Guilty Gear is Back for the Xrd Time

Arc System Works had to wait a while before they could make a new Guilty Gear game, and that put them in a precarious predicament. When they decided to break away from publisher Sammy, who around that time merged with Sega, they couldn’t take the IP with them. This led to the company changing some plans, to quickly find something profitable after losing and negotiating unsuccessfully for their biggest franchise.  Though Blazblue was apparently intended to be an RPG, it had to become their main fighting game franchise because they had nothing else. While Blazblue is a fine fighter that has its audience, it’s not a replacement for Guilty Gear.

There’s no need to worry anymore, though, because the newest game in the series is now available: Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-. A pity you’ll have to visit an arcade in Japan to play it at the moment. This new title has a unique graphical technique that’s not only new to Arc System Works, but it’s also one no other developer has used. At first glance, you’d think it was a 2D game with redesigned sprites for each character, especially if you’re simply looking at screenshots. But once you’ve seen it in motion, you’ll realize it’s using 3D models, in a game made to look like it’s 2D.

And man would I like to see the looks on some people’s faces when you tell them that Arc used Unreal Engine 3 for the job. Too many people  still think that engine can only render dull grey and brown surfaces with beefcake guys. Though some of GG’s characters are noticeably more muscular than previous iterations, that’s an intentional decision.

With that new graphical technique comes an unfortunate compromise: not all of your favorite characters have returned in GGXrd. It includes 12 returning characters and two new faces, meaning if you played Bridget, Jam, Zappa, Anji Mito, Baiken, Dizzy, Testament, Johnny, A.B.A. you’ll have to learn someone else. That’s nine characters who ware MIA, so it’s not difficult to imagine the level of disappointment being directed at Arc. That’s, of course, assuming you plan on playing this version at all. It’s a game from Arc System Works here, meaning there will undoubtedly be another version released in another year or so. Just cross your fingers and hope it’s not a forced retail upgrade, as inevitable as that may be.

Also unfortunate is of those two new characters, only one is playable: Bedman, a kid in a super-short shirt wearing no pants, who fights while sitting on a bed. It’s the kind of character you should expect in a series whose fighters represent common anime tropes. The other new character is the final boss, Ramletherl Valentine, who’s likely a time-release character. Sin Kiske, who travels around with Sol Badguy, could become part of the cast too, considering videos show he already has a character model. While more characters being unlocked after a certain amount of time wouldn’t be unprecedented, the amount of characters is still lower than many would like.

Despite the complaints, though, it’s an acceptable amount for a new iteration with a fully-revamped graphics system. This actually works out for both Arc System Works and those who want to play it — and not because lightened the workload for the former, though that’s part of it. A smaller initial cast will make it easier for the developers to balance the game, making every character can be viable and on equal footing. For players, that ideally means they’ll be able to choose the character they’re interested in and focus on them, without worrying about who’s higher or lower on the tier lists. And with a lower cast count, it will be easier to find a character to settle on. See? It’s not all bad, if that happens. Heavily emphasize the word “ideally” there.

Since few outside of Japan can play it for a while, with arcades busy being dead over here, we’ll have to tide ourselves over with match videos on video services like Youtube. And plenty of them are there now, and though some are leaving theirs unlisted lest Arc System Works is still deleting them (recording footage is banned in Japan, unless they have official approval), you’ll find plenty that aren’t. The game will release on Playstation 4 and Playstation 3 sometime later this year in Japan, and hopefully that will be the case for the west too. It’s taking Blazblue: Chrono Phantasma for PS3 six months to make it here after its Japanese release, which is ridiculous — especially for a fighting game. It’s tough to think GGXrd won’t take that long, but hopefully Arc comes to their senses by then.

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