As a big fan of the series and also a fan of fighting games, this one should have been made for me, but much like another game I played this year, Ghostwire Tokyo, this was kind of underwhelming.
I understand that this isn't the easiest franchise to make into a video game generally, let alone a technical fighting game, but Eyes of Heaven did it really well and I foolishly thought that this game could live up to that. The unfortunate truth is that even though this game is fun in short bursts, at least for me the controls are generally too clunky for me to really start to sink my teeth into. (part of this, I know, is a result of my preference for 2d fighters over 3d fighters, but I still like Tekken and Soul Caliber so it's also not like I'm especially hard to please when it comes to 3d fighting games.)
A biggest blemish for me as it relates to this game's enjoyability are the movement mechanics. In a game tied into a franchise that is so particular about things like spatial awareness it is kind of astounding how inaccessible the movement can feel at times to beginners. I find it much too slow. The run feels like a walk and the walk feels like a tiptoe, and what's more the inputs to move across the z-axis are archaic. Games like Budokai 3 can get away with the hop-approach by keeping the action kinetic and quick, as does Tekken and Soul Caliber, however in ASBR the evasion feels more like it grinds the momentum of the fight to a grinding halt on the end of the person dodging while to the attacker it is little more than a minor inconvenience. (The exception to this being the parry-evasions which actually serve to flip that dynamic on it's head.)
The base-game roster also rubs me the wrong way generally, as what is basically a port of a PS3 game I think that adding characters like Weather Report at launch, or at least as free DLC as to prevent anime spoilers is the right move to make, as it stands right now, especially with C-Moon Pucci and Weather being payed DLC it is yet another example of AAA studios releasing unfinished games and making you pay for the finished product.
The silver lining to all of my negativity is that I actually have had fun with friends playing this game as a party game. Shouts out to my buddy Steven who I have "asked to leave" on multiple occasions and on every one has left.
I understand that this isn't the easiest franchise to make into a video game generally, let alone a technical fighting game, but Eyes of Heaven did it really well and I foolishly thought that this game could live up to that. The unfortunate truth is that even though this game is fun in short bursts, at least for me the controls are generally too clunky for me to really start to sink my teeth into. (part of this, I know, is a result of my preference for 2d fighters over 3d fighters, but I still like Tekken and Soul Caliber so it's also not like I'm especially hard to please when it comes to 3d fighting games.)
A biggest blemish for me as it relates to this game's enjoyability are the movement mechanics. In a game tied into a franchise that is so particular about things like spatial awareness it is kind of astounding how inaccessible the movement can feel at times to beginners. I find it much too slow. The run feels like a walk and the walk feels like a tiptoe, and what's more the inputs to move across the z-axis are archaic. Games like Budokai 3 can get away with the hop-approach by keeping the action kinetic and quick, as does Tekken and Soul Caliber, however in ASBR the evasion feels more like it grinds the momentum of the fight to a grinding halt on the end of the person dodging while to the attacker it is little more than a minor inconvenience. (The exception to this being the parry-evasions which actually serve to flip that dynamic on it's head.)
The base-game roster also rubs me the wrong way generally, as what is basically a port of a PS3 game I think that adding characters like Weather Report at launch, or at least as free DLC as to prevent anime spoilers is the right move to make, as it stands right now, especially with C-Moon Pucci and Weather being payed DLC it is yet another example of AAA studios releasing unfinished games and making you pay for the finished product.
The silver lining to all of my negativity is that I actually have had fun with friends playing this game as a party game. Shouts out to my buddy Steven who I have "asked to leave" on multiple occasions and on every one has left.