Sword Art Online Fatal Bullet Preview – Show Me Guns, Lots of Guns (PS4)
Sitting down for a quick session with the latest in the long line of games based on the massive Sword Art Online anime/manga/light novel series, the immediate novelty of the game hinges on the same surprise that comes with the in-universe MMO Switch, from ALfheim Online to Gun Gale Online. And it works a treat.
But, you’re probably wondering how we got into this situation. Let me hit rewind for those of you who might not be super familiar with Sword Art Online (though how can you not be at this point?). The series is set within a virtual reality MMO. Starting out in the fantasy world of ALfheim, the series eventually switches to a Sci-Fi one, Gun Gale Online (this takes place in Sword Art Online II in the anime).
The switch up keeps the series feeling fresh, and allows it to explore new ground. Fatal Bullet is the first Sword Art Online game to cover this ground, and it allows for some departures from the norm — and is feeling fresh in the same way so far.
Taking a look over the pantheon of Sword Art Online game predecessors, the closest point of reference feels like Lost Song. In a way, it might be fair to say that Fatal Bullet feels a bit like Lost Song but with guns. Still a third person action game, Fatal Bullet is also baking in some third person shooter elements too — but for Kirito, keeps a strong focus on melee as well.
Allowing you to use your guns to close distance, and then strike with your sword, feels perfectly natural. In the boss fight we took on, we had to make sure to duck in and out while reading the enemy’s moves, creating and closing distance while making sure to continue dishing out damage.
The Kirito mission we played was dungeon based, and involved moving through rooms and clearing enemies. There is an element of blockiness and slight clunk, but with the ranged attacks, and a handy grappling gadget that allows you to pull yourself to any surface, movement felt very free and dynamic, allowing for different approaches. One room saw us pinned down by sniper fire, but using a special technique we quickly spiral attacked normal enemies in the front line, before grappling up and finishing off the sniper, clearing the air to destroy the rest of the enemies.
Kirito isn’t the only character you can get your hands on. We also played some of a mission as the sniper wielding Sion. Comparatively, this took place in a large open environment, and was based primarily around using the sniper rifle to provide supporting fire for the rest of your party. It was fairly standard point and shoot stuff, though you have access to a similar amount of buffs as you’d expect.
From our brief time with it, Fatal Bullet is changing things up quite a bit and staying fresh by finally taking on the world of Gun Gale Online. It still feels very much like a Sword Art Online game, which might mean it’s not exactly going to pull in random shooter fans — but it seems set to please series fans nevertheless, and isn’t that what these games are all about?
We also grilled the game’s producer, Futami-san, about the switch from ALfheim Online to Gun Gale Online, and what it takes to make a game based on a work like Sword Art Online. Give it a read!
Sword Art Online Fatal Bullet releases 23rd February 2018 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
