Even though I am terribly bad at fighting games, that doesn’t stop me from enjoying them. One of the few games that I’d like to think that I’m above the average beginner is the Guilty Gear series. With its easy to learn basic combos that evolve to advance combos that can make you say “oh my god, did I just pull that off”, likeable characters and killer soundtrack, the series continues to evolve, now more than ever with the latest entry, Guilty Gear -Strive-. Let’s see what new, what’s the same and what’s going on in the story as we take a look at Guilty Gear -Strive- for the PS4.
Arc System Works is one of the few developers that puts effort in their fighting games’ stories. Aside from BlazBlue, Guilty Gear has a pretty good story and -Strive- builds on that. Taking place after the events of Xrd, and this time around the main focus is on Sol Badguy and the ending of his arc. He travels across the United States in search for Asuka R. Kreutz in order to get his revenge. Why? Honestly I don’t really know as my very first encounter with Guilty Gear was with Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus and even then I couldn’t tell you what the story is about. Don’t worry though as ASW was kind enough to add in a glossary that details every event that has happened between the very first Guilty Gear and -Strive- including character stats and their bios.
The music for Guilty Gear -Strive- is awesome as always. There is something about the music that Arc System Works produces for their fighting games that really gets me pumped. Though the roster count is small, each of the fighters’ themes rock hard, The odd one out would have have to be May. Its a bit more poppy than the rest of the soundtrack, and lately some players have specifically request not to use May’s stage. Personally I don’t see what the problem is, I think the track is really cool.
-Strive- has seen a lot of changes applied with some of its gameplay modes. For starters, Arc System Works have completely separated the story from the arcade mode and made it its own mode entirely. This takes a cue from Xrd, as it has a story mode too but also leaves the story bits intact in its arcade mode. I was surprised and confused at first when I started up arcade mode and wondered “where’s all the story bits?” That surprise and confusion carried over to story mode and I also wondered “Where’s all the fighting?” Once I got past all of that, having them as separate modes I think was a good choice design wise. Another change in modes is the Guilty Gear traditional M.O.M mode aka Medals of Millionaires. It’s now just a normal survival mode. Even with those changes, the training’s mission mode is still one of the more intuitive in fighting games, at least I think so. The first few missions teach you the basics (ie how to dash, jump, hit etc) and gets more challenging as you progress to harder missions. These include things like combos, stringing said combos together, learning certain characters moves and pulling off character specific supers. Speaking of combos and character moves….
The fighting mechanics have changed a bit in Guilty Gear -Strive-. At first I thought it was just me, as it has been a while since I played the previous entry into the series, Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2. As I played -Strive- I noticed that each of the characters, even the quicker rushdown fighters, felt a bit slower yet the combos hit much harder and were a bit more easier to pull off. This made for more slower paced fights online (and in general) but once combos were be landed one after the other, fights felt more like two heavyweight boxers throwing heavy haymakers, which is a spectacle in of itself. I’m personally more used to the quicker pace of the previous games but I do like how heavy and hard each strike feels.
Overall Guilty Gear -Strive- is a very solid fighter that continues to push the series forward in terms of story and fighting mechanics. The music and art continue to look and sound just as great as previous games and with the addition of an encyclopedia players new and old can learn more about the characters and the over all stories of each game. If you are looking to send off the PS4 era with a strong fighter or ready to kick off the PS5 era while waiting for more fighting games, give Guilty Gear -Strive- a shot.
9/10
