With this being my first fighting game on the new system, I can say right away that this is one of the best fighting games of the year anda great example of how powerful the 3DS really is!
As soon as you start playing the game you get an idea of just how much content is available and it will give the players some time to beat all the modes and unlock all the goodies on offer here.
The main “story” mode is Chronicle, which retells all the main plot points from previous games and this is a mixture of a great introduction to the controls and a bad experimentation with the cutscenes that are featured. Each battle has you learning a different set of attacks, blocks and throws with on-screen icons appearing until you manage to get them right and continue the fight, which serves as a great way to quickly learn and master them. But the story is told in a mixture of awkward cutscenes between each fight, ranging from still images of the characters to bad lip-synching dialogue between each characters to rendered cut scenes from the X-Box 360 game.
But there are other modes that will keep people engaged that will give people more to do once they beat the 5+ hours spent in Chronicle mode. Arcade mode has you selecting one of the twenty six characters and taking on a number of opponents in various difficulty settings. Survival has you taking down fighters without a break in-between, while Tag Challenge can have you using two characters and fighting out with two characters in a similar fashion to Marvel vs. Capcom 3’s fighting system. Also included are the traditional modes seen in other recent fighting games, including Free Play, local and online modes.
Gameplay is well handled which make it east to introduce people to the intense fighting system, while also being made to serve with the professional fighters out there. The graphics are also brilliant and it shone through when playing the game in 2D, as the frame rate in 2D is 60 compared to the 3D that is in 30 frames per second. While the 3D was effective enough to keep me entertained, it is a shame that the frame rate had to suffer a little bit to get the great experience.
Speaking of online modes, there is a big issue with the lag as it can disrupt the middle of your game and can completely ruin the experience. But then it is not really a massive deal for those who don’t really play online such as myself, but might be an issue for those who are looking for great online play.
But while online multiplayer might not be the best on offer, the game does feature downloadable content during the summer which includes extra costumes and AI battles that are all currently announced to be free for all people with a copy of the game. If there will be content available through the eStore set to be announced for the 7th June is still to be confirmed, but the developers are offering to their fans.
Overall, this is a great arcade-style fighting game that shows off the features of the 3DS and is great for those who may or may not be familiar with this video game series. Even with the issues raised in this review, this is worth purchasing as it will give you a long time to be entertained and find something new about it every time they play it before The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and Resident Evil: Mercenaries are released this summer.
[Rating:4/5]