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.

 

  
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.
   

  
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!
   

  
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). 

Page Updated: September 26th, 2022 Developer(s): Arc System Works Publisher(s): Sammy Corporation Designer(s): Daisuke Ishiwatari Platform(s): Arcade, PlayStation 2, Wii 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 Featured Video: 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    Gameplay Engine  7.0 / 10 Story / Theme  7.0 / 10 Overall Graphics  8.0 / 10 Animation  8.0 / 10 Music / Sound Effects  8.5 / 10 Innovation  5.0 / 10 Art Direction  8.5 / 10 Customization  8.0 / 10 Options / Extras  7.0 / 10 Intro / Presentation  7.0 / 10 Replayability / Fun  5.5 / 10 "Ouch" Factor  7.5 / 10 Characters  8.5 / 10 BOTTOM LINE  7.7 / 10  Review based on PS2 version       Final Words: Guilty Gear X has aged... but like a fine wine. The original Accent Core update brought a fresh coat of paint and aimed to bring fans and hardcore players back once again. Unfortunately in Accent Core's case, many serious and pro-level players were put off by unnecessary and frustrating character changes (many of which were later remedied in the Accent Core +R update). At the least... Accent Core was a decent stepping stone in terms of aesthetics, as the updated voice acting and dialogue manages to breathe new life into the (now) classic game and characters. While the graphics haven't changed much in the past 6 or 7 years, Accent Core is still the most visually impressive game in the XX series, pound for pound. You should know by now if Guilty Gear suits your particular fighting game tastes, especially for 2D fighting games... but if for some reason you haven't played a Guilty Gear game and vanilla Accent Core is the only option, it's still a good game. Several years later, the Accent Core +R update released (and re-released) on modern consoles and on PC, bringing the best and super final version of the game to everyone. ~TFG Webmaster | @FIGHTERS_GEN                                                  Click Here for all Character Artwork! Click Here for all Animated Stages! Click Here for more Screenshots! FOLLOW    ON:                             TFG NEWS CHARACTERS GAMES