Guilty Gear Dust Strikers

"A decent 2D fighter hampered by poor execution"

>>> INTRODUCTION

Before going into the game, I have to say firstly that GGDS eschews everything you know about the traditional Guilty Gear formula, meaning Guilty Gear purists may be a tad insulted when they first encounter this game. But its not really the actual changes that deter GGDS, but rather the implementation.

>>> GRAPHICS

GGDS has very smooth sprite animations that stay faithful to the hi-res designs from its arcade progenitors – but don't expect it to be near GGXX#R quality, mind you. GGDS looks miles better than its GBA predecessor, but doesn't hold a candle against its console brethren. Nevertheless, the character sprites will still give you an eyeful, especially during their combat animations.

And on that note, for a handheld system, the visual fluidity is choppiness-free – no slowdown, even with four combatants present. Even when you've got all four pulling off their specials, it all moves seamlessly, keeping the action frenetic and at a high pace. As a portable fighter, it's safe to say that GGDS looks the nuts with its character animations and sprites.

What doesn't look the nuts are the backgrounds, which have been downgraded to static 2D wallpapers with bland platform floors on the foreground to comprise the multifloor arenas. There is nothing striking here, and is a disappointment when the characters have all that extra polish to them in their miniaturization.

And this is probably the biggest gripe here on the graphics portion – it seems as if all the effort went into making the character sprites and not everything else. A boring graphical interface, and lack of any extra visual flair effects or add-ons to complement the explosions and common effects (such as the screen flash when killing the last opponent with a super move), leave the entire visual package underwhelming. Even the versus screens pre-matches don't stand out at all.

>>> SOUND

If you're a Guilty Gear fan, then you know what to expect concerning the soundtrack, as GGDS uses the same samples found since the days of Guilty Gear on the PSone – which is alright. What isn't alright are the new tracks, particularly in the minigame section, which is more of a pop tune gone awry. If there is any detriment to your enjoyment of the minigames, it will most likely be the enduring, looping background music.

Concerning the sound effects, its on par. A punch sounds like a punch, and a hit sounds like a hit. Personally, it sounds better than the SFX in Dragonball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2.

>>> GAMEPLAY

As mentioned earlier, the control scheme has been simplified from the Punch/Kick/Slash/Hard Slash button layout to a Light/Heavy/Dust Strike/Special button layout. Light and Heavy are the two normal attack buttons, while Dust Strike is a knockdown and launcher attack, depending on the associated D-pad direction.

What is the greatest insult probably to the Guilty Gear specialist is the Special button. Pressing it alone or with any of the directions on the D-pad will do the character's special move. Even worse, super moves are simplified accordingly as well, with simple D-pad movements with the Special button to execute. As a result as well, the one-hit-kill Destroyed move is also nonexistent.

The Roman Cancel has also been simplified to the R shoulder button, making any sort of technique obsolete. Needless to say, this makes the game instantly accessible to any gamer, but leaves Guilty Gear purists on the same level as newbies.

Actual fighting is also very simple – don't press anything to auto-block anything being thrown at you, even if your back is turned to your opponent; and 2D collision is very precise, meaning there are hardly any cheap shots. Thanks to the smooth animation, the fighting is seamless, and being cornered or pinned down hardly happens. The only cheap factor is when you find yourself ganged up on by two or three fighters, with you smack in the middle being hit by all of them. This suggests only one true strategy for this game – don't be in the middle.

The inclusion of items (which can be switched off via the Options screen) adds some spice to the multifloor fighting, but is also a detriment at times, especially since to activate an item, you have to tap it on the lower-right corner of the bottom screen while fighting.

The other new factor in the game – souls – serve as extra lives during each match (you can set the number of souls in the Options screen, from zero to three). This does nothing but lower the already-easy difficulty by granting you another full life and energy bar per soul, making this game even more accessible to newbies.

The Arcade Mode and Story Mode are short, even on normal difficulty. Arcade mode is standard fare, as the game throws random matchups against you, ranging from one-on-one battles to four-player-brawls. The Story Mode, however, is very disappointing – the dialogue is purely comedic in its fashion, and contributes nothing to the Guilty Gear mythos, making the game as some sort of sidestory filler episode.

Both modes pit you against a new final boss – Gig – never encountered in any Guilty Gear game, but once you understand its pattern, Gig becomes a pushover. By comparison, Justice still performs as the best final boss there is in the GG universe.

The Minigame mode only serves to unlock moves for Robo-Ky, to customize your own Robo-Ky in the Factory Mode. But honestly, why would you even play Robo-Ky , especially when he's going to use moves from other characters? A Create-Your-Own-Fighter mode would have been more succinct.

For multiplayer, the Arena and Versus modes both use wifi for match play, with the following difference – Arena pits you in an endless Arcade Mode, where you can be challenged by any other GGDS player at any time, while Versus Mode has you setting the preferences yourself against other GGDS players. In other words, do Arena if you want to play single-player while waiting for a random challenger, and do Versus if you have friends with you already to challenge you.

Unfortunately, download play is not supported, and neither is WFC, meaning the chances of finding other GGDS players are probably slim.

>>> REPLAYABILITY

While finishing Story Mode nets you a CG artwork of your chosen character during the credits roll, there is no way to view them (such as a gallery viewer) afterwards. Finishing the Arcade and Story Modes don't net you any type of unlockable whatsoever either.

What may be considered replayable are the minigames, which gaining a top score in unlocks new moves for your custom Robo-Ky in the factory. Unfortunately, beating these mingames don't get you anything else, and out of the seven minigames present, only a couple are doable in attaining a high score. In short, the minigames are either too difficult, or too inane.

The lack of WFC support does not help either. Online capability would have helped immensely.

>>> BOTTOM LINE

An otherwise capable 2D fighter for the Nintendo DS with decent graphics and ample sound that is hampered by its utter simplicity in presentaion and gameplay, lack of WFC online support, and its insignificant contribution to the Guilty Gear mythos.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 05/08/06