going to be a
little...
underwhelmed.
While the new Heat Up mode presents more depth to each character, the move lists are trimmed
back a bit from Guilty Gear’s level of diversity and options.
While the on-screen display of hit points is useful information, the variance between,
say, Donvalve and Watson can be somewhat absurd.
This is very much more a game about mastering the basics and running with those, than trying
to tie together huge combos for massive damage.
Sometimes, you want flashy and shiny and rock and roll and explosions.
It’s tough to paint rock and roll with watercolors.
I’m just sayin’.
Battle Fantasia is, unfortunately, doomed to be an also-ran in its own family.
On its own it’s a cute bit of storytelling combined with some classic fighting mechanics,
but that’s about it.
You’re not going to pull this out over Accent Core or Continuum Shift or UMVC3 any time
soon.
Those games have flashier graphics, better combo systems, and a multitude of more modern
features... but do they have a flag?