Some Girl on Girl Action (And No Not That Kind)

This startlingly beautiful game is the first to be made by Reverge Labs and is the culmination of almost a decade's worth of work. Skullgirls is the first game to be produced by Mike Z and it has gained fame amongst the fighting game community as being the game designed by the community for the community. And with a tagline like that who can resist?

The story starts with the arrival of the Skull Heart in Canopy City. This heart possesses the power to grant any woman/girl a wish. It almost sounds like a fairytale but with every fairy tale there comes a catch and this one is a biggy. Although the skull heart can grant any of their wishes they wishee must be pure of heart, if not they are consumed by the power it holds and become a skullgirls destined to torment humanity. As with every fighter each character has their own needs and wants for the artifact, some wish to destroy it and others want to abuse its power but they all inevitably end up at the same point face to face with the current skullgirl.

With mountains of experience behind him Mike z has taken the best ideas from across all different types of fighting games. There is your standard 6-button layout with light,medium and heavy punches and kicks as well as an intricate tag system. The game also boasts the very ingenuitive variable tag battle in which the is no restrictions on either side meaning that a single character can face off against a team of 3, this would seem that one sided might be slightly disadvantaged having less characters but the game allows this team of one to have more power and health whereas the team of 3 could have a lot more variety for different situations. There is also the infinite prevention system that prevents the player from discovering an abusable loop and puts the player in a position where they can develop their own combos with different ways around them.

The game places itself in amongst the masses of different types of fighting games perfectly drawing inspiration from BlazBlue, Marvel vs Capcom and Streetfighter and you can see in the mechanics alone that there has been a lot of love and care put into the game to make a truly fun experience.

With so much time and effort being used to create an in depth system to the game, naturally it would need some form of explanation to how everything works and so far Skullgirls has taken the prize on introducing new players to the true basics of fighting games. What a player would usually learn from peers or trial and error is laid out in front of the explaining terms they are unfamiliar with or they are given the true meaning behind the term. Each stage places the player in situations where the intuitively build upon skills to deal with more complex strategies and understand why they do what they do as well as a good reason behind it. This is something that has never really been tackled before within a training mode, or at least not as in depth and it is nice to see it done so well.

As with any fighting game there is a story mode an arcade mode and a local versus. Unfortunately it is within the single player aspect that the games faults rise to the surface. The story lines are short and have very little deviation from a set list of fights, although the world in which the game is set is vibrant and bursting with character the short cutscenes struggle to convey such an awesome atmosphere.

What really sets SkullGirls apart from the majority of modern fighting games is the hand drawn art, other games do have bragging rights in this area but none of which breathe the same character into the world or its inhabitants in quite the same way. Each level has a vibrant colour scheme and compliments the madness that surrounds the fights. This art style is another testament to Mike Z’s involvement with fighting games from an early age and you can see where 2D art and BlazBlue have influenced the game. I think it is best left to see the art in action and with no palette swaps or “redux” levels in sight and some truly inspiring design the art style will leave you begging for more.

With a cast of 8 characters many would be quick to judge the game on its lack of variety. And for those of you who do embody this sentiment, shame on you. The 8 characters present are nothing like you expect from a fighting games, with no; multi coloured ninjas with slightly differed moves, palette swapped american rivals or duplicated move sets SkullGirls’ cast is something else. Each character has their own quirky puns and pays homage to other famous games, attacks and characters. Another point of interest is that even with an all female cast each of the characters have their own style, story and even bra size all laid out on skullgirls.com. If you don’t like the look of the big breasted nurse then maybe the more sinister shape shifting nun will take your fancy but you will be hard pressed not to find a character that doesn’t stir up some curiosity inside of you.

As a massive fan of the game and genre I have got more bang for my buck from Skullgirls in the past week than some more high profile fighting games released in the past year and with a price tag of 1,200 MSP to boot you will struggle to justify not buying the game too.And if you are really interested in a larger roster it has already been announced that there will be more characters and stories added to the universe throughout the year. In short with characters as unique as the art style you will struggle to pull yourself away from this punchtastic slugfest.

What I'm Playing 29/04/12

It has been a while since my last update to the plethora of games that lay before me incomplete. So I thought it was about time that I gave a little insight to the laundry list of games I aim to complete relatively soon.

First up is the latest instalment to the Elder Scrolls Franchise, yup Skyrim. Although it has been out for several months I haven't quite mustered up the courage to plunder the depths,dungeons and ditches of Skyrim. It might be a bit too late to capture the inital excitement of setting up my own little trading business in alchemy but hopefully the DLC will bring a breath of fresh air and entice me once more.

Next up is yet another popular RPG. I have recently bought The Witcher 2 and I am totally engrossed in the story. I feel it is definitely one of the few games you can truly believe the hype with. Every choice has its consequences and you are pulled between tough choices along the way. I really look forward to delving right in and see how dark the story can be.

Slowly dragging myself away from RPGs with japanese grindfest may not be the best idea but the allure of another "Warriors" game is just too great. On the plate this time around is the ever so appetising Warriors Orochi 3. I personally feel that these games combine the best from Samurai Warriors and Dynasty Warriors without compromising either playstyle. With a step up in story and a lot more characters I have found myself dedicating far too much time to the slaughtering of thousands of snake like warriors.

I've also got Armored Core on back up in case the countless hordes of warriors doesn't quite satisfy my need to grind. This is where I can indulge in even more grinding and with endless customisation to boot. So far ACV is the best looking in the series and has loads of online possibilities from creating a clan of Mecha-Warriors to help in your missions or fight 5v5 in an all out robo-war.

Next up is Skullgirls, a charming fighter from Reverge Labs. As it is only an arcade title you wouldn't expect the game to have such a massive impact on what I have been playing but it has and in the best of ways at that. I cannot tell you how much fun I have had with the game, it is best played with friends but if you can convince them to buy it is a lot of fun. With slick visuals and a unique cast it has been a delight to lose countless hours in first to 50s and play in to the wee hours of the night. 

And finally the newest edition to the collection is The Walking Dead. The game truly sticks to the feel and art of the comics, with interesting dialogue and truly human decisions it begs for countless play throughs. Although I can't give much insight as of yet I can't wait to fire it back up and start to develop my own zombie survival plan.

So that is the long and short of what I am really playing just now but as with any gamer there is even more anxiously fighting for some screen time in my pile of shame. I guess they might just have to wait a little longer.