Guilty Gear for the Sony PlayStation is a blast back to the past. If you have been to the arcades in the last 10 years, you will have seen the lines of people just waiting to prove their worth at the latest beat-em-up. We have Capcom and Street Fighter 2 to thank for that, but that doesn’t mean that other developers cannot make fighting games of a similar quality. Guilty Gear is easily one of the best fighting games around. If ‘quarter circle towards’ is permanently etched on your brain, che ... more >>

Guilty Gear for the Sony PlayStation is a blast back to the past. If you have been to the arcades in the last 10 years, you will have seen the lines of people just waiting to prove their worth at the latest beat-em-up. We have Capcom and Street Fighter 2 to thank for that, but that doesn’t mean that other developers cannot make fighting games of a similar quality. Guilty Gear is easily one of the best fighting games around. If ‘quarter circle towards’ is permanently etched on your brain, check out this worthy contender.

The story of Guilty Gear is set in the 22nd century, science and industry have been blamed for the misfortunes of the human race. The pollution is unbearable and modern technology has spawned some incredible weapons of mass destruction. Both have been outlawed. The abolition of technology did practically nothing to alleviate human suffering, and a new war erupted. A new kind of biological weapon was born, It has become possible to mix human and animal DNA with magic. A new breed of fighters was born with unnatural strength and endurance. The Guilty Gears were born.

The artwork and animation, two important qualities for a 2D fighting game to possess, are extremely impressive in Guilty Gear. The backgrounds are colourful, well drawn and the animation is smooth. The limited video RAM of the PlayStation is adequate to handle all the necessary frames of information. The audio is appropriate, even though it’s not the best in the world it doesn’t detract from the gameplay.

It’s gameplay that’s king and Guilty Gear has plenty. It borrows heavily from Street Fighter 2, but that’s no bad thing. Once you learn your characters ‘specials’ and ‘supers’ you’ll soon be winning bouts. The combo engine is very flexible and allows for off the ground combo, juggles and mid-air combos. Guilty Gear just feels right to play. An excellent fighting game with loads of depth.
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