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The months of May and June see the releases of some of the best fighting games around, “Injustice 2” and “Tekken 7”. However, another renowned franchise also sees a release, and that’s Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 (quite the mouthful) which has been refined over its previous release and comes packed with new characters and story for fans to enjoy.

guilty gear xrd rev 2 the fighter roster

The roster is packed with some really awesome characters.

For me personally, this would be my first time with a “Guilty Gear” game, and that might leave you wondering “is this game is at all accessible to newcomers Sharn?” and I can confirm that this is perfect for newbies and veterans alike! For newbies like myself, there is an extensive tutorial that will put you through several challenges to get to grips with the game; there are also two different control options, one of which (Stylish) lets you pull off special moves with ease. If anything there was only one thing that went over my head and that was the story, oddly unlike other fighting games I’ve played, you can simply watch the story like an anime, but I have to admit I didn’t have a clue whatsoever who was who or what was going on. However, the arcade mode provides stories for each individual character, which is a little easier to follow, and they’re very much enjoyable thanks to the fact the roster is pretty darn bad ass!

In terms of content “Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2” has 25 fighters, 22 stages, an arcade mode, a deep and robust survival mode called M.O.M, online battles and more. There’s also a trophy room where you can display various figures you have collected on your fishing adventures (Fishing is how you acquire new items), here you can display them to your liking and then take screenshots and share them with your friends. Those that enjoyed collecting trophies in Super Smash Bros will feel right at home here. M.O.M mode is somewhere you’ll be spending most of your time, earning in-game currency and trying to last as long as possible, the longer you last the better the reward. You can also purchase consumables to aid you in your survival. In the M.O.M mode, your metal will be tested here as it offers a solid challenge because damage you take carries over to the next match!

The matches are fast, slick and super stylish.

Visually “Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2” is a sight to behold. As it’s like a decent anime in motion. So the characters are incredibly well designed from their intros to their move sets, and they all just look cool as hell. That’s also why I found none of them to be boring or uninteresting while I was looking through the roster. I wanted to give everyone a go. However, I found myself taking a liking to Baiken a bad-ass female samurai! The Japanese voice acting is top-notch too and really shines during the story mode where you can just grab some popcorn and simply enjoy. For those wondering, there is no English Dub so you have to stick with sub titles.

One of Xrd REV 2’s best features is its online space; a hub world where you have an avatar (which can be customised) and can challenge other players in lobbies featuring up to 64 players. You can enter in-game chat to initiate a mini tournament and matches happen as soon as you sit with another player at an arcade unit. There really potential for a solid community for this game, you can even cross play between PS3 and PS4! I played a few games on a US server, because sadly enough. No one is playing the game in UK at the moment. Furthermore, I had no lag whatsoever. In the matter of fact, the only downside that I could think of is that I lost a few games (they were close though). So it’s certainly a unique way to create a virtual space =) And to be honest, it’s the best virtual space I’ve seen in a fighting game so far.

Baiken is a real bad-ass fighter and character.

So, does the game have any negative aspects then? Well, I do have one or two but the only serious one is regard to the DLC. So considering this is supposed to be a perfection of a previous release I must say, there’s already an awful lot of DLC. 36 units, in fact (as it stands on PSN), and that includes everything from costumes, colours and voice packs (which seems just unnecessary. So one would wonder why they aren’t included in the game already). However, on the flip side, the base game along with previous character DLC is included, but surely you would expect that when it’s priced at £49.99. Another issue was the lack of lobbies available to join… And as I stated earlier, very few players were online in the UK. In other words, I had to head west in search of games, but hopefully in the coming weeks that will change. It was pretty depressing walking around an empty hub world.

The online lobby is genius, and it’s one of the best online lobbies that I’ve ever been in.

Nevertheless, “Xrd REV 2” excels through its awesome gameplay. Furthermore, as it’s been a while since we’ve had some decent fighting games and then three come along at once. The hard part is deciding which one to buy, and I do recommend Guilty Gear, if you’re looking for something different, jam-packed with arcade nostalgia and a roster of absolute bad-ass characters. Then Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 hits the beat-em-up sweet spot. This is certainly another fighter worth having in your collection thanks to its online social space and single player content. I was also really impressed that despite being new to the franchise it was incredibly accessible, in the matter of fact. After an hour or so, I was kicking ass in no time. So while the story went over my head, the gameplay certainly didn’t!

Pros:
+ Awesome arcade Experience
+ Online Hub is brilliant
+ Great character Roster

Cons:
– Not many players
– Quite a bit of DLC
– Story is a bit confusing

Gameplay: 5/5
Graphics: 5/5
Sound/music: 4/5
Controls: 4/5
Replay value: 4/5

tgg grade 4.5 out of 5

Verdict: 4.5/5
Arc System Works “Guilty Gear Xrd rev 2” really impressed me as a newcomer. As it’s a truly rock solid 2D arcade fighting game. So much so that it will continue to have my attention even with “Tekken 7” on the horizon.

Title: Guilty Gear Xrd rev 2
Developer: Arc System Works
Format: PS4
Genre: Fighter
Resolution: 1080p
Release date: 2017-05-26
Difficulty: easy to hard
Spent time: 7 Hours
Average grade internationally: 90.00% Gamerankings.com
PEGI age rating: 16+
Price: £49.99