SkullGirls (XBLA): "The Review"

As I promised earlier in my "Rant" I'm here to deliver to you my "Review" of the new fighting game 'Skullgirls'. If you haven't read my rant yet I suggest you do that either before, or after reading this review. It tells some things that really bothered me about the game as well as some significant issues that plague the game in it's current state. While my rant is a little on the rough side I believe it properly conveys how frustrated I was with the game when I played it. I will not be as blunt, or straight forward with my review though. This review is mainly here to let you know about the characters, modes, controls, graphics, and other features that the game has to offer. I hope both my rant, and review gives you enough insight into 'Skullgirls' to allow you to make an educated decision if you choose to buy the game. Without further adieu lets get this show on the road!

The title 'Skullgirls' pretty much explains it all when it comes to the subject matter of the game. There are a set number of oddly animated female characters who are out to claim a certain artifact (Skull Heart) from a Skullgirl (Marie) for their own reasons. If they manage to defeat the said Skullgirl they can claim the Skull Heart, and have any wish they desire granted. This of course comes with some nasty side effects if the girl who obtains the artifact is impure of heart. Like Marie they would fall victim to the curse of the Skull Heart, and become the next Skullgirl. Each girl has her own motivations for seeking the cursed artifact. Some do the bidding of others, while other girls have more pure intentions such as bringing back loved ones, or helping friends out.

Skullgirls features a cast of buxom ladies who are all a little strange in their own unique ways. It's kind of like something from 'Hot Topic' meets a 'Tim Burton' production. Throw in some fighting game mechanics, and you've got 'Skullgirls'. There are currently a roster of only eight fighters, but slots are empty on the character selection screen indicating more fighters may be on the way (Minette, Feng ...). The fighters within the game include a masochistic nurse named 'Valentine', a school girl with a parasite for hair named 'Filia', an experiment gone horribly wrong named 'Painwheel', a circus performer turned hitgirl named 'Cerebella', German/Dictator Princess with a parasite umbrella named 'Parasoul', a dismembered/reanimated cat-girl named 'Ms. Fortune', a throwback to the old black & white cartoons named 'Peacock', and a demon possessed nun who literally turns herself inside out called 'Double'. All characters have their own fighting styles that are somewhat recognizable in some respects. The characters are all brought to life in a hand drawn manner that is new to the fighting game genre. Instead of having computer generated models, you are actually privileged to controlling some digitally living artwork.

The first girl/character you'll come across on the character selection screen is 'Ms. Fortune'. Ms. Fortune is not your typical anime style cat-girl. Aside from having cat ears, and a cat tail she is almost all human, and is animated with her own unique dismemberment details. Her story spans over multiple characters' tales that tell of her quest for revenge. In her own story she is trying to avenge the death of her family/gang who were murdered by the Medici mobsters that are led by 'Vitale'. She encounters other girls along the way, and ultimately chooses not to make a wish after defeating Marie, the latest Skullgirl. Ms. Fortune's fighting style strikes an uncanny resemblance to two other fighting game characters. These of course are 'X-23', and 'Wolverine' of the 'Marvel vs Capcom' series. While she moves more like 'X-23' some of her special/hyper moves mimic those of Wolverine's. She performs a special/hyper move that is exactly like the "Berserker Barrage" that Wolverine does in MvC3/UMvC3. What surprised me most about this was that it actually sounds as if Ms. Fortune is saying "Berserker Barrage" as she performs the move. With that being said most players will probably use her, because of her speedy attacks, an quick Supers/Hypers.

Directly across from Ms. Fortune on the character selection screen is 'Peacock'. Peacock's story is very unusual, and in some twisted way reminds me of the 'Robocop' movies, only in a more biological sense. Apparently Peacock was originally an orphan who had lost her arms by some means, and was discarded at the doorstep of Dr. Avian who happens to be a mad scientist. Dr. Avian did a number on this toon of a girl. He replaced her arms with bio-weapons that could take down an army. With a sarcastic attitude, and a certain motivation for revenge, Peacock sets out to kill the one who ended the Doctor's life, and betrayed his trust. As I played Skullgirls I tried to think of which fighting game character/s that Peacock reminded me of, but it proved to be difficult. After thinking on it a while I had a decent answer to that question. To me Peacock seemed to be a combination of 'Iron Man', and 'Tron Bonne' from the 'Marvel vs Capcom' series. A lot of her projectiles/wind up toys seemed to mimic those of 'Tron Bonne'. One of her hypers/specials is what reminded me of 'Iron Man' though since it's basically a concentrated beam that shoots across the screen. The only players I see using Peacock as their go to character would be spammers who are looking for a cheap win since Peacock is literally made to spam, and play keep away. If you see some one chosse Peacock get ready for a cheap fight!

To the right of Peacock, on the character select screen lies 'Painwheel'. Painwheel's story is likely the most tragic of all. This horribly mangled monstrosity of a girl was once human, a meek school girl to be exact. After some twisted, and deranged surgery compliments of 'Valentine' she became a controlled killing machine. Her body was made into a living weapon with a pinwheel blade, and she was fused with the blood/dna of Marie the Skullgirl making her immensely more powerful. When she finally regains control of her mind she seeks out 'Valentine', and 'Double' in hopes of exacting a blood thirsty vengeance. When it comes down to resembling other fighting game characters, Painwheel seems to be a mixture of 'Basara (Samurai Showdown III)', and 'Blanka' of the Street Fighter series. Her moves are geared more towards that of Basara's though since her weapon is the bladed pinwheel. She does have a certain move that mimics Blanka's electric shock though. In the end only hardcore gamers will be interested in Painwheel since she is much harder to control. Her weight factored in with hard to execute attacks will definitely make her best suited for those who are willing to spend some quality time mastering her.

Below Ms. Fortune on the character select screen you'll find another odd school girl themed character named 'Filia'. Filia plays host to a parasite named Samson. Samson just so happens to be this whacked out girl's hair. In the game Filia, and Samson have a somewhat schizophrenic relationship going on. As you play through Filia's story you'll often find the pair discussing certain matters with each other. Who is in control can easily be debated either way, but to me they seem to be in a mutual relationship. As far as the story goes Filia ends up running into Carol/Painwheel who happens to be a former acquaintance. To set certain wrongs right Filia sets out to obtain the Skull Heart an make a wish for her lost friend. Comparing Filia to an existing fighting game character was easy. I actually called this one last year, but one of the developers confirmed what I thought. Filia, in many ways is a replica of 'Millia Rage (Guilty Gear)'. Her fighting style is almost exactly like Millia's, and the fact that Filia's hair is a symbiote/parasite further proves this to be true. If you've ever played a guilty Gear game then you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. When it comes to which players will benefit best from using Filia it would be those who don't mind a slower moving character, or those who prefer a character who has sneaky attacks.

Across from 'Filia', beyond the random character selection icon lies 'Cerebella'. Cerebella is a misled circus performer, and hitgirl/hitman for the Medici gang. She is totally infatuated with 'Vitale' the mob boss of the Medici gang, and will do his bidding without question. Within her story she is sent to obtain the "Life Gem" from Nadia Fortune (Ms. Fortune) by Vitale. She encounters the feisty feline girl, and ultimately ends up deciding her fate in the process. In the end Cerebella's expression says it all as the final panels of the story play out showing her saddened face. Cerebella is a unique character in the sense that the enormous arms attached to her hat can reach other fighters rather easily. Her special hat can also pack a wallop when it comes to dealing damage. There were two fighting game characters that Cerbella reminded me of, and both of them are very similar in nature. The first character she reminds me of is 'Potemkin (Guilty Gear)'. Her powerful punches pretty much mimic his. The second character she reminds me of is basically the same, and goes by the name of 'Iron Tager (BlazBlue)'. The players who will enjoy using 'Cerebella' the most will likely be those who preferred playing as the more bulky, powerful, and slower characters in fighting games (Hulk, Nemesis, Iron Tager, Potemkin ...).

The next player up is located under 'Filia' on the character select screen. Her name is 'Valentine'. Valentine is the deranged mastermind behind most of the horrific tales in 'Skullgirls'. She is both psychotic, and masochistic. As a nurse she spends a lot of time experimenting with various girls in hopes of creating the perfect Frankenstein/Bride of Frankenstein. Originally a part of Dr. Avian's crew this screwed up nurse's motives are all of the worst sort. She ultimately teams up with the demon possessed nurse 'Double' in her quest to test subjects, and rivals out against the Skullgirl/Marie. Valentine could best be described as a 'Mia Shiranui (Fatal Fury/The King of the Fighters) clone. While she does exhibit her own unique specials, and hypers her stance strikes true to that of Mia's. Her aerial maneuvers, projectiles, and quick moves also hint at this fact. Players who will be interested in Valentine will be those who are faithful to the quicker, and more agile fighters. Valentine's supers, and hypers offer multiple ways to quickly attack, and finish off your opponent.

To the right of 'Valentine' on the character select screen is 'Parasoul'. Parasoul is a princess/general who commands a small, but efficient army called the Black Egrets. It turns out that this isn't Parasoul's first encounter with a Skullgirl. Her past plays out in a multi-part fashion detailing her involvement with the royal family, the Black Egrets, her little sister 'Umbrella (Peacock)', and her role as protector of New Meridian/Canopolis. In some off-the-wall way Parasoul's story also ties into the story of 'Peacock'. In the end she is not only battling for the safety of her people, but for the soul of her sister as well. Out of all the girls in Skullgirls Parasoul is likely the most unique in regards to how she plays. Like the 'Street Fighter' characters Guile, and Vega her special moves require a moments charge before they can be executed. While she does have similarities to the previously mentioned characters, she more closely resembles 'Venom' of 'Guilty Gear' who used a pool stick, and pool balls as his weapons. In a very similar manner Parasoul uses an umbrella, and ball shaped projectiles that mimic Venom's fighting style/special moves. The players who will be interested in Parasoul will be the more strategic players. Those who don't mind planning ahead will get the best results out of her.

Finally we have a character called 'Double' who is probably the most vile, disgusting, and twisted fighter in Skullgirls. Double is a sort of enigma to me. I was unable to unlock her in the story mode, and as a result missed out on her story. What I do know is that she is a demonically possessed nun with a desire to aid the Skullgirl, and Valentine. Within the game you will see illustrations of Double in her inside-out form, as well as her nun form. When fighting as her you briefly get a glimpse of the nun form before her insides become her outsides. From that moment on you play what looks to be a gory mess of female body parts, blood, and organs. When it comes to the resemblance of other fighting game characters she is basically a copy of 'Arakune' from the 'BlazBlue' series. Like Arakune, Double morphs into various other shapes when attacking her opponent/s. The difference between her, and 'Arakune' though is that she morphs into the other characters in the game depending on which attack button you use. Players who are interested in a mix-up fighter will definitely be interested in Double. She uses the most powerful/effective attacks from each of the other fighters giving her a slight advantage over the other girls. Her dash also allows her to move long distances across the screen while dodging attacks/projectiles.

By now most of you reading this have learned first-hand, or heard through the grapevine (figuratively speaking) that a move list is non-existent in Skullgirls. This was definitely bad news for fighting game purists. With that being said, the game is not impossible to figure out. I'm used to figuring out fighting game controls since I've had to do so in the past. Most fighting game enthusiasts realize that nearly all 2D fighters have control inputs that are similar to the 'Street Fighter', or 'The King of the Fighter' series. Very rarely does a fighting game developer stray from their examples. You can rest easy knowing that 'Autumn Games/Reverge Labs' chose to go along with the 'Street Fighter' control scheme making Skullgirls an easy fighter to learn. There's also a combo system within Skullgirls that is similar to the more combo heavy games like 'Marvel vs Capcom 3'. What the developer attempted to do differently with the controls was make it impossible to repeat combos, or do infinite combos. This works for the most part, but I have noticed some hiccups within the game where the AI/CPU opponent would get away with such combos. I should also mentioned that I've encountered problems with button input detection, mainly with (RB = HP/High Punch). Sometimes when I hit (HP/RB) the button wouldn't register leaving me wide open for punishment.

There are a handful of modes available to play in Skullgirls. You have 'Singleplayer' which contains 'Story', and 'Arcade' mode. In the 'Story' mode the player gets to see the characters' back story play through visual art panels, and typed dialogue. You only get to pick one character at a time, so there's no tag teaming in 'Story'. On the other end of the spectrum is 'Arcade'. This mode plays very much like the arcade mode in other fighting games. There's no story being told, just fights being played out. In' Story' the player can choose to play as either a "One Super-Powered Character", "Two High-Powered Characters", or "Three Normal-Powered Characters". If you choose to go with more than one character you can assign assists. There are two preset assists per each character, but if you want to use a custom assist you can use that option to choose which buttons will need to be pressed in order to execute it. There's a tutorial available to get newcomers familiar with the games features/controls if you need to go back, and figure such things out. The tutorial is very similar to that of 'Street Fighter IV/Super Street Fighter IV', and has tiers of numbered lessons that get the player slowly acquainted to the fighting mechanics of the game.

Aside from singleplayer modes there's also a 'Versus' mode. This mode's title is kind of deceiving considering most fighting games use the "Versus" mode as the local 2-player mode. In Skullgirl's the versus mode is for both local, and online matches. If you're used to fighting games that have the "Quick Match", or "Unranked" match types then you'll be right at home with Skullgirls options. While there is little to tweak when it comes to online settings the game does feature two region specific search types. One region option allows the player to put what country they are located in, and the second option allows the player to set which region they'd like to play against. Another online setting involves GGPO input delays. As much as I know about fighting games I will not accurately be able to tell you what this effects. It obviously effects control inputs, but to what extent I do not know. One thing I did notice was that the better online match-ups will have numbers that are green while the more incompatible/laggy matches will have red numbers. This will definitely help when choosing who you wish to fight against online. The ultimate downfall to online though is the fact you cannot see anyone's gamertag whatsoever. This complicates things in several ways which I talked about in my rant.

After playing Skullgirls for an extended amount of time I have come to the conclusion that it fails in some very significant ways. The one thing that really ruined it for me though was the lack of gamertags. I'm not sure what was going through the developers' heads when they decided to not include gamertags? Gamertags are what makes a fighting game personal. I would want to know if I were playing against a professional like 'Daigo' or some repetitive spammer who unfairly achieved victories. Having gamertags in a fighting game also allows players to report cheaters, or hackers. Without that the game's reputation will be ruined quickly, and will eventually end up not being played like other forgotten fighting games. With that being said this game would likely be okay for tournament situations where the players are sitting next to each other. The local versus mode is definitely Skullgirl's strong point in that respect. As far as Singleplayer goes it was poorly designed as well. The boss fight is ridiculously hard no matter what difficulty setting (Sleepwalk, Easy, Normal, Hard, Ridiculous) you have it on. Like I mentioned in my rant Skullgirl/Marie is likely one of the cheapest fighting game bosses ever. Not to mention 'Peacock' who might as well have been the actual boss fight herself. In all honesty guys, and girls ... I say skip this game. Unless the developer can include a moves list, and gamertags then Skullgirls is definitely not worth the 1200 microsoft points.