Guilty Gear XX Accent Core (Wii)

Guilty fun if you have the right controller in your hands.
2/18/2008 12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 2

Back in the late 18th century, when Ben Franklin was putting the final touches on his Wii prototype, he knew that the device's unconventional controller set-up would be great for some things, good for other things, and generally awful for the remainder of things. "Bowling will be the absolute nuts; cooking and surgery will be entertaining; fighting will be a challenge," he wrote to friends in a letter dated November 17, 1785. Now, some 220 years later, his words still -- amazingly -- ring true. Aksys' Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core is the first of the venerable series to show up on the Wii and it does it with mixed results. It is one of the best fighters that's been released for the system, but if you're looking to blaze your way through it with just a Nunchuk and a Wii remote -- basically, what makes a Wii game a Wii game -- you're going to be sadly disappointed.

The Guilty Gear franchise has been around almost as long as humans have known how to use their opposable thumbs. While maybe not as well-known as other fighting series like Mortal Kombat or Tekken, it's carved out a niche for itself for delivering top-notch 2-D fighting with a roster of way-over-the-top and screwed-up fighters. While most games shoot for some element of grit and realism in their stable of available combatants -- Tekken may offer the chance to fight as a giant wooden tree dude, but for the most part its characters take the battle seriously -- the Guilty Gear games have never let common sense or what is known about traditional fighting get in the way. A girl that fights with a giant anchor? No problem. Heading into battle with a yo-yo or a guitar? Bring it on. The games are about the surreal, goofball and offbeat. And that's why they're so cool.

Accent Core continues the tradition. In addition to the regular cast of kooks, you'll now get to fight one-on-one as A.B.A. -- the spaced-out, giant-key-wielding chick who made her debut in the multi-person melee-fest, Guilty Gear Isuka -- and as a reworked version of Sol, here known as Order Sol. Unfortunately, what doesn't make it into Accent Core is any type of story mode. The Guilty Gear world is a mussed-up one, so if you're new to the series, you will have a question mark over your head as to why you've all of a sudden been thrown up against a guy who wears a paper bag on his head and has the power to teleport through a magic door.

That said, newbies to the series won't have any trouble getting in there and going to town on an opponent with fists, feet, pool cues, locks of hair, etc. Moves can be as simple as the single-button kick, punch, slash and heavy slash. The game rewards relentless and tenacious offense. This isn't a game for counter-punchers. Early on, you'll be able to get away with random high-speed button-mashing, but as things progress, you'll need to understand the nuances of the game. High-powered, condition-sensitive moves like Force Breaks, Overdrive Attacks and Instant Kills force you to keep an eye on your on-screen Tension Meter as well as perfect some lightning-fast and finger-blistering combos.

And that's where the default Wii remote and Nunchuk set-up comes in. Or, to be more accurate, it's where the default set-up should get tossed out. Movement and attack modification are controlled by the stick on the Nunchuk -- and the stick is nowhere near as precise or responsive as a d-pad when it comes to pulling off fancier moves. The directions on the d-pad on the remote are used like the face buttons on a regular controller. It's a serviceable set-up, but you will hate it.