Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R
  

   
REVIEW:  Ohhh, how long has it been Guilty Gear X series? (Depends on where we're counting from and what region)... 12-13 years? The original GGX released in Japan in the year 2000, with a North American console release in 2001. Well over the past decade, Arc System Works has perpetually tweaked their "pride and joy" 2D fighting franchise more times than a sane gamer can count. Even several years after the release of their latest 2D fighting franchise, Blazblue, Arc System Works primed and polished this final, refined version... say it with me... Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus Arrrrrr.


The previous release, GGXX: Accent Core was released for PS2 in May 2007. Not only did the console prequel have a major bug that wasn't debugged before the code went to production, but many hardcore players were put off by the arguably senseless character changes and over-complications of the gameplay. Of course, this "opinion" depends on who your main characters are (and your skill level), but this is the "insider" feedback I've heard. Concerning that post-production bug, reports of the glitch appeared on Japanese gaming message boards soon after the game hit retailers. Arc System didn't issue a recall, but they did post an apology on their website to assuage the disappointed gamers.


About 7 months later, Arc System Works released "Accent Core Plus" which was

  
Along with "new-ish" characters like Holy Order Sol and A.B.A, players can once again enjoy using boss characters, Kliff and Justice. This time around, a lot of effort went into making the boss characters "tournament legal" characters for the hardcore crowd. Special consideration went into their movesets so as not to break the game or be as underpowered as in the past. Changes to Kliff involve more of his moves being more likely to backfire on himself, and Justice's cases shows her to lose most of her mobility.


Other changes in Accent Core +R include new Force Breaks for the majority of characters, as well as the return of several "classic" attacks and specials that were previously taken out of the game (mainly from EX versions of characters). While some changes are definitely an improvement over Accent Core, some serious players would argue that AC+ is far from perfect. Many of the new EX moves still feel unnecessary, and certain high-level combos and other gameplay mechanics still feel a bit over-complicated and input-touchy (meaning, one small input error and your combo is shot). Once again, these gripes are not the opinion of my own, but were taken from more serious GGX players.

On the flipside, if you're more of a casual Guilty Gear player and likely won't notice these minute character changes, here's a run down of the new "core" content of Accent Core Plus R. The Story mode is a continuation of the lore from Guilty Gear XX. All characters have a new storyline, their stories covering the major events involving the mystery of Gears, "That Man" and conflict with the Post War Administration Bureau, etc. The mode uses a full branching path "Zapping" system with a total of 350 scenarios. The game also introduces a new NPC character: the Post War Administration Bureau scientist Crow, who attacks the cast using mindless clones of Justice. All the stories of each characters are portrayed through fully-voiced dialogue. As you'd expect from Guilty Gear, the voice acting is quite good.
   

  
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core +R's modes, include the following: Story, M.O.M, 3-on-3 Team Battle, Mission, Survival, and Training. The new Survival mode introduced contains new leveling-up features and is a pretty fun play-through if you're confident with a character or two. The online enabled Playstation 3 & Xbox 360 ports of Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core Plus were released in October of 2012, featuring basic netplay options. This version of the game was later updated to the current arcade build of the game, GGXX AC+R with a free patch (though the update delayed for quite a long time). In the online enabled versions, players can also choose between the "Plus" and "Plus R" versions of the game.
   

Page Updated: March 21st, 2024 Developer(s): Arc System Works Publisher(s): Sammy Corporation Designer(s): Daisuke Ishiwatari Platform(s): Arcade, PS2, PS3, PSP, Vita, Wii, Xbox 360, Steam, Switch Release Date(s): Mar. 27th, 2008                 PS2 July 24th, 2008                   PSP Apr. 7th, 2009                    PSP / PS2 May 12th, 2009                 Wii May 6th, 2011                    PSP/PS2/Wii Sept. 20th, 2012                Arcade - GGXX:AC+R Oct. 24th, 2012                 XBLA - GGXX:AC+ Dec. 4th, 2012                   PSN - GGXX:AC+ Mar. 19th, 2013                Vita - GGXX:AC+R Apr. 23rd, 2013                  Vita - GGXX:AC+R Oct. 11th, 2013                 360 - GGXX:AC+R Mar. 3rd, 2014                   PS3 - GGXX:AC+R May 26th, 2015                 Steam - GGXX:AC+R May 16th, 2019                Nintendo Switch Characters:  Sol Badguy, Ky Kiske, Millia Rage, Chipp Zanuff, May, Jam Kuradoberi, Johnny, Baiken, Potemkin, Faust, Axl Low, Anji, Venom, Dizzy, Testament, Zato-1, Slayer, Bridget, I-no, Zappa, Robo Ky, Leopaldon, Holy Order Sol, A.B.A, Kliff, Justice Featured Video: Related Games: Guilty Gear XX Accent Core, Guilty Gear XX Slash, Guilty Gear X2 #Reload, Guilty Gear XX, Guilty Gear Isuka, Guilty Gear Judgment, Guilty Gear, Guilty Gear X, Guilty Gear X Advance, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-, Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, Guilty Gear -STRIVE-, BlazBlue, Hokuto No Ken, Sengoku Basara X, Yatagarasu, Chaos Code, Under Night In-Birth    Gameplay Engine  7.5 / 10 Story / Theme  8.0 / 10 Overall Graphics  8.0 / 10 Animation  7.5 / 10 Music / Sound Effects  9.0 / 10 Innovation  5.0 / 10 Art Direction  8.0 / 10 Customization  8.5 / 10 Options / Extras  7.0 / 10 Intro / Presentation  6.5 / 10 Replayability / Fun  6.0 / 10 "Ouch" Factor  7.0 / 10 Characters  8.5 / 10 BOTTOM LINE  7.8 / 10  Review based on PS3 / Vita version         Final Words: I lost count of how many times I've reviewed a game with "Guilty Gear XX" in the title. Not to mention I also reviewed Guilty Gear Judgment and Guilty Gear Isuka. It's comical how many different iterations of GGXX they've made, and equally as comical (or sad) considering that many of these updates were very minor. You win Arc System Works. You've officially beat Capcom's SF2 series in terms of minor sequels, by far... Congrats?  While I poke fun at Guilty Gear series, I know there are dedicated players, and I respect that. I never took the game very seriously myself (mainly because I prefer more traditional 2D fighters as opposed to air-dash-crazy ones), but even so, I've supported the series and picked up GGXX: Accent Core +R on PS Vita. Even though I'm not a hardcore player, I have to admit that GGXX has been a fun game to "come back to" every so often when these new versions have been released. Due to the cool art style and everything else "cool" about Guilty Gear, it almost seems like a new game regardless of how minor the changes are. On the flipside. . . . Random Rant:  Not that this influenced my review at all, but I must point out that other game companies over the past decade have been widely criticized (mostly by casual fans) for releasing fighting game sequels that apparently haven't "changed enough"... but rarely do I hear these casual fans ever mention anything about the Guilty Gear X series. Is GGX immune to this subject? Or is the series just not in the limelight enough to be criticized? I'm just saying, if any fighting game company released too many sequels that didn't "change enough"... well, let's never forget the epic GGXX(XXXXX) series (and now, Blazblue for that matter). Be more informed, and tell your uneducated friends about the GGXX series when they complain about future fighting game sequels.  Nonetheless, I still love you Arc System Works. Over the years, I've Guilty Gear-ed... I've Blazblue-ed... I've even Hard Corps: Uprising-ed... and then, I Guilty Gear-ed... Again. Of course, I'm referring to Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, a game that rekindled my appreciation for this iconic franchise. Let us continue to Heaven or Hell, and Rock, into the future. ~TFG Webmaster | @Fighters_Gen         Click Here for all Posters / Box Artwork! Click Here for more animated stages!                                                                                Click Here for all Character Artwork! Click Here for all Screenshots! FOLLOW    ON:                             TFG NEWS CHARACTERS GAMES