A strange dreamworld sets the stage for the arcade story mode of Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax, which pits fourteen main characters and their (twenty-three) support characters against one another. Fighting mechanics that are accessible yet intricate invite players of all types to dive in, which is nice because the characters might be unfamiliar enough to you that it could be hard to otherwise get invested in. It was for me, anyway.
Clearly, I had never heard to the term dengeki bunko before playing this game, and many of the light novels that this game is based off of were also unknown to me. Expect to see characters and background art and themes from the likes of “Sword Art Online,” “DURARARA!!,” “Ro-Kyu-Bu!,” “Accel World,” “Oreimo,” “A Certain Magical Index,” and “Toradora!,” of which I only heard of “Sword Art Online” before. Anyway, knowing these novels and their characters is not vital, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to have some interest in these worlds before starting. Brief character bios and cover art for the novels and other such things help the uninitiated like myself, but all that stuff aside, at the end of the day it’s all about the fighting, right?
I am finding the combat to be fun in short spurts. Thus, it’s a good title to play on your Vita, which is where I spent the vast majority of my time playing. With PS3 cross-save support, you can switch between the two platforms easily, though. Dengeki Bunko has enough mechanics and meters to perhaps seem daunting at first, but I soon realized that it was a lot less of a learning curve than something like a BlazBlue which I ultimately lost interest in due to lack of interest in the game world and the steep learning curve. With Dengeki Bunko, auto-combos help new players get some wins and feel empowered, but high order players will soon dive into the different types of Blasts and Trump Cards to gain an edge. That Dengeki does not achieve the technical depth of BlazBlue and similar games is perfectly fine with me, given that I’m not a huge fighting gamer anyway.
Multiple, well-implemented fighting mechanics and a pretty large roster of diverse characters give Dengeki a good foundation to build from. Several game modes including online support and training make it further robust and the ability to customize numerous aspects of your experience including your control map is also good. Fighting is fun enough and satisfying, but I don’t think I’ll continue to play this much longer simply because I’m just not finding any traction with the characters.
As far as presentation, expect really colorful, high framerate action that looks great on the Vita. I loved almost all of the background art, too. The one with multiple large mechs is probably my favorite with the Valkyrie Chronicles themed one being a close second. The flashy graphics do exactly what they set out to do, which is dazzle the player with full-screen effects and a flurry of colors. The audio is not surprisingly as memorable, but it does well for itself.
In sum, this is a very competent and solid fighter, but one you might find yourself (as I did) struggling to stay interested. I appreciate the accessibility and presentation of Dengeki Bunko, but with zero familiarity and interest in its roster I don’t think it’s got the staying power to make me want to play beyond wrapping up another arcade story or two. This is exactly the same issue I run into with other well-established franchises like DBZ and Naruto; but if you’re a fan, your mileage is likely going to vary significantly from mine.