Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core Wii Review

With all their fireballs, super moves and general OTT nature, 2D Fighters are usually pretty silly, but the Guilty Gear series, with its freaky cast of characters goes one step further and into the realm of bloody insanity.

Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core is the first 2D Fighter to be released for the wildly successful Wii. Many will be wondering of just how the controls have been executed on the consoles remote and nunchuck combo, a control scheme which is much more approachable to non gamers, who find the traditional controllers, with their many buttons to be a bit daunting and thus not exactly fitting for a genre that is largely, strictly for the more adept of gamers (those that are prepared to put in some serious training to reap the rewards and not those damn hit random buttons and hope types).

The Wii’s unusual method of control actually makes the game easier to play, obviously opening the series up to a wider array of skill levels, though because of its many intricacies it’s still very much one for the hardcore to cherish and master. Most moves are carried out through combinations of motions of the remote or nunchuck as well as button presses. Everything largely works adequately well, but purists will be glad to have the option to use either the GameCube or Classic Controller for the more traditional play that they have more than likely perfected through many years of arduous play.

Whatever control method you opt for, Accent Core has a very deep and considered fighting engine that has many facets to it. New to this rendition are Force Break moves (powerful moves that eat up 25% of your Tension Bar), throw escapes and slash backs (essentially parries with a cut down stun time). All these gameplay additions further increase the depth of an already ocean deep game, giving the masters something else to learn.

Elsewhere in regards to new things, there are some new, as always wonderfully detailed backdrops, and the addition of Order Sol to the games already robust cast of characters. Order Sol is really just a modified version of the popular Sol Badguy, but is nonetheless a great character. It may have a disappointing lack of new faces, though at least existing characters have been tweaked, resulting in a more finely tuned game.

Accent Core looks absolutely stunning, even more so than previous games. Character Sprites and the backdrops they fight in are lovingly crafted and just dripping in meticulous detail. The stylishly designed characters are wonderfully animated, making all that virtual beating up even more of a delight, even if it happens to be you on the end of it.

Guilty Gear: Accent Core is a treat for the more avid of fighting game fans, but – even with the Wii controls – is just that, so if you’re a newbie to the genre and are looking for a game you’ll learn with relative ease, this skill reliant scrapper is hardly the game for you. However if you’re prepared to learn all the ins and outs, this is one of the best there is.