Fighting game background:
Street Fighter
Tekken
Virtual Fighter
Smash Bros
Power Stone
Soul Calibur
Killer Instinct
Mortal Combat (mostly the originals)
Super nintendo power ranger zord fighting game (was so awesome)
Marvel Vs Capcom
Now I wouldnt say im super hardcore, but I at least pick a few characters and beat the game/learn the moves for them, and do decently in online matches up.
Now enough about myself lets get to the game.
- Look and Feel
The game is a 2D figher with an anime style. There are 12 characters, all of which are unlocked from the begining. Each character has their own unique moves and style of play and from what ive plaied none are extremely over powered. The pacing of fights are a little faster the Street Fighter 4. So not to fast to turn away newbies, but fast enough that battles can be changed very quickly, and theres no lumbering.
What makes the pacing in this game is that every character can double jump, dash, and can air dash. Coupleing that with the ability to do 2 levels of blocking, one which is a normal block that you take a small amount of damage, and one where you "barrier block". While blocking with the barrier you take no damage but the barrier meter depletes. If your Barrier meter gets fully sued up you cant use a barrier blast, which is a one time mvoe per fight that can break you out of a combo. Also each character has a super move or 2, and a finisher move.
The finisher move can only be done on the last fight, if one or the other wins it will win the entire fight. Also the character who does it has to be under a certain health percentage. These moves called "Astral Finishes" do a complete KO if they land. The Astral Finishes though are all locked in the begining until you ebat arcade mode with that character.
- Game Modes
Arcade, Story, Time attack, Online, Versus modes are all in the game. Amazingly the story mode is quiet deep. Each character has multiple endings and the storys are quiet good. Each character has their own story line also.
Arcade Made is what you expect, fight 10 people and a boss and win. The Online mode is done very well. The network coding theya re sueing minimizes lag and their skill ratings are very accurate, so you wont jsut got wtfpwned when you get online.
So far ive been completely impressed by this game. The graphics and controls are very spot on. I never feel cheated in any battles and everything feels very solid. Also the game comes with a DVD that has strategys and mvoes for every character, which I thought is nice touch.
Overall I give this game 9/10 and encourage you to try it out.