Fatal Bullet Sword Art Works on One Computer but Crashes on the Other

Player-Unvoiced's Battlegrounds

Before nosotros begin, a bit of groundwork: In preparation to write this review of Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet, I went over the other SAO game reviews I've written for Destructoid, and information technology turns out, a common thread runs through all of them: The assertion thatSword Art Online as a franchise has however to peak the original, titular death-game story arc. Everything else Kirito and his VR game pals have done to engagement has paled in comparison to their original exploits. It's for a reason that most, if not all, of the franchise'southward works are still branded with "Sword Art Online," fifty-fifty if their stories and characters have long since moved on from that particular game.

Again and again, I've stated or otherwise implied that the SAO games would need to shake things up in a big way for me to really experience confident about them (and by extension, the franchise) over again. They'd demand to practise the game equivalent of what happened in the "Expiry Gun" arc, I basically said, in club to keep things fresh.

Well, guess what? They did it.

Sword Fine art Online: Fatal Bullet(PS4 [Reviewed], Xbox 1, PC)
Developer: Dimps Corporation
Publisher: Bandai Namco Games
Released: Feb 23, 2018
MSRP: $59.99

Indeed, they've not just gone and done the "equivalent" of the "Death Gun" arc, simply just up and centered the whole damn game around its setting!

For the uninitiated, the "Expiry Gun" arc of Sword Art Online opened the anime's 2d season and involved Kirito joining an entirely dissimilar VR MMO, "Gun Gale Online," to investigate a series of unusual deaths. Unlike the fantasy-medieval trappings of the original game and ALfheim Online (his new main), Gun Gale Online (GGO for brusque) was a sci-fi matter, with combat based mainly around gunplay and carrying a strong competitive player-versus-player scene. The arc mainly served to introduce the character Sinon to the core cast, and today GGO is the setting of Sword Art Online Alternative, a spin-off manga with different leads.

Defying expectations, developer Dimps has taken a left plough for its first fissure at an SAO game, and not merely past setting Sword Fine art Online: Fatal Bullet in the globe of GGO. Whereas the marketing might lead i to assume the game'due south plot would be a game-original remix of the "Decease Gun" plot, the truth is rather different, and quite a bit more than customizable.Fatal Bullet doesn't really star Kirito. Instead, the main campaign is focused on a silent protagonist, a player-generated custom grapheme, and begins on his or her first 24-hour interval playing GGO.

To me, this is a sort of genius twist on Dimps' office. One of the reasons Kirito's game adventures fell and then flat all the fourth dimension is that the scenario writers were beholden to relieve anything genuinely interesting for the actual source cloth. Without the freedom to really experiment and reinterpret the setting and characters (like, say, the way Telltale'southward Batman series did for its source), the narratives had little choice only to tread water. Centering the narrative on the player's character and a bunch of game-original cast members allows for actual stakes while still involving the characters and references people come up to aSword Fine art Online-branded game for.

While the stars and content may be original to the game, Kirito and his coiffure are all present, and fifty-fifty reference their activities in previous SAO titles to establish the timeline (in fact, ane graphic symbol borderline-spoils the cease of Hollow Realization). All the same, though, the simple deed of putting the player character first allows even the about unremarkable conflicts and encounters to experience personal and impactful, no matter how long a shadow the "canon" characters cast. Even the choices feel meaningful despite the fact thatFatal Bullet indulges the classic JRPG "faux-choice" dialog structure as heavily every bit anything else in the infinite.

For its part, the narrative hinges on a new, mysterious expansion to GGO, a new high-level raid territory called the "SBC Flugel." A newly-crashed colony ship on GGO'southward planet, the Flugel'due south however locked upwardly tight, and tin can just be accessed by players accompanied by ultra-rare AI companions called "ArFA-sys." The player character, drafted into the game past childhood friend Kureha, encounters 1 such ArFA-sys early on, narrowly avoiding existence ganked by Kirito and Asuna for the prize. Encountering the most important rare drop in the game on their start day speedily singles the player out as a giant lucksack, earning them attention from both Kirito and his gang (now 15-stiff after Hollow Realization), but also the attention of other loftier-level heavies on the GGO scene, all interested in claiming the ArFA-sys for themselves, or helping keep the ArFA-sys safe. The rest of the story follows the crew'south attempts to upgrade the ArFA-sys in preparation to unlock the raid, as well as expect into a larger mystery lying at the heart of GGO.

Finally being awarded a sense of bureau in presence in the story is a refreshing departure after years of watching Kirito and co. have fun on their own, and makes Fatal Bullet's campaign far more than engaging than the directly details of the plot might otherwise imply. In a rather saucy-sounding twist, the classic SAO-game "Pillow Talk" events for about half that cast (mainly the game-original characters like Strea and Philia) are now be triggered by the role player character rather than Kirito. You know you've made information technology when information technology'due south your grapheme and not the canonical lead that's sleeping – very literally – with all the beautiful girls and boys.

Further, even one'south sense of ownership over the ArFA-sys reinforces that feeling of existence central to the events occurring. The ArFA-sys is fully customizable and can exist outfitted, leveled, and developed according to the role player'due south taste. It even handles banking and investment (the "FA" in the name stands for "Financial Assistant"), and can proceeds the player interest on the money they earn or buy rare items for them.

Fans just jonesing for more Kirito activeness can get their fill up, also. During the main campaign all the coreSword Fine art Online characters bring together up as playable political party members, but subsequently on, a special "Kirito Mode" entrada unlocks. This is where the more or less directly recreation of SAO'south "Decease Gun" arc emerges, though it'due south quite a bit shorter than the main campaign, with details adapted to account for the game-poetry'southward unique timeline. It's close enough though that it allows players to walk the canonical path for a while, at least, as well equally play out diverse outcome scenes with the bandage (including Pillow Talk events with the core SAO characters).

Perhaps nigh importantly, the narrative doesn't wear out its welcome forcing players to waste time meandering. A helpful marker always points to the side by side disquisitional story mission (though really getting ready for information technology tin take a slight bit of grinding). Mainlining the story quests tin can exist done over a typical rental menses (or a long weekend, if you're willing), with a few hours tacked on to obtain the "True Catastrophe." Some might call this game "content-light" (particularly considering the request price), but for me at to the lowest degree,Fatal Bullet does itself a favor by cutting out a lot of the bloat that eventually made Hollow Realization a task to complete.

Of grade, a short-and-sugariness campaign would even so feel like a waste of time if the mechanics didn't engage, and it'due south hither that Fatal Bullet makes the most dramatic departure from SAO games past. Information technology shouldn't surprise thatFatal Bullet is a tertiary-person shooter, given that the game is set inGun Gale Online. Players will scamper around the battlefield wielding various pistols, shotguns, submachine guns, assault rifles, rocket launchers, grenade launchers, and fifty-fifty a lightsaber photon sword or 2.

People won't be mistaking Fatal Bullet for Gears of War anytime soon, though. For ane, the game lacks a cover system, relying on mobility via contrivance rolls and quick-steps to ensure a player's survival as they avoid the enemies' telltale targeting lines. An boosted dimension of verticality is added past the improver of the "fiber gun," substantially a grappling hook that animates quite a lot like the "Thorn" devices from Freedom Wars, which just and then happens to be another Dimps-developed game. In fact, quite a bit of the combat feels similar information technology was brought in from Freedom Wars (sans the melee weapons), though at least here Dimps has added a generous (and toggleable) auto-aim feature to get in easier to stay mobile while however doing damage.

Skills and gadgets can also be equipped to add JRPG-style debuffs and special effects to various attacks, and powerful ultimate moves can be triggered by "Weapon Arts." Individual weapons can also be customized at Lisbeth's gunsmithy, adding various modifiers in exchanged for collectible upgrade chips. Enemies drop various "unappraised" weapons that tin be identified at Agil's item store as well, ensuring an engaging gear churn as players climb the progression ladder.

Visually, Fatal Bullet looks quite adept, though the darker tones and metallic pattern sense of GGO makes for somewhat unappealing environments. If nothing else, the dungeon design feels more than interesting thanks to the new movement options available, and the gunplay-based combat ways that players will need to make the most of what features there are in the diverse spaces for cover. Almost enemy design continues to pull from the big book of JRPG wildlife, likewise as some genuinely rad boss designs, some of which I wish the likes ofDestiny 2 would use as inspiration. In a nod to GGO's competitive premise, the game also includes enough of NPC "player" enemies, either as "compensation hunting" quest targets or as randoms seeking to gank the crew and take their stuff.

All of this represents a genuine sea change in the way that Sword Art Online operates, a path I'd find piece of cake to recommend…if not for all the jank and rough edges. For every inspired change that makes me want to call this game "Anime Destiny" (a very high compliment, by my lights), there are a bunch of rough edges that reveal simply where Dimps had to cut corners for lack of time or resources, or baffling decisions that make Fatal Bullet look  downright amateurish.

For example, barring event scenes, Fatal Bullet'southward switched over to using its 3D models for most cutscenes and conversation, the amend to accomodate the player's custom character and ArFA-sys. That's all well and skillful, but many of the cutscenes, particularly the character-driven skits and conversations, are still conducted with the dating-sim style layout, with characters lined up facing the camera. The results are frankly ugly, as poorly lit, physics-enabled grapheme models slide on- and off-screen like someone was doing an blitheness rigging examination in Gary's Modernistic. Vocalization-over volume levels are oddly not normalized, with some characters sounding strangely quiet. Even some of the cinematically-inflected cutscenes from the commencement of the game fall flat because someone forgot to plough off the environmental reverb, making every spoken line echo like the characters are shouting into a metal saucepan. That's all a particular shame since the dialog and character interactions accept received some strong translation, a far cry from the "Engrish" that plagued before releases.

The pacing for fun stuff is besides strangely off. Though the disquisitional path is piece of cake to follow thank you to vivid signposting and an extremely generous fast travel system (you can literally teleport from dwelling house base to a boss room), character events simply appear on the map, with no information equally to the conditions for making them happen (ordinarily some kind of affinity/affection score) or who they involve. They likewise tend to appear all at the aforementioned time, playing in sequence, equally if the player were somehow being fabricated to clear their voicemail inbox.

There's even an odd sense of missed potential, because how dramatic some of the graphic symbol events are. 1 such scene had my character and his ArFA-sys taking on – and beating – Kirito and Asuna in a doubles PVP duel. In a ameliorate game, this would be the culmination of an entire subquest line, with the 2 heroes of SAO as sort of secret bosses to shell. But in Fatal Bullet, the duel is a fade to black…followed past Kirito going "Wow, you did so well to beat out u.s.a. that fourth dimension!" What a waste.

Despite the rough edges, Dimps' work is easy to similar if y'all're a Sword Art Online fan hungry for something new to advance the franchise with. Though ultimately held dorsum by the jank, it's definitely worth checking out, if for nothing else than a welcome change of stride and setting.

_{[This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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Source: https://www.destructoid.com/reviews/review-sword-art-online-fatal-bullet/

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