Battle Fantasia

"A Tale Better Left Forgotten"

The creators of Guilty Gear brings this all-new fighting with an unusual theme. Battle Fantasia is a fairy tale themed "2.5D" fighting game with a lot of fun designed characters. It's easy to pick up and play.

The story of this game isn't important, in a manner of all fighting games. This fantasy world once plunged into darkness that was eventually driven away. Now another darkness comes and a bunch of characters do something about it (fight).

This game is presented in 2.5D but they move like quick sprites. The characters have neat designs with anime influence. There are 12 in total plus one secret unlockable character, with each having their own style. The graphics are a little disappointing; nothing to be astonished at.

The fighting is basic and simple at best. Each character have a small handful of special attacks and super attacks. "Gachi" is the game's new implementation. Your controls will have a "gachi" button that can be used to parry to completely protect you from attacks, and extreme parry to push your opponents away. Every player will have a "MP" gauge which is basically the super bar that fills up as you fight. Heat Up moves consume one of your MP bars to increase your character's strength. Then you've also got the typical Super Moves that also consume one MP bar.

Ultimately, the game comes down to memorizing long combos and executing them correctly. Because of their limited amount of attacks and simplistic fighting system, this game cannot mark itself unique. It's no Tekken and it ain't better than Guilty Gear. It doesn't have a lot of moves, and it isn't hectic and crazy. Sometimes these 2.5D or 3D games have sluggish controls but luckily, this game has a little problem with that. Jumping feels a little clunky, especially with the Xbox 360 controller. Fighting games are definitely not fit for the 360's awful D-pad and playing with the analog stick feel a bit unnatural.

The game's modes are story, arcade, survival, practice, and versus which can be played online. Playing through these modes will unlock achievements, movies, alternate costumes, and artwork. The story has a bit of humor and nice portrait dialogues. Arcade doesn't have a story but has the same cheesy last boss. Survival puts you against consecutive battles until you lose. Online play is a fighting game's greatest feature but good luck find any challengers online.

Battle Fantasia has been overlooked by many gamers and maybe it's better off this way. This game had barely any recognition or advertisements. It's a simple fighting game that we've already have had in the past. With limited moves and a small roster, you can just skip this.

Story 4/10 - Nothing Special.

Design 7/10 - Nice character designs. Fighting mechanic is typical.

Graphics 7/10 - Sub-par.

Gameplay - 6/10 - Simple.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/06/08

Game Release: Battle Fantasia (US, 09/16/08)