For the past couple of years, Sammy has created a smash hit franchise called: Guilty Gear and each version has proved to be better than the last. This year they have released Guilty Gear Isuka upon the gaming world. This game adds several new things to the mix, such as four players fighting at the same time, new arenas, new characters, and a slew of other things. With all these new enhancements, is this game better than its predecessors? Read on to find out!

Unlike Guilty Gear X2, Guilty Gear Isuka sports a lot of new changes and additions. The biggest and most identifiable change is the ability to play with up to four characters on the screen at one time, think Smash Brothers or Power Stone. Players have the option of playing, a two on two, one on three, three on one, or even a free for all!  This creates total mayhem of action going on the screen, but the interesting thing is that you never really get lost in the action. The Guilty Gear series is known for its huge flashes and seemly endless energy, and adding two more contestants into the mix would think it might get you totally lost, but it never does.

Things only gets weirder from here.....

Which brings me to another point; I have not noticed any slowdown at all in this game. This is very surprising, and greatly appreciated, since this game has over the top animations. When I heard that the developers were adding in the ability to fight with up to four characters at a time, human or CPU controlled, I thought that this would create havoc on the framerate. The reason is that there is always so much going on during a two player fight, what would a four player fight bring? But thankfully the developers solved this problem so gamers get a silky smooth fight each time.

To make this game more challenging Guilty Gear Isuka has two planes of existence. This means that fights are not on one single line but players will be able to move up and down between two rows. Players must now use a lot more strategy and change their tactics when fighting a game, since moves can be dodged easier.

Not only is there plenty of fighting in this game, there is also a side-scrolling action game. Players will select a character and go from stage to stage beating the goal for that level before they go on. The character that they choose to play as will have all of their special moves from the regular game. This provides a nice break from the arcade mode, and gives the game a lot more replay value.

Lots of explosions.

The game plays like a dream, since the controls are very responsive. There are many different characters in this game, and each of them has a different fighting style, which is great to see in fighting games. Each of the characters has many different color schemes but if you don’t like them, you can always change them up with the color palette system.

Players will be able to tell from the moment that they boot up this Guilty Gear game that it has a very anime inspired theme to it. Throughout the course of any given fight, players will be treated to the flash, lights, and many other things that will remind them of watching almost any anime series. This is a good thing, because it takes wild direction that many anime series have and runs wild with it.

The characters choice that the players in this game have is fantastic! There is an abundance of different types of characters in this game, and I am sure that you will find one that fits the type of fighter you like. Many of these characters have very odd story backgrounds, with bizarre weapons. For instance, this one character is chained to this humongous key that makes different faces while you are fighting. It is little things like this that make this game priceless, as it never takes itself too seriously. Besides having unique weapons,, each of these characters is nicely detailed and has a wide variety of animations that are smooth as silk.

Four player fighting action!

One of the biggest complaints in Guilty Gear X2 was the lack of variety of backgrounds, and that many of them had the same look and feel as the previous game. So the developers took this to heart, and made all of the fighting environments look extremely different from one another. The artwork used for the backgrounds is simply astonishing to look at, because it is so detailed and look awesome.

The musical score that is used for this game fits it perfectly. It features heavy rock and roll theme that will make you want to crank up the radio while you are playing. The sound effects that the developers use are also really good, features loud explosions and bone breaking hits. Everything sounds really good, and makes the game that much better!

Guilty Gear Isuka is rated T for Teen. It will take up to 234KB on your memory card for game saves.

Gameplay: 8.8
The controls to Guilty Gear Isuka are very responsive and act according to what you press. One of the best things about this series is that even though there is a huge roster of characters, each one has their own fighting style, and unique weapons. How many fighting games you know have weapons such as huge keys, shadows, food, or even a six foot scalpel? This makes the game unique and really fun to play!

Graphics: 9.0
The characters are highly detailed, have a very nice set of animations, and are nicely modeled. The backgrounds are also nicely detailed and have a lot of background animations to make each level feel more alive, especially when it is compared to other fighting games on the market. The best thing about this game is even though there is a lot of action, flashes, and other things going on at the same time, the frame rate never drops.

Sound: 8.7
The musical score for Guilty Gear Isuka is really good, and fits the overall theme that it conveys. The sound effects are really great from the loud explosions to anything else you will hear in the background!

Difficulty: Medium
The game offers several different difficulty modes, from beginner to maniac, and each of them proves to be a challenge! The game takes you back to “old-school” fighting, where you have to work for the wins, even in the easiest settings.

Concept: 8.6
Players can definitely tell that Guilty Gear Isuka is an anime inspired fighting game, which is a good thing. The game takes a lot of different concepts from action anime series, and places them in this game. I loved how you can now play with up to four characters on the screen at one time; it provides some insane action that will always leave you wanting for more.

Multiplayer: 8.8
The multiplayer for this game is really great! Players will spend hours playing in this mode, since playing another human is better than playing against the AI. Plus with the addition of fighting against your friend with CPU controlled characters is also very fun.

Overall: 8.8
Guilty Gear Isuka is a great fighting game that you should have in your game library. It has smooth animation, great graphics, and wonderful gameplay. If you love fighting games or a fan of games that are worth your time and money, than pick this game up; you will not regret it!