Now Playing: Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late

 This game is amazing!!

 I loved Melty Blood back in the day, so I was very, very interested when French-Bread announced Under Night... and very disappointed since only an Arcade release was confirmed, and then the waiting game began.... and it's finally here, and it's everything I wanted. Kinda.

 First, the cast of characters: They are alright. I mean, I love the fact that there's no fanservice, there's no lass wearing a ridiculously skimpy outfit of the likes Japan is so fond of... but none of the characters is particularly note worthy. These aren't bad characters, and maybe after playing with them I will grow to like them, but so far, they are just alright. Oh, and Akatsui from Blitzkampf is in as a guest character! BADASS!

 But where it really shines, is in gameplay. I love it, it's fast, and very easy to get into. It uses three buttons for attacks, like Melty Blood, and a fourth for other actions, and with these four buttons you can pull off a wide variety of technical mechanics. There seems to be a lot of focus on this 'GRD' gauge, which seems to reward 'playing well', and it culminates in a 10% attack buff and free cancels for whoever has the highest GRD. Then there's EXS for the special moves and 'Veil Off'ing. It's very easy to jump in and have fun, since everything combos into everything(Well, not literally, but it's very easy to mash into combos). However, it has that mechanics I hate that many fighters are using nowadays.... the AutoCombo by mashing on the Weak attack button. I understand why it's in the game, but having grown on Fighting games since Street Fighter 2, it's a bit annoying, I just want to mash the weak attack! At least on Persona 4 it made sense, if you got bored of the Story Mode, just mash on the square button and carry on.

 This being a Fighting game, it's unfair to hold the story against it, but... it's a bit ridiculous. They vomit all these terms on you, like 'Hollow Night', 'Night', 'In-Birth', 'Re-birth' and the such, and they expect you to know. There's no Story Mode, and the Instruction Booklet tells you jack, so you must rely on the Internet if you wish to make sense of the story. Me? I don't care, I was having too much fun with the game as to be bothered by it.

 And, by the by, this game had a clearly smaller budget than Blazblue or the like, and they don't charge you for DLC. Extra Color Palettes? Just play one of the many modes, earn points and buy them.

 All I know, is that I'm loving the hell out of UNIBE:L.