Guilty
Gear XX Accent Core
REVIEW:
Just when
you thought the Guilty Gear XX series might be ready to throw in the towel, along
comes yet another installment. 
Accent Core is the fifth main installment of the XX arcade series.
I never was a hardcore Guilty Gear player, even though I've already
bought several iterations of GGXX. At face value, it doesn't seem like
the game has changed very much (yet again). For the hardcore players, there are
definitely some significant changes, especially in regards to how returning
characters play; and on that note, most players would tell you that many of
which were negative changes.
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Guilty
Gear XX Accent Core character select screen.
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The main gameplay update in Accent Core is the new "Force Break," which consumes 25% of the
Tension bar when used. Also new is the "Slashback," a form of parrying
with reduced block stun. While "parrying" in Guilty Gear seems
like a cool idea, the game's style of animation makes parrying pretty
difficult... and usually more risk than reward. In addition, there are now certain
attacks that make opponents stick briefly to walls or slide across the floor of
a stage.
Most characters have gained new special moves,
and some have had existing specials (or powered-up versions of existing
specials) converted into Force Break attacks. Thanks to the new
Force Break feature, every character now has special moves that require 25%
meter (AKA "EX" moves). This alone actually changes the way a lot of
characters are played... and some changes just seem unnecessary or even useless.
Even though I'm not a hardcore Guilty Gear player myself, I overheard
that most players weren't happy with many of the character changes in Accent
Core. For example, token combos for several characters were made far more
difficult to perform, requiring stricter timing. Overall, the changes made the
game more complex than it ever needed to be... resulting in frustrated returning
players.
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The
XX style character sprites and stages still look good!
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The most notable aesthetic update of
Accent Core is that the character
voice-overs have been completely redone! This is a nice change
if you thought the classic voiceovers for special moves and win quotes were starting to sound
stale and monotonous. (I did). 
I also think most new voices are an improvement over the classic
ones (which is saying a lot). The announcer's voice was also changed, but unfortunately,
he doesn't sound as cool as the former one. The
new announcer seems "super-happy" and quite
frankly, annoys me. 
Moving alone, the new intro isn't nearly as
impressive as some of the previous ones... as it simply "flashes" random character artwork
all over the place (a typical 2D fighting game intro if you will). 
The character artworks in Accent Core are also brand new and look great; although, the "character
faces" from the selection screen were taken from GGXX...
but it isn't necessarily a bad thing, since those artworks are still rather awesome. Worth mentioning,
Accent Core also looks great on an
HDTV. Pop the game into a backwards compatible PS3 for some solid visual enhancements!
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Chipp
Zanuff versus Potemkin, yet again.
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GGXX: Accent
Core
unfortunately includes no Story Mode, so this title is purely an arcade
fighting game, made for the hardcore Guilty Gear players (which again,
are mostly unhappy with the changes). 
Arcade Mode, Medal
of Millionaire, Survival, Training, and Versus Mode should be enough to
keep casual fans of the series busy. The back of the box claims to feature 2 new characters,
but actually, there aren't any completely "new" characters. To be clear: A.B.A. is
playable in a 1-VS-1 Guilty Gear title for the first time in America, and an
alternate version of Sol Badguy (Order Sol)
is the other newcomer, who has a completely different moveset than the
original Sol (and is actually quite badass).
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| Page Updated: |
September
26th, 2022 |
| Developer(s): |
Arc System Works |
| Publisher(s): |
Sammy Corporation |
| Designer(s): |
Daisuke Ishiwatari
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| Platform(s): |
Arcade, PlayStation 2, Wii
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| Release Date(s): |
Dec. 20th, 2006
 Arcade
May 30th, 2007
PlayStation 2
Sept. 12th,
2007
 PlayStation 2
July
26, 2007
Nintendo Wii
Oct. 15th, 2007
Nintendo Wii |
| Characters: |
Sol
Badguy, Ky Kiske, Millia,
Chipp,
May,
Jam,
Johnny,
Baiken,
Potemkin, Faust, Axl,
Anji,
Venom,
Dizzy,
Testament,
Zato-1,
Slayer,
Bridget,
I-no,
Zappa,
Robo
Ky, Holy Order
Sol,
A.B.A |
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Featured Video:
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| Related Games: |
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core
Plus, Guilty Gear XX, Guilty
Gear X2 #Reload,
Guilty Gear XX Slash,
Guilty Gear Isuka, Guilty
Gear Judgment, Guilty
Gear, Guilty Gear X, Guilty
Gear X Advance, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, Guilty
Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-, Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2,
Guilty Gear -STRIVE-, BlazBlue:
Calamity Trigger, Hokuto
No Ken, Sengoku Basara X |
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Gameplay
Engine
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7.0 / 10
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Story
/ Theme
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7.0 / 10
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Overall
Graphics
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8.0 / 10
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Animation
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8.0 / 10
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Music
/ Sound Effects
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8.5 / 10
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Innovation
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5.0 / 10
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Art Direction
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8.5 / 10
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Customization
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8.0 / 10
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Options / Extras
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7.0 / 10
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Intro / Presentation
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7.0 / 10
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Replayability / Fun
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5.5 / 10
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"Ouch" Factor
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7.5 / 10
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Characters
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8.5 / 10
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BOTTOM LINE
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7.7
/
10
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Review based on PS2
version
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| Final
Words: |
Guilty Gear has definitely matured as a fighting game series over the years,
and has been taken more seriously competitively in the recent past.
Unfortunately in Accent Core, many pro players were put off by the unnecessary
and frustrating character changes (which were later remedied in Accent Core
+R).
At least Accent Core was a decent stepping stone in terms of aesthetics,
as the updated voice acting manages to breathe some new life into the (now) classic characters.
While the visuals haven't changed much, Accent Core
is still the most graphically impressive game in the series, pound for pound.
You should
know by now if Guilty Gear suits your fighting game tastes... but if for
some reason you haven't played a Guilty Gear game, I definitely recommend you start with a
story-driven version of the game (like Guilty Gear XX) rather than Accent
Core. Or just pick up the updated / final refinement of the game
(say it with me): Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R.
~TFG
Webmaster |
@FIGHTERS_GEN
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