GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE- is a fighting game and the seventh game in the main arch. Developed and produced by Arch System Works, I have mixed feelings about this one. At one point I liked it, then I wanted to delete it. Now, I am a huge fan of fighting games and this game had me pretty excited to try it out, and while some aspects were great, others just disappointed me so much.

So this installment is meant to be the conclusion of Sol’s story, and the first thing you will go through in this game is the tutorial, which is very helpful. It’s not overly complicated and it is short, which I also like. Transitioning from the tutorial straight into the mission mode is a series of extra tutorials that cover the more specific and complex mechanics of the game. There are a lot of these – I think I got a little past halfway before I needed to stop so I could check out some of the other options.

There is the story mode, as well as a mode purely designed to give you extra information about characters, so not really game mode, but an influx of information. Let’s be honest. Arcade and survival modes are the same as any other fighting game, though they did add wall breaks to change up the stage locations which is nice. Nothing new, but it helps. I constantly tried breaking my opponents through the stage edge into the other areas of the stage.

The mechanics of this game for me have a good concept, and for the most part, are great. However, I found the directional part of the combos and specials to be unnecessarily complicated. So instead of your standard back, down, forward, forward, circle, it becomes right, diagonal down/right, down, diagonal down/left, left, then do it again then press square while mid-air. It can get so frustrating trying to hit all of those without inputting it incorrectly.

Now, some people might be dexterous gods that can do it with their eyes closed, unfortunately, that ain’t me. On the other side though, it looks great if you can pull it off, and then there are the extra mechanics like double jumping, air dashing, and countering.

The game gives off some very Street Fighter-like vibes in its appearance. They do boast epic animation for the story cinematics, but it is also a little janky in parts, like when they run it looks really weird. The ability animations are all pretty cool and probably my favourite thing about the game. Music in this game is like Americanised anime rock. That may sound bad, and it is, but this chapter of the story is based in America so it makes sense I guess.

Lastly, I will touch on the online aspect of the game. I didn’t get to have a good look at it as they only had it on periodically while they work on it, though I did briefly get to try, it and I did some research on the side. The lobby was interesting, but not overly great, though playing online wasn’t bad. According to what I researched, the online play uses a rollback system, so fighting someone across the other side of the world has no real noticeable input delay. This is a lot better than some other well-known fighting games that shall not be named.

This game would be for the fans of the series or those with very good command input skills. For me though, it felt like I was ruining my controller, constantly rolling the D-pad around. It just didn’t feel right. My only other gripe is with the moves or lack thereof. With there only being six or seven combo moves it felt a little lackluster.

Pushing past the issues, I personally found with this game, I have to admit it has its charm and some unique characters that all have their strengths, weaknesses, and capabilities. So give it a go if you want a challenging but rewarding fighting game with a unique playstyle.

Written by: Adam Brasher