Unlike most genres on the market, fighting games are rarely cut from the same cloth. Sure, they all task you with beating the snot out of your opponent before they deplete your precious health bar, but beyond that, every release brings its own unique twist to the table. Typically, you can bring your own style to each individual game and still find some level of success. As someone who competes regularly on the local and regional level, I’ve found that playing super aggressive (as in constantly throwing attacks at my enemy until they fall down and don’t get back up) is my preferred way to play. The newly released fighter Fantasy Strike doesn’t take too kindly to my strategy and punished me every step of the way for it.

The game manages to set itself apart from the pack by stripping away the token quarter-circle-followed-by-a-face-button motions to bust out super moves and replacing it with the use of single face buttons in conjunction with single directions, putting most of us seasoned fighters at a level ground with the novices. Much like SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy, this was something I honestly was not a huge fan of, simply because it takes my years of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat training and throws them out the window like a piece of trash along the interstate. This change also allows you, or your opponent, to cheese your way to victory using distance and the spamming of projectiles as an easy means to a win, even more so than other fighters that require the more complex motions that could easily be missed and allow an opening for attack. The responsive controls play into this as well, which you’ll discover quickly if you fall back on everyone’s favorite Hail Mary fighting game tactic: button mashing. Hitting the wrong face button too many times will often result in your combo continuing, leaving you open for an attack even longer than you rightfully should be.

Pushing the envelope even further, the game changes up the standard life bar; this can be chipped away with flurries of attacks despite the opponents constant blocking by breaking the bar off into segments. It depletes at staggering intervals, almost as if you’re playing an old school coin-op brawler. These changes force you into playing the long and smart game, waiting for your opponent to attack and looking for your opening to counter, making them regret even selecting their character. While the majority of the modes favor shorter rounds (three out of five in most modes), the matches end up taking as long as the ones found within competing franchises, but it feels much longer when you’re actually playing, and even more so when you’re playing in the online ranked mode.

Ranked play incorporates a strange twist that I’m not fond of, largely due to the fact that the matches already drag on for what feels like days which are extended even further by setting up a tournament-style bracket in which you play the same opponent a ridiculous amount of times. Once connected with your opponent, you’ll each select three fighters to make up a team. A bracket will be built and random fighters from each player’s team will be selected to duke it out solo, working their way to the top spot. I love that this an option, but since I am somewhat limited to short spurts of time gaming throughout the week, I don’t have time to sit down and play 30+ minute online matches which become even more grueling when your opponent is clearly outranking you in skill, or in my case, forcing you to fight against their strongest character when you get paired with the fighter you knew nothing about, but thought they looked cool. The good news is there is also the casual option, removing the tournament play in place of the traditional online experience you have come to expect. The matchmaking is extremely reliable, pairing you up and rarely disconnecting once grouped, which is an impressive feat considering bigger games (Mortal Kombat 11, I am looking at you) can’t seem to get this right.

Outside of the online play, the offline modes of play are extremely bare bones. There is a daily option, giving you one shot at taking on a set group of high-level AI fighters; the token arcade mode; local versus (against another human or the CPU); and survival mode – the latter modes offer exactly what are advertised by their names and nothing more. The arcade mode is by far the weakest link in the game, containing only a handful of battles per run and offering no higher or lower difficulty options in place, it seems like it was added because it’s the norm, not because it was fully fleshed out and felt right for the game.

Since this is the first entry in what I imagine will be a series, the small cast of combatants are unique and refreshingly do not seem to take inspiration from characters included in competing franchises. Incorporating a nice mix of humanoid, animal-ish creatures as well as standard people, the brightly colored cast of combatants check off the right boxes when it comes to design, even going as far to include a decent bucket of palette options from the start, removing the paywall or grinding other games require to unlock the same options. The only downfall here is that there simply isn’t enough, which can be easily remedied via DLC, but there isn’t much I can say they could’ve been improved in this area. The overall visuals are impressive, looking every bit as gorgeous as if it were Street Fighter V cel-shaded brother from another mother and really stands out more when you take into account this is a debuting franchise from an indie developer. The art roots should be no surprise though, considering this comes from David Sirlin, the lead designer of Super Street Fighter II HD Remix.

While Fantasy Strike won’t be something I can say will please everyone, nor topple their current favorite fighting game, it’s a solid release that changes up the formula just enough to ensure it’s not overshadowed by the larger names in the industry. By successfully striking the accessible yet challenging mark that the recent SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy fell left of center on, it’s a unique fighter that is at least worth taking a look at if you’re growing tired of the standard fighting tropes.

8 out of 10

Pros

• Gorgeous Visuals
• Emphasis on Strategy Over Complex Button Combinations
• Reliable Online Play

Cons

• Major Changes to the Popular Fighting Mechanics Won’t Please Everyone
• AI is Unforgiving
• Ranked Match Length

Fantasy Strike was developed and published by Sirlin Games. It launched on NS, PC, and PS4. The game was provided to us for review on PS4. If you’d like to see more of Fantasy Strike, check out the official site.

 

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