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Eternal
Fighter ZERO: Blue Sky Edition 2002
© Twilight-Frontier Hmm... somehow this game seems very familiar. Graphics (8) - We're talking low resolution (320x240) at full screen, so as you can imagine, the graphics are pixelated. Seeing how Guilty Gear X is the only high-res game, I can't really blame them. There are a few things that make this game shine. First of all, the featured characters come from Kanon and One (Kanon is a dating sim, not sure about One) so we have lots of uber-cute characters duking it out. Since most characters are small (close to SD), the game has a look similar to Pocket Fighters. Secondly, the animation is generally smooth, not SF3 quality, but good nonetheless. Third, the game does use a great deal of particles/transparencies, and all of the effects come out nicely for only 256 colors. BSE adds some new backgrounds, 3 characters (one from Air I think), and one boss. Graphics remain the same 256 color engine which means the backgrounds look a little drab. The new characters are as well animated if not better than the original ones. Sadly, I was hoping for a 16-bit color upgrade but guess I'll have to wait. Gameplay (8) - OK, we have 3 attack buttons and a special button. A lot of the combos consist of tapping the same button to chain and like most games you can do two-in-ones (attack into a special). The special button is only used for certain character abilities. While the core layout is pretty simple, there's still a lot of stuff borrowed from other games. You have a 3-level super meter (SFA style), air combo/block/jump/dash, recoveries, juggles, and I believe a just-guard (similar to Garou). There's also another meter that charges whenever you're not on being hit that can be used for EX-like moves (stronger than the std. special or a different variation). The character variety is pretty diverse too with enough variation and play styles, heck they even got a stance-changer character. Oh and for characters with such short limbs, the collision detection is very precise. BSE = new characters = new moves. Some of the older either characters got a few new moves, lost some, or were just made more balanced. Other than that the system hasn't changed. Sound (6) - None of the synthesized BGM tracks really stick out (maybe because I was absorbed by the graphics :). The sounds effects are crisp and clear with the typical slew of thuds, whacks, clangs, etc. All the effects seemed to match the corresponding move, so no real problems here. BSE adds some new BGM tracks while everything else remains pretty much the same. Replay Value (7) - Fighting games are only second to shooters in this category so you can pretty much play it for a while. There's nothing as far as extras are concerned. However, there is a gallery with all the loading pics (even though it takes close to nill to load) which I estimate has about 50+ fan-drawn images (WOW!). Modes consist of 1P, VS, score attack, training... bare bone's stuff. There's also a replay feature too. I only wish there were some sort of netplay option and survival/team mode, oh well. Reviewer's Tilt (10) - What can I say, we don't get many 2D anime fighting games here so I'm hooked. Hehe, one of the characters, who I assume is sleepwalking, is animated so well (stylistically) that its damn funny to watch. It can get pretty mindless at times, but its such a refreshing change from SF and KOF that I could play it for weeks. FINAL
SCORE: 7.8
<<< Finally got some correct screenshots, although they were directly from the website cause I still can't take them. |
