Monthly Archives: May 2016

MELTY BLOOD: Actress Again Current Code Ultra Hyper Fighting Edition Review

By Jason Parker (Ragachak)

 

Melty Blood Current Code Review

Melty Blood is an Anime-style fighting game that has roots in anime such as FATE/Stay Night, as well as the Visual Novel/Doujin Tsukihime.  It’s high-octane, fast-paced fighting, with a lot of unique game mechanics [with equally unique and complicated names…  While the Melty Blood franchise is pretty old, and has quite a few iterations under its belt, this particular title is the last in the series from what I understand. That, however, leads to one of my only complaints on this title. Melty Blood: Actress Again Current Code has been out in Japan since 2011. [Dec. 31 to be exact]. We didn’t get it until April 19th, 2016.  I love this game, and I spent many, many hours playing it in my youth in Community College, huddled around a laptop or desktop, swearing had by all. But, I’m more than a little bummed that it wasn’t touched up a bit or updated, even if it is a fantastic version of the game.

Melty Blood Current Code Review

With a good 30+ characters, three combat styles, and an in-depth [read as: More insane and twisted than Blaz Blue or Guilty Gear put together] backstory, Melty Blood has something for fighters of all skill levels. However, I feel it pertinent to state that the people that are playing this game have been likely playing it for a very long time. Ranked Play might be pretty damn rough. Video Editor ColtronXL and I also put together a video review of this game where you can see some gameplay in action! We might even look semi-competent. That doesn’t mean we can hang with the bad boys online. Do you like Guilty Gear? Arcana Heart? Blazblue?  If so, you’ll find something here to put work into.  The controls are tight, the combos are very flexible, and there are several variations, or styles for each character. Which leads me to. . .

Melty Blood Current Code Review

Moons! There are three Moon Styles in this game, which you may easily liken to the “ism” system of Street Fighter Alpha 3. Instead of Xism [One Super], Aism [Several Supers] and Vism [Variable Combo], the Moons change some of the special moves of a character, as well as how the entire character is played! We have:

Crescent Moon: This moon/style plays like a traditional Melty Blood game. Great combos, but the damage output is pretty low. It also has the most control over special Meter. They can’t charge Heat Gauge, but anytime it’s over 100% you can activate HEAT Mode.  Crescent Moon has more abilities to dodge, parry or evade, with 2[Down]A+B as a dodge move. It also receives “Reverse Beat,” which is something Full Moon cannot do. Reverse Beat allows you to chain moves backwards. What that means, is you can cancel your slow attacks into quick jabs, negating the recovery time penalty. However, damage scaling is very high. Crescent Moon is what I imagine high-level players use more frequently.

Melty Blood Current Code Review

Half Moon: Average Combo power, but fairly low damage unless extended combos occur. It also has the least amount of meter management, which is pretty dangerous. Unlike Full Moon, it can definitely Reverse Beat. They can’t hold Shield, but instead they have a healthy guard bar to make up for it. Unlike the others, they have a very nice combo follow up to extend their combos and get more damage: 6[Forward]AA after A to link more manly damage. The way it’s described in game it feels like an Easy Mode, similar to Marvel Super Heroes’ “Auto Mode,” but that’s not accurate. Not quite as fun as. . .

Full Moon:  Power. POWER. Smaller combos, but lots of big damage here. My personal favorite! You can’t Reverse Beat, so combos are pretty simple. Think of them like Blazblue/Guilty Gear gatling-style combos where you generally go A-B-C with some restrictions on positioning.  You get tons of meter [300%] and you can enter BLOOD HEAT Mode, which is similar to Crescent’s BLOOD HEAT; Full Moon gets all their Red Life back instantly though.  They can’t dodge or air dodge, so you have to all-in and commit to your combos. You can’t EX Shield but you can use a successful shield block to cancel into a Special [or EX] or Shield Counter. It might seem they do less, but the canceling and simple combos can lead to big time damage. They can also charge their Meter with A-B-C, but that’s pretty dangerous to do.

Melty Blood Current Code Review

So every character has 3 modes as you can see. And with 31 or 32 characters, three styles each, you can do insane amounts of things in this game. That makes it so hard to plan or plot for what a player will do, unless you know them personally. There’s so much going on here, and of course, there’s Online casuals and Ranked play, for those bold enough to step into the digital arena. And while we’re on the topic of buttons, there’s one important thing to mention! When you’re taking damage, if you time your button mashing right, you can reduce the damage you take! You see a little button pop up in the bottom of your side of the screen, above your meter. Great way to take less damage if you can time it right. This game [kind of] rewards mashing! Use this knowledge wisely.

 

Melty Blood Current Code Review

Time For “Parking Lot Grand Finals”

Conclusion: Get It [If you’re into this sort of thing]

Melty Blood is a hard game to rate on our usual scale. It’s really a niche title. Anime Fighters are more popular than ever, and this one was never really in the forefront, with titles like Blazblue and Arcana Heart sitting around. But ArcSys has given us the gift they should have given us five years ago, with Current Code. I’m still miffed it hasn’t received any physical updates, or maybe even something new in the way of characters. But honestly? It has enough. This game will keep crowds happy without any effort. Coming up with combos, trying new styles and ways to play it, it’s definitely worth a buy. The $20 is worth it.  Again, check out the Bottom Tier review to see what is going on under the hood!

 

Melty Blood Current Code Review

It Builds Character, Bubbie:

+ So. Many. Characters. Nuns, Robot Nuns, Maids with Ladders, Vampires, Satan German Men with Chimera Powers, Naraku in a button-down, Schoolboys, Schoolgirls, Tag Teams, you name it, you got it.

  • Perhaps too many characters, coupled with all the styles. It can be incredibly overwhelming to deal with for someone new to the series, and those new to fighting games will drown.

 

Melty Blood Current Code Review

Controls as Tight as a Maiden’s <Censored>:

+ Controls are strong, combos are fluent. You can do really insane things like combo into command grapples, beat someone across the screen, juggles, you name it, it’s probably here.

  • I don’t really care for there being three styles that are so grossly different. I went into a match, switching from Full to Crescent Moon and had all new moves, without even realizing it until it was far too late. . .

 

Ready to see Melty Blood in action? Catch our video review at MMOHuts!

Melty Blood PC First Look Bottom Tier

Atlas Reactor Closed Beta Key Giveaway

OnRPG has partnered with Trion Worlds to welcome players into a new kind of tactical MOBA, Atlas Reactor.

It’s always your turn in Atlas Reactor, the upcoming Team Tactics game from Trion Worlds. Simultaneous turns breed fast paced action in this battle for the last Reactor on the planet! Outsmart your foes, coordinate your team into position, and strike from the direction they least expect as turns play out in real time with a colorful and ever growing cast of animated characters.

 

To Redeem your Key:

  • Visit the Atlas Reactor redemption page here.
  • Sign-up for and sign into your Trion Worlds account.
  • Enter your key once signed in. Follow instructions to download and begin playing!

 

Melty Blood: Actress Again – Current Code

Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code is a 2D fighting game developed by FRENCH-BREAD and published by Arc System Works. Based on the popular TYPE MOON series, players can experience the final episode in the series in all of its definitive glory.

Features:

Combat Freedom: Pick between three different fighting styles: Crescent Moon Style, Full Moon Style and Half Moon Style, each of which affects each character differently. Experiment away with each to discover a combat style that suits your play style.

Character Variety: With over 31 characters available plus three styles for each, the roster essentially contains up to 93 unique fighters in total.

Deep Lore: Built up from over years of character and story development, this final entry into the series contains hours of lore to read up and enjoy.

Online play: Hop into network mode to enjoy ranked, public or private matches.

ARK: Survival of the Fittest May Survivor League Begins

ARK: Survival of the Fittest May Survivor League Begins

Studio Wildcard, the developer team that created the definitive online dinosaur survival experience ARK: Survival Evolved, announced today the start of the May ‘Survivor League’ for its competitive spin-off ARK: Survival of the Fittest. This monthly contest counts down the days to when the timer hits zero and the highest-scoring Survivors are then invited to compete for a $65,000+ prize pool. Check out the April Survivor League winning tribes HERE.

Looking for even more cash to build your mad dino taming skills? During May and June, registered four-player ‘Tournament Mode’ Tribes can compete for a spot in the first ever Offline “Summer Cup: Season One,” which will bring together the world’s top ARK: Survival of the Fittest teams during China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference (ChinaJoy 2016) to compete for a $42,000 cash pool. More information can be found at www.PlayArk.com/summercup where tribe leaders can register their teams right now.

NOTE! Recent Changes Made to Season 1: Summer Cup

  • Six-player Tribes have been removed
  • Four-player Tribes have now become the Official Tournament Mode
  • Match times have been reduced for shorter, more action-packed gameplay
  • The 40 top-scoring Summer Cup registered players from both May and June will be invited to a Finals Match on July 1 (80 players in total). At its discretion, Studio Wildcard also may invite additional contestants to complete four-player Tribes, depending on their score placement
  • The top eight Tribes (approximately 32 players in all) will be invited to ChinaJoy in Shanghai for the Offline Summer Cup Championship matches, where they’ll meet up to compete with four top Chinese Tribes

The ongoing ‘Survivor League’ rankings for all elite titles in ARK: Survival of the Fittest are visible in real-time on SurviveTheArk.com at launch.

Mighty No. 9 Announces Release Date

Mighty No. 9 Announces Release Date

Keiji Inafune has released an announcement for Mighty No. 9 after a long wait.

The game’s release date has been confirmed for June 21, 2016 (North America, Asia) and June 24, 2016 (rest of the world). This “going gold” announcement means that the game is finally ready for distribution and gives a solid date to look for the game’s release.

PS Vita and Nintendo 3DS versions will have their release dates announced at a later point.

Read the full letter to the community here.