First and foremost, let me begin by saying Guilty Gear X is my favorite fighting franchise. I have loved this game ever since the first time I rented it, and the first GGX I played was GGX2. It makes use of the phrase “Minutes to learn, years to master” very well.

This game is, of course, a fighting game, so you’d want responsive controls, and fast executing attacks and block-techniques. GGX2 delivers. You’d be suprised how responsive this game is. The instant you insert a button combination on your controller you’re doing it. No lag whatsoever. This game gives you many ways of defending yourself as well, and you’ll quickly learn why no lag is very good. Gameplay can be anywhere from “Low speed dramatic fight” to “So fast you play faster than you think”. Don’t worry, though. You may be thinking that all the best stuff is hard to perform. ‘Fraid not. All the moves are unusually simple to perform, and anything that takes multiple button pressed down simultaneously (i.e. Roman cancels or instant kill mode) can be changed to one button presses on the controller. This ends up being very helpful, as it helps you make tremendous combos.

I’ll admit, I still am a tad lost on the story. I have played, and own every Guilty Gear, but all of them never tell too good a story in Story Mode. The most information I’ve gotten has been from other players. I never thought Sol (Bad-guy) was old. He’s over 150 years old (states so in instruction booklet of GGX). I never would have known. One of the new characters’ (among six new), I-no, comes in to the story as just someone looking to fight Sol, then later you see she works for someone…but who? It’s never explained. Just some weird guys in hoods.

This is a 2D fighter which means whenever you play it, bystanders will say “This game’s graphic’s suck”. That’s not true. The graphics are all in the attack effects. The are beautiful looking, and are intricately animated. They’re colorful, and really bring in your attention. No attacks are skimped out on, either. All of them are fantastic looking. They all match the characters, as well.

On the subject of characters, there are 6 new, as stated before. The new characters are Slayer, I-no, Bridget, Zappa, and, I assume, the previously hidden characters Dizzy and Testament. But let me say that no other fighting games have had characters quite as quirky. You’ll find something you like about at least one character, if not all. You can fall in love with these characters (Sadly, I fell in love with I-no the first time she ripped her shirt off after owning me). What other game has a character that’s “An average everyday guy…who is sadly possessed by demons”, or “A young teen from a rich family who was raised as a girl, but is actually a boy…and dresses like a nun for some reason”? None, that’s what. Some characters are just flat out cool (Sol, Kliff, Johnny) and other’s are just freaky (Zappa, Faust) and some are Chinese chef’s (Jam). Some are corpses that are controlled by evil shadows (Zato-1 A.K.A. Eddie). Don’t forget about the guy who accidentally time travels all the time (Axl-Low). All the character’s a stunningly original, and brilliant. Each of them is perfect for the game, and all of their moves match their personality.

The sound in the game is fine. Definitely miles above GGX and its robot announcer. All character’s voices are in Japanese, so if this doesn’t appeal to you…then…turn off the sound, I guess. The voices all match the character’s, however, so it all “feels” right.

This game is easily replayable. Chances are, you won’t fight on the highest difficulty for a while, in which time you can play one of the many game modes, and the very difficult “Mission” Mode. Matches in this game can be won in one second. This is not a joke, or an exaggeration. Literally one second…Once you unlock Gold Johnny, which involves you investing lots of time into this game. Never fear, however. Every moment spent on this game will be time well enjoyed.

Players Status:
Difficulty: Moderate
Completion Time: 90 hours at least
Highest Level Achieved: N/A
Ratings: Gameplay 10; Battle 10; Story 7; Visuals 8; Characters 10; Sounds 8; Replay Value 9

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 8th, 2005 at 8:44 am and is filed under Guilty Gear X-2, Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.