Guilty Gear Strive review

Reviewed on: PS4

Guilty Gear Strive Review is Blazing! Still my heart is blazing!

Guilty Gear Strive, the newest game in the Guilty Gear franchise, has arrived, showing all the know-how Arc System Works has in fighting games and graphics quality.

In the game’s announcement, made during the EVO 2019 finals, you could already see that the visual level would be mind-blowing, and that other game companies that use the cel-shading technique would have to try hard, especially after the results shown in Dragon Ball FighterZ and Granblue Fantasy Versus.

Despite a delay, since the initial forecast said the game would come out in 2020, it was released on June 11, 2021 and received several positive reviews from the specialized press.

However, veteran players of the franchise turned up their noses online at every new video showing the characters of the initial roster, because they complained that the game looked too slow, too measured, very different from the frantic high-speed action of REV.2 and the previous games.

Talking about the gameplay, the changes really feel strange at first sight, but after playing for a while you get used to it and the game will feel like the most natural thing in the world.

ArkSys was bold in removing the link between the Punch button followed by Slash, and practically nobody liked not being able to land 229 more weak punches and then follow up with Slash and High Slash. But by playing and training, you will find and learn other ways to start the craziest combos possible.

To avoid a bit of the “whoever gets cornered first, dies” scheme, Arksys invented the Wall Break system, bringing a different dynamic and even giving a bonus boost to the Tension gauge for whoever breaks the wall using the opponent as a battering ram.

Going back to the graphics for a moment: WHAT GORGEOUS GRAPHICS.
The quality of the character animations, facial expressions, effects of flames, electricity, light. Everything in the game is beautiful. The stages are also pretty cool, and each one has an extension, which is accessed when you break the wall. Too bad there are only a few stages.

Part of the visual style also feels odd at first, with that GIANT combo counter appearing on screen and the COUNTER indicator practically filling the whole screen. But after a while you don’t even notice it anymore.

The soundtrack of Guilty Gear Strive is phenomenal, especially if you like rock.

Each character has a theme song, with lyrics and vocals, and everything is so well made that if it played on the radio you would not say that song was created for a video game. The lyrics of the theme songs have lots and lots of references to the old games and to the characters’ backgrounds. Congratulations to Daisuke Ishiwatari, who is a “multitasker” within Guilty Gear: Director, Character Designer, Illustrator, Composer, Voice Actor. He probably also makes coffee for everyone in the office and helps clean up the mess at the end of the day.

For the first time in the franchise, there is a cinematic Story Mode to tell the story of Guilty Gear Strive.

It is not like the Story Mode in Street Fighter V or Mortal Kombat 10 and 11, where we have a few fights interspersed with the game’s cutscenes. Guilty Gear Strive’s Story Mode is basically one big video, divided into chapters, telling the events of the game. I will not say anything to avoid spoilers, but I felt both happy and sad at the end, and eager to know which way the series’ story will go in the next game.

As for the game modes, Arksys did its homework and brought the most common options from the start.

In the offline modes, we have Arcade Mode, Fight against the CPU or a Friend, and Survival. We also have a Dojo mode, divided into Basic Tutorial, Training, and Mission Mode, which is where you really learn all the game’s mechanics and become an expert.

In online mode, we have the controversial World Lobby, as well as the option to create a private lobby (Player Room Match) or Quick Start, so we can stay in training while the game looks for an online match for you.

The game’s netcode is wonderful. I rarely got a laggy match when selecting the South America region, and mind you, my home internet sucks.

Besides the Story Mode, we have a glossary called GG World, which shows the whole story, timeline, relationships between characters and everything else. It is practically an encyclopedia about the Guilty Gear franchise.

Conclusion: I strongly RECOMMEND this game. Wonderful gameplay, online matches working beautifully, gorgeous graphics, damn Dolphin and damn Potemkin to the third power.

Newcomers to the world of Guilty Gear will have fun, especially when breaking the wall with a flashy Overdrive special and taking 60% of the opponent’s health.

Veterans will arrive with their guard up, but will later see that this is a true Guilty Gear, despite some big changes compared with the previous games.

Guilty Gear Strive is available for PS4, PS5 and PC (Steam), and the PlayStation versions have cross-platform play with each other.

The game code was provided by Arc System Works. The review was done using the PS4 version.