Developer: FK Digital
Publisher: Ark Systemworks
Platform: Playstation 3 (PSN)
Price: $11.99
Release Date: September 3, 2013
Developed by FK Digital and published by Ark Systemworks we got a fighting game that’s exclusively on the Playstation Network, but how good it is this contender compared to the big names of the fighting genre? Let’s find out if Chaos Code has what it takes!
Story
There’s not much background to the story of the game, all we know is everyone is after the mysterious Chaos Code, every fighter has a very small background story, their desire and motivation to obtain the Chaos Code range from serious to very comedic and ridicule reasons. In the very end you don’t need a storyline for a good old school fighting game
Gameplay
The game looks and feels like an amalgam of other fighting games, imagine someone grabbed The King of Fighters, Guilty Gear and others fighting titles and mixed them all in a blender, the result is a delicious and enjoyable milkshake called Chaos code!
With a roster of 14 different and very eclectic characters to choose from. Some of them; a Chef that could as well be Chef Ramsay’s cousin, Gothic lolita cyborg maids, an Otaku carrying around an anime pillow (that cracked me up!), our typical “i want to conquer the world” villain and more!
We have different game modes including story, arcade, versus, survival and training mode. Plus a nice picture gallery which i always enjoy in a game like this. In spite of these options it seems to lack variety and flavor, you feel that something is missing from the game.
The most outstanding aspect here is the combat, having the ability to chain combos and attacks with your EX attacks once the meters fill feels so rewarding, tactical combat induced guarding and crushing your opponents guard, chaos shifts and more.
Undoubtedly in this regard Chaos Code is a worthy competitor with great combat mechanics.
Sound
I wish there was some voice acting for the cut scenes, alas there is not. Other than that the soundtrack sounds and feels quite right, sound effects and some character voice acting as you fight can be heard and is pretty good.
Graphics
Character design and animations are top notch, same can be said of the backgrounds. Lively and colorful, real eye candy! While not animated, intros and cut scenes are of high quality and enjoyable to watch. Although Sprites feels a bit dated.
Downsides
Graphics are hit and miss, graphic options wise. For starters why do an opening in a 4:3 aspect ratio? Why… made no sense to go for that option, when most people play on HDTV! I can understand it being an arcade port but seems a bit lazy not to improve that for the console release.
By default this is also the aspect ratio used for the rest of the game (filling the sides of the screen with nice anime graphics), but why would you go for that when they give you the option to play in widescreen mode? That should be the default mode!
Worst of all, no online mode… this is without a doubt the major drawback i can see in an otherwise great fighting game, even after months of release this option has not been included, truly a shame, that takes away the gold!
Story mode is not very immersive and could be much much better, I was disappointed to see after a fight there was zero dialogues, was hoping to get a reason to feel attached to the characters, that was not present at all.
Overall
Chaos Code offers a good time with unique characters, good controls and excellent combat mechanics. Still falls somewhat short compared to other games of the genre, the lack of an online versus mode and matchmaking leaves us with an awful bitter taste, especially because with some extra development, time and effort, this could have been a much better port.
Overall this is not a bad fighting game for fans of the genre but is nothing above average, if we ever see a sequel we can only hope for improvement.
Giving the game a 7 out of 10!
Pros:
– Great gameplay
– Good mechanics
– Awesome character designs
Cons:
– Localization is bad
– Feels dated
– No online co-op
