Ever since 2008 when Capcom revived the fighting game genre with Street Fighter 4, companies from all over decided to follow in their footsteps to bring back fan favorites. One of those all time favorites was the Guilty Gear franchise, developed by the legendary Arc System Works who are the masterminds behind Blazblue as well. Unlike Street Fighter where much of the bouts take place mostly on the ground, Guilty Gear incorporates various elements such as air dashing and roman cancelling among many others, to add more versatility to the anime styled game. In order to take down your opponent you’ll need to have stronger spatial awareness since a lot more action is taking place on the screen, and really develop a mutual bond with the character you’ve selected. In Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, there are plenty of tools for new players to take advantage of such as a revamped training system in the Dojo, along with improved missions to help you better understand matchups and specific scenarios during battle.

Fans who devoted a good amount of time in Xrd Revelator will surely have more fun with refinements done to Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 to make the experience more exciting. Two new characters have made their entry into the series, one being the wild and sexy lone samurai Baiken who’s been a fan favorite for many years, and Answer, a salaryman ninja who’s out to take names and destroy anyone who stands in his way. With these new additions means that character changes must be made, so in Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 every character has been altered to create a more balanced playing field for everyone. New battle themes have been added in for Baiken and Answer along with their respective stages, which look really cool especially Baiken’s. For these in depth character changes, be sure to check out the Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 website or simply hop into the training mode and check it out for yourself!

One great aspect about Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 is that, for those who missed out on the story in the original Revelator the latest title provides a nice movie for you to sit through in order to catch up to all the action. Much of the same content from Revelator is all there but now there are new story episode scenes for Jam, Haehyun, Raven, Dizzy, along with Baiken and Answer the latter of which will come in a later update. There’s also a new after story as well which takes place shortly after the main events in the PC and console versions. A lot of cosmetic changes have been made to REV 2 which to be honest looks so much cleaner (and greener), and really stands out in a good way. As we stated earlier, the training mode has been revamped in order for new players to get a better feel for the game through missions in the Dojo among other options. One big plus that we loved a lot was being able to switch your character within training mode without having to go back to the character select screen. This mode among others is of course still great for experienced players since you’re better able to keep track of things and level up your game much faster.

The single player experience is totally there for everyone to dive into which is a major plus because, not everyone is going to want to jump online to compete against other players, so implementing a copious amount of content for casual players is a very smart move by Arc System Works. Logging in for the first time will net players with an exuberant amount of cash to spend, 10,000 gold to be exact, so this encourages you to hop into the store to start buying new costume colors among many other things. However we all know why we love playing fighting games and that’s mainly to hop online to test our skills against other formidable opponents, and so we’re going to talk more in depth about the online infrastructure which comes with some nice upgrades as well. Before we do so, we’d like to also bring attention to the fact that now players can swap between the original Revelator and REV 2 games in the battle settings menu! This is fantastic for dedicated fans who perhaps want to swap back and forth to maybe see what major changes have been made, or maybe just feel like playing the original for that nostalgia.

So now onto the online content which is feeling much more robust than before, with the online lobby taking on a different look and feel. It seems that Arc System Works really fancies the color green a lot and to be honest it really helps to add more warmth to the environment, which is actually quite welcoming for new players. It’s easier to find opponents within your region with more sophisticated rooms that cater to your respective country and area, which we found to be extremely satisfying. So if you live in Tokyo there’s a region just for you, and if you live in the southern part of North America it’s there for you as well. Vast improvements have been made to the player and ranked modes as well, more notably allowing players to conduct a first to two (FT2) with ranked players by issuing a rematch challenge. In player lobbies you’ll now be able to watch a match that’s already in progress which is a major plus, since you’ll get a chance to take notes on your opponent and better prepare yourself to body them. As mentioned before about cosmetic changes, fishing also received a little boost as you’ll now be able to reel in new items if you don’t feel like dishing out the gold for it.

Honestly, Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 is such a huge step over the original which is pleasing because, it seems the team behind the game want to be more inviting to players who show interest to the series which is what the community needs. With all of the subtle yet exciting changes such as interface changes, a more robust online infrastructure for better matchmaking, updates to training mode, combo, M.O.M, along with decorations, Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 has just about everything for both newcomers and veterans to sink their teeth into. Whether you’re a lab monster and just want to spend hours working on execution, or you’re a fearless soul who wants to devour opponents online, Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 has it all with a little extra seasoning to keep the flavor strong well into the long term.

As devoted fans of fighting games playing Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 was a total blast, and we look forward to attending tournaments for it in the near future. Speaking of tournaments there’s an EVO qualifier event taking place in Japan this coming weekend May 20th-21st, so be sure to check out the Japanese EVO page to know when to tune in for Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 action! We took a break from fighting games for quite some time but after spending a great deal of time in the arcades playing against strong players, our fighting spirit has returned in Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 and we look forward to rising up once again. Another plus is that if you already own Revelator, you can simply upgrade to REV 2 by paying an extra $20 and you receive both new characters and all the great updates.

The final verdict is go to your room, find your wallet, take out whatever cash is there and put it all aside for Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2. If you’re into the digital transaction then make sure to have your paypal account ready once you log onto PSN, and buy everything right away. With so much great content in this update this should be a no brainer purchase, unless of course you’re running low on money in which case we will pray for you. For those living in Japan *cough* myself *cough* you can always opt out and go to the arcades to play if you can’t grab the physical copy, or if you simply just want to be a part of a great community. Whatever you choose to do is your prerogative, but as long as it pertains to playing online and leveling up in Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 then it’s no problem. We hope to see you online sometime! Be on the lookout for May or Jack-O because that’s who we’ll be using for the time being. Until next time, this is NualphaJPN signing out. Be sure to follow us on Twitch to catch all of the action live and join us in our player lobbies!
As always, for all things sweet, with news straight from Japan, be sure to keep it locked here on Honey’s Anime.