![]() For one, the game lacks a cover system, relying on mobility via dodge rolls and quick-steps to ensure a player’s survival as they avoid the enemies’ telltale targeting lines. People won’t be mistaking Fatal Bullet for Gears of War anytime soon, though. It even handles banking and investment (the “FA” in the name stands for “Financial Assistant”), and can gain the player interest on the money they earn or buy rare items for them. The ArFA-sys is fully customizable and can be outfitted, leveled, and developed according to the player’s taste. You know you’ve made it when it’s your character and not the canonical lead that’s sleeping – very literally – with all the cute girls and boys.įurther, even one’s sense of ownership over the ArFA-sys reinforces that feeling of being central to the events occurring. have fun on their own, and makes Fatal Bullet‘s campaign far more engaging than the straight details of the plot might otherwise imply. In a rather saucy-sounding twist, the classic SAO-game “Pillow Talk” events for about half that cast (mainly the game-original characters like Strea and Philia) are now be triggered by the player character rather than Kirito. ![]() The rest of the story follows the crew’s attempts to upgrade the ArFA-sys in preparation to unlock the raid, as well as look into a larger mystery lying at the heart of GGO.įinally being awarded a sense of agency in presence in the story is a refreshing departure after years of watching Kirito and co. Encountering the most important rare drop in the game on their first day quickly singles the player out as a giant lucksack, earning them attention from both Kirito and his gang (now 15-strong after Hollow Realization), but also the attention of other high-level heavies on the GGO scene, all interested in claiming the ArFA-sys for themselves, or helping keep the ArFA-sys safe. įor its part, the narrative hinges on a new, mysterious expansion to GGO, a new high-level raid territory called the “SBC Flugel.” A newly-crashed colony ship on GGO’s planet, the Flugel’s still locked up tight, and can only be accessed by players accompanied by ultra-rare AI companions called “ArFA-sys.” The player character, drafted into the game by childhood friend Kureha, encounters one such ArFA-sys early on, narrowly avoiding being ganked by Kirito and Asuna for the prize. Centering the narrative on the player’s character and a bunch of game-original cast members allows for actual stakes while still involving the characters and references people come to a Sword Art Online-branded game for. Without the freedom to really experiment and reinterpret the setting and characters (like, say, the way Telltale’s Batman series did for its source), the narratives had little choice but to tread water. One of the reasons Kirito’s game adventures fell so flat all the time is that the scenario writers were beholden to save anything genuinely interesting for the actual source material. To me, this is a sort of genius twist on Dimps’ part. Instead, the main campaign is focused on a silent protagonist, a player-generated custom character, and begins on his or her first day playing GGO. ![]() Fatal Bullet doesn’t actually star Kirito. Whereas the marketing might lead one to assume the game’s plot would be a game-original remix of the “Death Gun” plot, the truth is rather different, and quite a bit more customizable. They’d need to do the game equivalent of what happened in the “Death Gun” arc, I basically said, in order to keep things fresh.ĭefying expectations, developer Dimps has taken a left turn for its first crack at an SAO game, and not just by setting Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet in the world of GGO. It’s for a reason that most, if not all, of the franchise’s works are still branded with “ Sword Art Online,” even if their stories and characters have long since moved on from that particular game.Īgain and again, I’ve stated or otherwise implied that the SAO games would need to shake things up in a big way for me to really feel confident about them (and by extension, the franchise) again. Everything else Kirito and his VR game pals have done to date has paled in comparison to their original exploits. Before we begin, a bit of background: In preparation to write this review of Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet, I went over the other SAO game reviews I’ve written for Destructoid, and it turns out, a common thread runs through all of them: The assertion that Sword Art Online as a franchise has yet to top the original, titular death-game story arc. ![]()
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