Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is a game that is great for fans of the series. Unfortunately, I do not see this game doing well outside of that. The introduction is so painfully long and uninteresting I can see many players stop playing because of it. Also while the game is well rounded, there doesn’t seem to be anything in this game that offers anything unique compared to other franchises. The main proponent is that this is a realistic game based off the anime.
Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is a major change to the long running anime game series. In previous installments of the franchise, it was focused more on fantasy elements and the main character of the anime. Fatal Bullet departs from this formula by offering players a new avatar creation mode. Fatal Bullet also is now a third person shooter, which adds a completely new gameplay style to the series.
Fatal Bullet’s avatar mode is extremely detailed and gives a sense that you are truly personalizing your character. The characters are very colorful and aesthetically pleasing. I have not watched the Sword Art Online anime before but after comparing character models it seems that the avatar mode stays pretty true to the series.
Fatal Bullet starts out in a gaming tournament. You are a well-recognized player of Gun Gala Online, a VRMMO shooter, and are greeted by your best friend Kureha. You are soon gifted a ArFA-sys android, which helps supports you in combat and small in game function. In combat the Arfa-sys is very attentive. Whenever I got down and needed to be revived, the ArFa-sys was immediately there to revive me. This was great because it really felt like I had an ally on the battlefield. A new weapon is also added to your arsenal that is called a Ultra Fiber Gun. This is basically a claw mechanism that lets you grab onto objects and glide from area to area. It also downs certain enemies. I found the Ultra Fiber gun extremely useful. There was many moments where I was getting bogged down by multiple enemies and the Ultra Fiber Gun saved me from death. The Ultra Fiber Gun is very responsive and adds a nice fluidity to the gameplay.
The opening of this game is very confusing and tedious. After you get your weapons and such, you are introduced to a plethora of characters. You are introduced to so many characters, that they all begin to get jumbled and you lose interest after while. There could have been a better way to go about setting up the characters that will help you throughout the game. There is no story or major cut scene that tells you why these characters are so meaningful, they basically just show up and are now a part of the game. This whole situation was very off putting.
The multiplayer mode in Fatal Bullet is done very well. Not focused on the campaign, in multiplayer you can do co-op PvE missions with four players as well as PvP where two teams of four see who can defeat the boss first. It is a very fun time and added a refreshing element to the game that stands apart from the main campaign.
Fatal bullet consists of grinding/loot gameplay. You are constantly getting new weapons and accessories to make your character stronger. The loot system is well done and the level progression is smooth. I felt my character getting stronger without ever having to feel like I was grinding for to long or that it was unnecessary to be doing that much work.
The shooting aspects of this game are very well done. There are two ways you can shoot enemies in this game. The first is with the help of a aim assist bot which I found myself using the most. The aim assist bot basically consists of you holding the trigger down and your character automatically shooting the enemies. I found myself using this a lot after playing the game for awhile. It kept me from feeling burned out and made it easier to progress through the game. The second way you can shoot is the more traditional way of pointing and aiming. This mode is flawed. Moving your gun around feels very jumbled and almost laggy in a way. It is a clumsy feeling and something I didn’t particular enjoy throughout the game. Due to this, I pretty much always used the aim assist. There also needs to be a cover system in this game. During gameplay there is so many different object your character could potentially hide behind, but with the lack of the cover system, your character has to awkwardly crouch behind objects to avoid being hit.
Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is a game that is great for fans of the series. Unfortunately, I do not see this game doing well outside of that. The introduction is so painfully long and uninteresting I can see many players stop playing because of it. Also while the game is well rounded, there doesn’t seem to be anything in this game that offers anything unique compared to other franchises. The main proponent is that this is a realistic game based off the anime.
