Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet Review – A Decent RPG / 3rd Person Shooter Mashup

Sword Art Online is a light novel series that received widespread commercial success after 2010. The series spawned several manga adaptations, an anime television series, as well as an animated movie. As far as video games go, there are four video games based on the Sword Art Online series, which have been released in the past on the PSP, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4.

Now that we've established Sword Art Online is a very big franchise, not just in Japan, but everywhere where there are anime/manga fans, let's get an in-depth look at Fatal Bullet, the newest game in the series.

Unlike any of the previous Sword Art Online games, Fatal Bullet is based in Gun Gale Online, a virtual world heavy on sci-fi and gunplay instead of the usual sword & shield affair offered by the other games in the series.

Every Sword Art Online game is about a virtual reality MMORPG world, and Fatal Bullet is no exception. The main difference is the weapons you have at your disposal and the new combat system that's been added by Dimps, the developers of the game.

Story

Unlike previous Sword Art Online games, Fatal Bullet doesn't have Kirito as main protagonist. In fact, it doesn't have any of the characters that have already appeared in the franchise as protagonists.

Dimps have decided that in order to make the franchise more popular among gamers, it would be a good idea to start as a completely new character, which can be customized by each player. So, you start Fatal Bullet by creating a brand new character (male or female) and then jump directly into the action.

Create a new character and customize it

Well, sort of since for the next two hours or so you'll meet the team that will support you in your adventures, and learn about the Fatal Bullet's gameplay mechanics. It's weird decision to not offer players any piece of the action since the first hours of a game are usually decisive in whether to continue to play it or not.

Even for newcomers to the series this might become a chore, and if by any chance you're tempted to skip the introductions and not learn about the game's mechanics, then you'll miss quite a lot of Fatal Bullet's interesting story and characters, so you better don't.

Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet story takes place in a virtual MMORPG called Gun Gale Online, where you log in for the first time to meet with your long-time friend, Kureha. Your first mission is to prove that you can take on GGO missions and reap the rewards after beating the bosses in the dungeons.

As it happens, your first item discovered during your first mission is a very rare artificial financial advisor who goes by the name of ArfA-sys, or Rei. AI advisors are common among GGO players, but not the Type-X variant that you accidentally discover while trying to stay alive in the first mission of the game.

The story of the game evolves around discovering many of Rei's parts that can enhance its behavior, abilities and powers. Most story quests are about fetching these parts and learning more about your Type-X ArFA-sys, one of the few advisors that can open the newly-crashed colony ship called SBC Flugel on GGO's planet. The ship is basically a new high-level raid region where players who own a Type-X ArFA-sys have a chance of entering, so no one knows what to expect.

A brand new protagonist makes appearance

Story-wise, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is quite decent, especially that the focus now is on a brand new character, something that fans of the anime and manga will find more than appropriate.

It should take you around 20 hours to finish the game if you play the story quests for the most part, but Fatal Bullet offers Sub Quests, Hunting Quests, Unique Enemy Quests, and Treasure Quests, so there's plenty to do if you love Sword Art Online's universe.

Gameplay

Bandai Namco promised a revolutionary combat system with the release of Fatal Bullet, and while the the game introduces a bran new gunplay, it's far from being perfect. The newest Sword Art Online is a third-person shooter with heavy RPG elements, as DIMPs wants to offer players the best of both worlds.

Unlike swords and shields that are the bread and butter of the previous Sword Art Online games, Fatal Bullet focuses entirely on guns. There are many different play-styles that you can adopt when playing the game – sniper, assault, engineer, support, just to name a few.

Play Video

Basically, you'll have to shoot your enemies before they shoot you, while using an array of skills and gadgets that you can unlock as you level up. The best thing about Fatal Bullet is that it comes with an auto-aim feature, which allows you to focus on how you position yourself while still shooting at your enemies.

While I didn't feel too attached of the new combat system, I reckon that it's a decent first try. You can play as a run-n-gun character or a sniper that takes out enemies from afar. The high number of choices that you have at your disposal is the best thing about the combat system.

The main problem is that when you want to hit enemies' weak points, you'll have to manually target them and that can become quite difficult in the heat of battle. The problem may lead to players choosing certain play-styles that favor hip shooting over those who require targeting weak points, even if they don't like it.

Another positive aspect is the fact that most weapons come with memory chips that provide various bonuses when equipped. The wide range of weapons that you can get in the game will probably keep you entertained while clearing the same dungeons over and over again.

Combat may seem erratic at first glance

Yes, the design of these dungeons that you raid with your team to complete quests aren't appealing at all. They are dull, boring and filled with the same enemies most of the time. It's one of the biggest letdowns of the game if you ask me.

On the bright side, the game has a fast travel system that can put you almost in front of the next boss, so it heavily reduces the grind and makes sure that players can get back into action if their team was obliterated during the last mission.

Multiplayer

Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet has a multiplayer mode as well where you can play in limited competitive and co-op missions. During these missions, your team must do more damage to a boss than the opposing team.

This is the only PvP aspect included in the game, so if you were hoping to obliterate other players, you'll probably be disappointed. Also, due to some balance issues, you'll almost always win if you use a certain loadout, as some weapons are clearly weaker than others at dishing high amounts of damage.

Graphics and audio

Visually, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is not bad at all, but don't expect it to shine. I believe there's room for improvements, though I really liked the artwork. Especially, the sci-fi landscapes of the city where you can roam freely between missions.

One other aspect that should be heavily improved is the design of the dungeons and the enemies which don't look as JRPGish as I would have expected. Overall, Fatal Bullet seems a bit rushed when it comes to graphics, as many assets (dungeons) are most likely reused and changed very little.

Gorgeous sci-fi landscapes

The music is as generic as it can be, which is another disappointment. Voices, in many cases, sound very strange and metallic. It's like you're looking at someone reading a script, something that you shouldn't be able to tell.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion