Yearly Archives: 2018

Cobalt WASD Review

By Remko Molenaar (Proxzor)

Over the years we have seen a lot of sidescrollers that put a focus on being a successful and joyful shooter, but many of these games are somewhat lackluster. It’s hard to think of one actual shooter in a sidescrolling style that was very fun to enjoy for long periods of time. Perhaps I am an old fart by now, but the one I enjoyed the most was Soldat, a game that first came out back in 2002. Cobalt WASD is a game that tries to make the concept somewhat similar to shooters we know today, with a bomb defusal style of focus to make the game both very fun and tactical to give it a little competitive edge over the others.

Cobalt WASD Review Screenshot

 When you think about most shooters, only some have actually tried to bring in some actual sense of strategy such as bringing the right gun for the right time style of play. Only Counter Strike has actually put in a system that makes the player think twice on how to run his equipment and get the most out of his loadout when going against his opponent. Most other games you simply take the gun that you enjoy the most, and there aren’t any repercussions when dying or losing the round. Cobalt WASD tries to tackle this idea as well, and thus on every start of the round the player is given the option to tweak his loadout and to buy upgrades like weapons, armor, and abilities to utilize in the battle. If you survive, everything from that loadout is kept and taken with you to the next round. When you die, however, you lose everything including all the money you spent on it, and have to ‘build’ your character from the ground up.

Cobalt WASD Review Screenshot

 Cobalt WASD is a sidescroller, but that doesn’t mean the game isn’t as exciting as any other shooter. The player moves at a relatively fast speed, combined with faster rolling and jumping to make the game vertically more pleasing. The player can also get abilities like a grappling hook or even a speed boost to keep the player on their toes at all times. Kitting out your character also makes you a lot harder to hit, be it because of your speed, stealth, or even a equippable shield to surprise your enemies with. The weapons also greatly affect gameplay, since each weapon, be it either a gun orn melee weapon like a spear, excels in different scenarios. Every encounter feels unique on its own, but is so fast paced that you can barely stop to think about it. By the end of the round you are in awe wondering how you are still alive or what went wrong in that specific round.

Cobalt WASD Review Screenshot

Unfortunately the game doesn’t have a whole lot of depth and content to it. The concept of the game is very simple, and the main focus of Cobalt WASD is set on making it just a well shaped and fun all around shooter with the gameplay as its key focus for players to stick around. While I am a big fan of its style and the fast rounds this game has to offer, there is only one reason why I do not dedicate a lot of time to this game. After an hour of playing, the game becomes really stale and you simply start craving something else. Every match you play feels somewhat the same. Despite each fight being unique in its own way, by the end of a session you do feel like you want to play more because the game is simply so fun but small. I would love to see more game modes to keep the game a lot more interesting, be it either in a capture the flag style mode, or even in a mode where you have to survive against zombies or the like. Perhaps even just bigger maps, with bigger player numbers on each side to make the game feel like it isn’t so small and simple.

Cobalt WASD Review Screenshot

There aren’t a ton of players playing the game, and the community for the game simply hasn’t taken off. With the game is published by Mojang, I am sure enough players will eventually flock to the game if the required amount of advertising is given, but the game still feels like it needs more to stay relevant and I am very curious to what the future will bring. In its current state the game is a very simple search and destroy game that I thoroughly enjoy playing, but it does feel like it is somewhat of a mini game. While it is fun to play with friends or against complete strangers, and even the computer. It does wear you out over time and make you crave for some more, and I really hope they will tackle this problem so that players have more of a reason to stick around.

Cobalt WASD Review Screenshot

The concept of Cobalt WASD is actually something great. Over the years we have seen many side scrolling games like this game, but only a few of them were actually still entertaining in the long run. I am still undecided on how Cobalt WASD will actually succeed over time. As of right now it feels like a small indie game that you just launch to occasionally play a game or two. It doesn’t really give you the depth to keep you sticking around. I would love to see some form of competitiveness thrown into the game, because who doesn’t like any sense of achievement climbing through the ranks, slowly getting ranked up with and against players of your own level? It might still be too soon to think about features like these, especially with its current popularity. Cobalt WASD is on the right track to being a very fun shooter that is definitely different from the stereotype shooter of what the industry has to offer today, but it still has to find its niche, its own style to keep the lights on.

Laser League Begins Early Access

Laser League Beta Reactions [PEGI] - YouTube

Laser League is a high-octane multiplayer action sport for PC from indie publisher 505 Games, and development studio ROll7. It’s now available for Early Access on Steam, and from today on, players can join the 2v2/3v3/4v4 matches for incredible, non-stop action. Players interested in helping shape the fast-paced fun can purchase Laser League in Early Access for $14.99, but to celebrate the launch, 505 Games and Roll7 are offering a limited-time 30% discount on the title. Laser League arrives into Early Access polished and balanced, but Roll7 and 505 Games will be closely monitoring player feedback to evolve the experience on the journey to the game’s full launch later this year.

“We have been working on this title in one way, shape or form since 2014 – so we are ecstatic about finally getting it into player’s hands,” said Simon Bennett, studio director, Roll7. “Early Access marks the next phase of the development process, offering our teams an opportunity to gather and implement player feedback in order to further refine the overall game ahead of a full commercial launch in the near future.”

The Laser League Early Access program offers players robust content including:

  • Six powerful classes with two ability modifiers per class:

o   BLADE, which has a sword to slash and eliminate opponents

o   SMASH, which has a shield to knock opponents into lasers

o   THIEF, a tactical role that can steal active rival nodes to change the laser color

o   GHOST becomes invulnerable for a short time and to pass through enemy lasers

o   SHOCK, which delivers area damage that stuns rivals

o   SNIPE generates a line that enables teleportation to kill opponents

  • Three international stadiums with 12 Laser maps:
    • EMPIRE CAMPUS (London, UK): Maps including Gauntlet (restrictive map that escalates in complexity), Nine Club (hypnotic map with slow escalation and space for combat) and Spin Cycle (a defensive map with perpetual long lasers)
    • GENG HAO MEGAPLEX (Tianjin, China): Maps including Crusher (short moving lasers to create pressure and trap opponents), Battleground (end-to-end map with multiple long-beamed nodes) and Ricochet (hectic map with eight moving nodes)
    • SILVERTIP ARENA (Detroit, USA): Maps including Y Control (orbiting long central lasers and short rotating ones), Prime (interlocking lasers forcing team to expand control by owning the center) and Rotator (restrained map featuring close combat with dead zones)
  • 16 available power ups to drastically change gameplay momentum (Including, SWITCH, DRAIN, REVIVE, REVERSE or SPEED UP)
  • More than 60 characters and 250 character customizations

 

Spring Back into Dark and Light with the Spring Festival

Dark and Light Spring Festival

The chill of winter is loosening its grip on Archos, and with that, Dark and Light welcome the Spring Festival in preparation for major updates over the next couple of months. Today, a small patch drops to mark the Spring Festival, where the skies of Archos light up with ancient fireworks that drop from barrels and cave bosses or can be bought from city vendors. Players can also gather to catch a fireworks show in Archos’ major cities each night of the festival. The ‘Structure Demolish’ Timer has been removed for now. This patch also includes some updates to the game, such as the removal of the ‘Demolish Structure’ Timer. The full patch notes for this can be found here.

Street Fighter IV: Champion Edition Headed To Android

Street Fighter IV Champion Edition news

Street Fighter V might be in its third season, but Street Fighter IV is still alive and kicking! It’s coming to Android in the form of Street Fighter IV: Champion Edition! 32 world warriors are coming to mobile, with familiar controls and action. It also offers various settings and tutorials to help the more casual player walk the path of victory. Street Fighter IV: Champion Edition for Android will be available as a free download. The initial download will include one playable character (Ryu) and three AI controlled characters (Chun-Li, Guile, Zangief). Players may unlock the full game for a one time in-app purchase of $4.99.

Features Include:

  • Fight as 32 Street Fighter characters including fan favorite and Android exclusive, Dan.
  • Intuitive virtual pad controls allow players to execute full move sets including Unique Attacks, Special Moves, Focus Attacks, Super Combos and Ultra Combos
  • Take your game to the next level with a Bluetooth controller (Controllers do not work in menus, they fully function in multiplayer and single-player gameplay.)
  • Battle head-to-head against players from around the world via Wifi – Single player “arcade” and multiplayer modes.
  • Unleash super moves with a tap of the “SP” button. – Four levels of difficulty3

Pre-Ordering can be done at this link.

 

Tower of Time Early Access Thoughts

by Jason Parker (Ragachak)

Tower of Time - I See A Little Silhouette of a Man

Don’t get attached to this boy; you won’t see much of him.

I enjoy the classic RPGs of old. The ones where nothing is handed to you, you solve puzzles and put in lots of work just to get around. While I enjoy these games, technology has improved, and sometimes, those old ways of doing things can be seen as archaic. Some of these are rotating cameras, mini-maps, quest-tracking, things of that nature. But I recently sat down with Tower of Time, an RPG by Event Horizon, and it’s a call back to those games of yore on PC. One thing that is interesting, albeit jarring, is that you do not play the main character. He’s there, and you control him briefly, but most of the time is spent playing as a band of heroes that serve him. You start off as a nobody and wind up a powerful lord through means that are not explained in the early parts of the game. I won’t spoil the story, but your team explores the Tower of Time, this derelict tower in the north-eastern part of the “town map”, where you do almost all of your upgrading and training. This is a game that will not hold your hand at all, though there are a few difficulty options for those who want to be challenged, and for those who simply want to enjoy the story. There are secrets to find in the Tower, and only your heroes can do it.

Tower of Time - Victory

I do wish it gave more gold per win…

Specifically, the “Story” difficulty is for those people, and anything over “Normal” is pretty damn hard.You start off with just two characters, Kane and Maeve (Kane being a melee warrior, Maeve being a ranged archer) and as you explore, you’ll gain more characters and can have up to four of them in your party at once. These characters all feel different and have their own abilities to utilize. For example, the first addition to your party is an Elf, Aeric the Druid. He has a totem for healing, a weapon enchant (Earth Element) and can summon an Ent! The Ent will fight wherever he’s summoned, but if there’s nothing going on there, he might wander around. I am still not very clear how his AI works. But the Ent is a tank, can taunt and is pretty beefy. Certainly worth using in almost any situation. These characters are supposed to be the “best of the best”, but they start off at level 1. Winning fights does not give xp, but does give gold, gems, and items. Those gems can be used to forge new gear of various rarities at the Blacksmith in town. What you need are Blueprints, and finding these Blueprints in the tower is paramount.

Tower of Time - Craft

Most of what I have crafted has not been useful, except at the very beginning of my time with said character.

Using gold+blueprints to upgrade buildings in town (Mage Tower, Armory) will increase the amount of leveling up you can do. The base building is level 4 per character that uses it (casters use Mage Tower, for example), and the second is level 8 and so on. When you’re back in town, the Keep is where all of this goes on (and you can still access this menu while in the dungeon). This is where you equip weapons, set your skills ( as you improve, you gain new skills (8 skills in total per character) and you can equip four of them at once. You can also use skill points as you level to improve these powers, so if you aren’t 100% sure if you’re going to use a skill forever, fear not, because you can refund those skill points. Stat points require a Rare gem to refund, but skill points don’t seem to. You use gold to improve your character levels, but here’s where I run into my next problem. Though you can craft armor and weapons in the dungeon, you can also do it here in town. It’s a very simple process: Pick a character, an equipment slot, a tier and a gem. Each gem corresponds to a rarity of gear, and it takes 3 of a gem type to create a piece of gear. The item will be randomized 100%. I’m personally not all that crazy about games where almost all of the gear is randomized.

Tower of Time - Battle

Battle is engaging, but can be hard to get a hang of in the early going.

I wound up with a real serious clutter of worthless weapons and armor though, since every chest gave one, and every fight seemed to give one too. I was sincerely hoping you could sell these somewhere in town. There are several buildings on the town map you can click on, none appeared to let me sell. The only recourse I found was to dismantle them for gems. The rarity of the piece will give you the corresponding gem, which is nice at least. But I need gold! So I have to keep going back and farming money to level up characters, despite the game telling me they are the best badasses in the land. So there’s a pretty major disconnect there. It’s not too hard to gear up but you will spend some time going in and out of the Tower to farm. That’s not a big deal, that’s pretty standard RPG fare. There’s plenty of challenge here, too. Most of it is in actual gameplay, but again some of it seems to be weird design choices. Combat is done in a real-time format. You click “Start Battle” and the enemies begin to spawn from several locations on the edge of the map. The spawn points always make sense, but the maps always feel too big. There’s a lot of empty space on them, and you can’t quite scroll out enough to see them all, in many cases.

Tower of Time - Line of Sight

Having multiple enemy auras/line of sight attacks can be incredibly frustrating.

You choose your character with 1, 2, 3, or 4 and while that took a little time for me to get used to (I’m so used to clicking on them and then performing actions), that was okay with me. That could be chalked up to user error by all means. But there are some pretty weird choices. A prime example is Kane. He has a dash that can clear basically the entire screen. It’s his initiate and has an incredible range. It will also ignore walls, tables, chairs, any object or structure in his way, he just slides them through to get to the target. But if a ranged caster seems to even have a structure in the way, they’ll walk, slowly, around it to try and line up a shot. There are several enemies that poison/life drain also, and they have a line that fires from them to their target. It will also cover most of the screen and from the moment they spawn, it’s blasting someone on your team. You can get out of the line of sight, but they’ll find it eventually. However, this does lead me to one of the coolest parts of the game: Kane’s wall. His “W” ability summons a temporary wall of rock that appears out of the ground.

Tower of Time - Rocks

Roooooocks.

Why this is really cool, is you “draw” the wall. You use the mouse to draw a line/U shape to pin opponents down, force them out of the line of sight, or keep them stuck at their spawn point while you deal with other matters. There are also times when enemies can have a slow-moving AOE which will be warned by a red circle on the ground. You have to quickly swap to that character, move them out of the way, and then resume what you were doing. Combat feels slow in general, but this only slows it down further. The combat is good, mind, but it drags a little. I also feel that melee characters could have their threat-range increased. I’ve had enemies well within moving/striking distance of Kane, and he would just stand there doing nothing, whereas ranged units start shooting as soon as someone is in their shot reach. The other thing that I think is interesting about this is when you use abilities, you get a Time Slow/Stop, such as you’d find in The Matrix to give you time to figure out what you’re doing. This could have been removed if the game were turn-based.

Definitely Moving Forward: Still Hyped

Tower of Time - Torture

One of many choices that await players. Choose wisely, in all things.

I could have seen this as a turn-based game, but the real-time element worked fine. It does take some getting used to, and once you have some decent gear it won’t feel quite so overwhelming. The battles are mostly visible in the dungeon, but there are moments where you can get ambushed, based on what you do (throwing a stone down a well, for example). Sometimes these include traps and one or more members of the party will be caged, and those have to be broken before they can help. I do enjoy the real-time combat though, despite the few peculiar design choices, and this is one of the reasons the game has a lot of potential replayability. There are quite a few characters (7 in total) to pick and choose from, and each has their pros and cons. This game has plenty of side-quests and optional missions too, from offering sacrifices to a death god, optional battles (which are certainly challenging early on), secret passages and so much lore. There are of course bugs still (I started up and had to completely redo the Forge Quest that I did the day before, despite having saved) but it is Early Access, so that sort of thing is to be expected.

You even have “challenge” battles which take place outside of the regular exploring, and while it might seem there’s not much to do from the outset, you’ll find that is not at all the case. There are secrets you might not even realize are in front of you. There are magical fountains that can be consumed that change facets of your characters. Depending on the color of the water, they could be positive or negative, and can only be used once. Tower of Time is a throw-back in the best way. It’s not quite ready, but that’s the point of Early Access. It does feel slow at first, but the pace picks up once you’ve completed a few quests and gotten used to this new world you are exploring. Tower of Time could use some quality-of-life upgrades, such as a mini-map, but even without them, I think it will do just fine. It rewards exploration and clever thinking, and every choice you make will matter. The motion outside of battle feels a little weird though and can upset me visually after seeing it for long periods of time. All told, it still needs a bit of polish, but I’m enjoying my time with it and am looking forward to discovering more of its secrets.

A review code was provided for this piece.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy NT Review

by Jason Parker (Ragachak)

Dissidia FF NT - Main Image

Dissidia shines down from the heavens. But is it glory we see, or destruction?

I was a huge fan of the Dissidia franchise. In the last game, I spent a lot of time playing online as Gilgamesh (yeah, I was that guy). So when I heard that Dissidia was coming back in the form of Dissidia Final Fantasy NT? Oh boy, you couldn’t keep me away from watching the footage, streams, anything I could get my hands on. The greatest heroes, villains, and dads (Jecht gets his own slot: he’s dad of the year) come back to clash. Whether they serve Materia or Spiritus (Good or Evil respectively), you can team up with whomever in online gameplay. The story, such as it is, groups specific characters together to do battle with Manikins (basically soulless clones of characters). However, this title is actually a port; it originally came out back in 2015 in the Japanese Arcade scene, and just now came to the worldwide audience. That explains why the game just feels empty. Despite having 20+ characters, a host of cosmetic unlocks for characters, icons, titles, and weapons, there’s simply not a lot to do in the game.

Dissidia FF NT - Main Menu

Choose your destiny.

The main screen of the Dissidia is neatly divided up into categories that are easy to follow. First is Options, which is pretty clear as to what it does. That’s where your video/audio settings are, including subtitles, unless you want to change it to Japanese/English audio (that’s done on the very first screen). Treasure is next, and that’s where you activate your winnings from battle. As you level your account/characters, you unlock Treasures, which give you a few cosmetic items, from skins, titles, battle themes, weapon skins, and avatars. So yes, Virginia, this game has lootboxes. But fear not! You cannot (repeat cannot) spend real money on them. They are only attained in battle, so while it is a grind, it’s not a retail game with real money lootboxes. However, spending Gil/GP on costumes/music is very grind intensive. They’re all expensive, so unless you’re winning matches, you’re gonna be in for a bad time. From there, we go to Online Modes. You can either play Ranked Match (Solo), Ranked Match (Party), or Custom Match. Custom Match doesn’t appear to let you play against AI with friends online, just other players. Its options are otherwise solid, with Connection Strength, Region, Playstyle (Casual, Hardcore, Training), and a max of 24 people occupying it (since it’s 3 person teams), that’s fairly robust.

Dissidia FF NT - Story

Behold! Cutscenes! I mean … story!

Here’s the part that disappointed me the absolute most: Dissidia: Final Fantasy NT’s Story Mode. The story is wonderful, and it’s well-told; but in order to actually fight a single battle in the story, you have to go through a minimum of six cutscenes. That’s not counting if you check out both branches, which would put it around nine cutscenes. You also can’t skip ahead and see if it’s a cutscene or a fight.  Another thing you unlock as you play against AI or other people is “Memoria”, which unlock the cutscenes and battles for the Story Mode. These battles, when you get to them, have specific characters in mind. That part doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is that I spent several play sessions in the game and did not get a single battle, only beautifully crafted cutscenes. To their credit, they are lovely, in visual and audio quality, but this is not what I was expecting when I saw Dissidia had a story mode. I would at least like an Arcade Mode, where it’s random groups of characters duking it out till the end. This hurt me, it hurt me a lot.

Offline Modes are next: Gauntlet Mode and Sparring Match. The Gauntlet is as its name implies. You pick a team and control one character, with two AI helpers. This mode has a separate ranking from the ranked level. You start in Bronze, and as your team wins matches, it goes up in ranks, from Bronze E through A, then into Silver, Gold, Platinum, Mythril. You get it. You get to pick your matches from pre-determined groups/ranks, and every match beyond Gold is absolutely insane. As you grow in power, so does your team, and they’ll act smarter with each rank up. These matches feel very bland after a while though. You either stomp or get stomped, there’s no in-between. Then finally, the Tutorial. This tutorial is very useful, and you should definitely spend time in it. But now that we’ve talked modes, let’s talk mechanics.

Dissidia FF NT - Grind

This is the result of my hard work!

There are two primary game modes: Core Matches and Standard Matches. The goal of Core Matches is to destroy your opponents Crystal before they destroy yours. Pretty simple stuff. The Standard Match features a 3v3 battle where the goal is to eliminate the other team. Each team can have three deaths, and when that is met (judged by the Red/Blue bar at the top left), victory is attained. In addition to this, the match also has Crystals/Cores. They randomly spawn, and you have to target them by tapping L2/R2 at the same time. They only take damage from HP attacks, so break them to fill a gauge. When the gauge is full, you hold your touchpad to charge the summon. Multiple players can do this to make it go faster, but you are vulnerable while it happens. Each Summon has its own attack and benefits, and amazing summoning sequence. You get one assigned to you at random, and you unlock the others (of course) through grinding the game. You might get lucky and get the one you want, but that is not really likely. I was hoping for Alexander or Odin but got Ifrit, then Leviathan. When playing online, each person on your team picks from the pool you have as a group, and one is picked randomly.

Dissidia FF NT - So many colors

Shall I give you despair? Oh, that’s just a blur of colors. It can get a little hectic. Still fun though!

My favorite part though is the actual combat. You have a Bravery Attack (Circle), HP Attack (Square), EX Attacks (Triangle), and a Jump (X). L2/R2 are your targeting buttons, all very easy to remember. Bravery Attacks also have a direction attached, and each one (including neutral) have different functions. Kefka’s a good example. Kefka’s neutral is “Blizzaga Blitz”, his grounded down+circle is “Core Decoy”, and up+circle in the air is “Snap-Crackle Thundaga”. These are all very different attacks with different ranges, properties, and movement speeds. These moves deal damage to opponents, but cannot KO them. Only your HP Attacks can do that. Once someone has “Broken!” on them, you can work on hitting them with HP attacks to Incapacitate them. That counts as a death for the team. Some of these HP Moves are still useful anytime, but it might be better to focus on landing combos with your Bravery Attacks. You have one equipped at a time, and you have to level the character up to get them. Kefka’s list, continuing the example, is Havoc Wing, Hyperdrive, Trine, and Forsaken. I highly recommend looking up movelists, to find which one is likely going to work for you. Finally, there are EX Skills, and each character has one. Kefka’s is “Heartless Angel”, which you use to Apply Debuffs to opponents. The longer you charge it, the more debuffs it gives.

Dissidia FF NT - Lag

This perfect moment was taken during an insane amount of lag.

In addition, there are generic Ex Skills, which you unlock through gameplay. These apply buffs/debuffs, from lowering defenses, adding Bravery (Attack Stat), healing, buffing your defenses, pulling people into a clump, you name it. There’s a fair amount of them, so find which works for each character. There are plenty of slots per character to set a variety of builds, for whichever situation you find yourself in. These movesets are what I love about the game. They all feel like they belong to the characters, and don’t tend to spill over to others. For example, Golbez and Kefka are both Marksmen (as opposed to Vanguard, Assassin, or Specialist), and both magic users. However, Golbez uses his dragon, the Shadow Dragon to help him breathe icy doom on his foes. Kefka on the other hand charges incredibly powerful magic and taunts and teases. It’s incredibly important to find who works for you and spend time really playing them in online/offline matches to get their additional powers/find your synergies. However, I’m finding that the game doesn’t feel super balanced. Some characters simply feel overwhelming, like Cloud and Jecht. I’m still learning the game, so there are lots of things I simply am not prepared for yet, like a three mage team focusing me down, and there simply is not enough dodge time/defenses against their onslaught. Despite that, it’s an incredibly fun Arena Battle game. There are so many different playstyles, with at least one hero/villain per game, including Final Fantasy Tactics/XIV. The only games that I did not see a villain for are XI, XIV, XV, Tactics, and 0. I’m hoping that means we’ll see Wiegraf and Ardyn Izunia.

 

Dissidia FF NT - Kefka

You tell ’em, Kefka!

This is my Story: Good (3/5)

Mechanically, Dissidia Final Fantasy NT is incredibly sound. The gameplay is phenomenal, and each character has their own very unique attacks, animations, and abilities. Some of the spell-based characters kind of feel similar, unfortunately, as a lot of their casts are spherical, but even still they have their own special properties. Team composition is important, knowing who is good at what also matters. This is a game that takes a lot of practice (unless you’re Cloud), and you can choose to queue solo for Ranked play, or group with a few friends to go at it online with the best of the best. Visually, it’s also breathtaking. The games sounds, looks, and aesthetics are perfect in every single way. But it’s very threadbare everywhere else. There’s only Ranked play and lobbies, and no regular casual play online without setting up/finding a lobby. Then there are almost no offline modes, and you have to grind to play the story.

Why must you grind to play the story? What does that gain us, other than waste our time? I love this game, I love what it represents, but I feel like something is missing. With such a huge cast, you better go online, look up who does what, find out who might be the most fun and focus on them as you have to unlock new abilities for your HP Attacks and EX Skills. I’m grateful you can’t spend money on the lootboxes though, and you get them through leveling characters, but it’s just … it’s such a slog. If you’re into Arena fighters and love the Final Fantasy universe, this game is for you. But be warned, it’s basically only an online game with a “story” mode. I hope that’s all fleshed out later. If I were judging this solely by how well it plays, it would easily be a 5/5, one of the best fighters I’ve played this year. But everything that surrounds this wonderful experience is seriously lackluster. These are things I think can be addressed in future updates, but right now, it’s just like walking through molasses.

Note: A game key was provided for review purposes.