Gameitall Skullgirls is a strange title, not because of the characters, animation or story, but mainly because it’s a new fighting game that is not based off of an Anime, TV show, or previous game title, and this is the company (Revenge Studios) first game.
Those two things combine may make some people turn away from the title, but for those who choose to take that leap of faith may find one of the more interesting fighters in recent release.
The plot device of Skullgirls is an item that can grant any woman’s wish, called the Skull Heart, having this item will allow a girl to do whatever she wishes as long as she has a pure heart. Corrupted, she will turn into a Skullgirl, an all-powerful being that will walk the earth protecting the heart until it finds a new host.
This is where the fighters come in to play, fighting for control of the heart is a rogue gallery of characters, some good and some evil, but most of them are completely cliché.
For example, with Filia, a schoolgirl who has demonic hair feels like a cross of Felicia from Darkstalkers and Eddie from Guilty Gear. However, this also sets a boundery with most players, as people who know how to play Felicia will be able to pick up Filia and play the game quite easily, so Cliché isn’t a bad term in for this game.
Graphically, the game is very nicely drawn for a 2D brawler, the characters flow in their animations (especially Double who is a rather twisted design) and the backgrounds are beautiful.
The game plays like your standard 6-button fighter, a light, medium and heavy punch and kick button are used for basic attacks, while directional buttons are used for special move inputs. Skullgirls does do one thing different from other games these days though, and that is excluding a move list from the game. In order to learn new moves you have to go to the Skullgirls website and download the move list, it may be a pain but it makes people actually learn the moves and not have to pause the game every time to learn new moves.
For a downloadable title, you can do far worst then Skullgirls, and while the 2D fighter holds it’s own with some heavy hitters, it doesn’t have the originality that many of us were hoping for.
Skullgirls – 7 out of 10
Pros – A nice cast of characters, well balanced, excellent multiplayer.
Cons – Over powered boss battle, Arcade mode is repetitive, confusing storyline.
