Pop quiz: How many people competed in Sammy Co.'s first Guilty Gear X tournament in Japan? 32? Nope. 96? No way. Try 1600. Guess how many were there for Sammy Co.'s recent Guilty Gear XX tournament? 4800 people was the estimated crowd on hand, where contestants competed for various riches and most importantly, bragging rights. Those who picked up the original Guilty Gear on the PSX or Guilty Gear X on the Dreamcast/PS2 know what the series is all about: high-octane gameplay with the best looking 2D graphics you’ll find in any game. To 2D fighter mainstays Capcom and SNK, Guilty Gear is a very loud wakeup call that there’s a new kid in town and it’s here to stay. Now Sammy Studios and developer Arc Systems are back with the latest installment of the Guilty Gear series, Guilty Gear X2 for the PS2.

Based on the arcade game Guilty Gear XX (cue Guilty Gear XXX joke here), GGX2 is an incredibly accurate translation that adds more modes, new characters and a whole bunch of secrets to unlock as you go along. GGX2 retains the original Arcade, Versus, Training, Survival and Medal modes from the first game and adds two new modes: Story and Mission mode. Story mode starts off with a statistical rundown of your character that’s taken from the Bureau’s database, and then gives you a debriefing on their background and powers, rating them on a scale of how dangerous they are. You then enter your character’s role as you progress through the entire story of Guilty Gear X2, with muiltiple branches depending on the character you’ve chosen. The Story mode isn’t just a carbon clone of the Arcade mode with a few lines of text thrown in either; it contains some quality voice acting (voices in Japanese with English subtitles) and various scenarios that will leave your fighter at an advantage or a disadvantage before the fight even begins.

Mission mode is a whole other beast, and while it is designed to hone your skills at the game, it is also created to bring you to your knees, new player and veterans alike. Each mission will outline every little detail to you, from how much life you start off with (with various attributes for healing and poisoned life bars), the difficulty of the CPU opponent, the time of the round, and what attacks do damage. Each mission is geared towards making you better when you actually fight human opponents. In one mission you’ll be forced to use Dead Angle Attacks (performed by guarding and then pressing forward and two attack buttons) only, which pretty much forces you to learn how to use said attack and when. There are several missions like that, while there are others that will push even seasoned gamers to the limit.

The basic structure of Guilty Gear X2 hasn’t strayed far from Guilty Gear X. You have four main attack buttons (Punch, Kick, Slash, Hard Slash) as well as a new button called Dust Attack which allows you to launch your opponent high into the air for air combos. Other new features include Burst Attacks, which allow you to escape tight situations and combos, a Just Defense system similar to Garou: Mark of the Wolves and False Roman Cancels. Similar in execution to the original Roman Cancels in GGX, False Roman Cancels allow you to cancel the recovery on a limited number of moves so you can continue your assault or to block an incoming counterattack after your initial barrage had missed. Guilty Gear fans neednt worry, for old favourites such as Dead Angle Attacks, Gatling Combos and Roman Cancels are still in the game.

And like much of the basic gameplay, the superb high-res graphics from Guilty Gear X are carried over in GGX2, sporting some new animation for older characters and crazy character designs for the four new characters in the game (Slayer, Bridget, Zappa, I-No). Speaking of new characters, the foursome that are introduced in GGX2 are as wild as they come in the genre. Slayer is a cool as ice vampire with some destructive punches, Zappa is a shaman who is regularly possessed by spirits and can summon them to do his will, and Bridget is... well, something you wouldn't expect. Finally, there's I-No. She serves as the final boss in the game, but she's also a playable character from the get-go. While she's not as powerful compared to her final boss version, she can still pack a wallop with her curves and her moves. Expect other characters to make a console-only appearance as well.

Available in North America in February, Guilty Gear X2 is looking incredible, even at this early stage. The work that has gone into the PS2 version is stunning, and fans of the previous games will definitely love the additions made in the home version, and those new to the series will enjoy the incredibly detailed graphics and over the top gameplay. With that kind of combination who would be crazy enough to miss this?

Want more? Click here for a clip from the Guilty Gear anime movie!

· · · Reno