Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is an alright game that struggles with poor performance and lazy level design. Though Fatal Bullet is an improvement on previous SAO games, its issues prove that the series still has quite a lot of room for improvement.
Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet
Developer: Bandai Namco
Platforms: PS4 (reviewed), Xbox One, and PC
Price: $49.99
MonsterVine was provided with a PS4 code for review.
It’s no secret that I’ve been hard on Sword Art Online games in the past. They typically focus far too much on making the main character as uncomfortably perfect as possible, and far too little on the general quality of gameplay. The change in genre from action-RPG to third-person shooter RPG has been somewhat kind to Sword Art Online, Fatal Bullet’s lack of polish is evidence that the series still has a ways to go.
One of the best changes Fatal Bullet makes to the SAO formula comes in its story. Instead of playing as Kirito (considered to be the ultimate “Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu”), you play as your own custom character. After being brought into Gun Gale Online, the hottest new MMO, by your childhood friend, your character accidentally becomes linked with an ultra rare item: the A.I. known as ArFa-Sys. After meeting ArFa, your character befriends all of the most iconic characters of the Sword Art Online franchise. From there you focus on progressing through GGO while learning more about ArFa and bonding with your newfound friends. And if you’re (for whatever reason) hoping for some Kirito action, you eventually unlock a shorter Kirito Mode where you play through the Death Gun arc of the series as Kirito himself. I’m quite happy with how Fatal Bullet provides different stories to appeal to everyone, which solves one of the major issues I’ve had with Sword Art Online games.
Fatal Bullet moves away from the action-RPG gameplay of previous Sword Art Online games by transforming itself into a third-person shooter with RPG elements. After making your own party of characters, you can set off into one of a few different landscapes to battle bosses, hunt down bounty targets, explore dungeons, and other such things one would expect from an actual MMO. There’s actually quite a few side-quests in Fatal Bullet, many of which provide you with ample rewards to improve your character and equipment. The variety in missions is much appreciated, as you can focus on whatever questlines you find most interesting. While I found Bounty hunts to be my niche, treasure hunters and beast hunters will have plenty of quests that cater to their tastes.
The shooting in Fatal Bullet is standard fare for the genre, with an arcade-y tone. Bullets fly fast and loose from all of your weapons, and reloading is fast. This gives combat a relentlessly fast pace, which is much preferable to the clunkier moments from previous entries in the series. Mobility has been improved as well thanks to the addition of a Just Cause-esque grappling hook. While it can be clunky to use while in the air, the hook is a handy way to escape mobs of enemies. The heightened speed and increased mobility make Fatal Bullet feel like its own game, instead of a copy-paste like previous entries were.
Ironically, Fatal Bullet does actually suffer from some of the same issues that plague certain MMOs, which I suppose is fitting for a game based on the genre. Enemy mobs can get pretty ridiculous at times, especially since they don’t seem to stop following you. This means that, if you’re trying to get away from foes, stopping for a brief second can lead to you being surrounded by a ridiculous amount of monsters. Dungeons all look incredibly similar and require a great deal of backtracking at times, which makes plundering confusing and somewhat frustrating.
While fighting A.I. “enemy players” is neat, monsters don’t recognize them as enemies. This means you’ll have foes sniping you from afar while monster mobs box you in and hack away at you. This is made even worse if you accidentally wander too far in one direction, as enemies will suddenly be insanely overpowered. Thankfully you don’t lose anything from dying, but having to run back to where you died over and over wears on you quickly.
Your party’s A.I. is probably the biggest flaw in Fatal Bullet. No matter what playstyle you assign to them, they will constantly run in front of enemies for no reason. Sometimes they’ll attack, and sometimes they won’t. Sometimes they’ll revive you, sometimes they’ll cheer for your corpse as they get shot at. This painful inconsistency makes boss fights feel like a one-man battle, which is the opposite of how an MMO should be.
Visually, Fatal Bullet is pretty standard fare for an anime game. Though the art style itself is off-putting at times (some characters eyes just feel “off”), the characters and enemies look decent. The framerate is the biggest visual offender, as it will frequently drop and occasionally freeze for a solid couple seconds. There’s not that much happening on screen, so the slowdowns just feel sloppy and unpolished.
The music of Fatal Bullet is alright, with some catchy tunes in each world. While a lot of the music is more atmospheric than memorable, it serves its purpose and blends in with each environment nicely. The voice acting is decent as well, though a lot of the characters sound somewhat disinterested in what’s going on around them. On the other hand, more peppy characters will repeatedly say the same lines with unbridled enthusiasm, which can be a bit much.
The Final Word
Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is a cut above previous Sword Art Online games, but its unpolished nature keeps it from being a great game. The fast pace and breadth of content are impressive however, and I do hope future SAO games can take better advantage of these improvements.
MonsterVine Rating: 3 out of 5 – Average
