AquaPazza (PS3)

In the world of fighting games rarely ever will you find a plot that is 90% lighthearted, and only 10% violent in nature. Usually there's some sort of ominous evil corporation, or evil being/character lurking behind the scenes who is intent on ending, or ruling the world by some sort of ultra horrific means making the gameplay at hand more mature. As such it was a delightful treat to be able to play what I consider to be one of the few male, and female friendly fighting games available for the PS3. With AquaPazza's diverse cast of cutesy anime inspired characters gamers will likely warm up to their favorites, and enjoy using them throughout the various modes of play. You'll find everything from the cliche anime schoolgirls to mask wearing emperors, and even some feral sword toting characters who each add a bit of that anime spark that all of us Otaku long for. Through artistically crafted menus, beautifully animated cutscenes, and catchy Japanese theme songs gamers who are willing to give this game a chance will find themselves lost in one of this year's more positive experiences.

AquaPazza, as it were was originally released to Japanese gamers a while back, and for the most part was accepted as one of the better 2D fighters of it's time. Like many fighting games out there that choose to mix things up this EXAMU Inc. exclusive brought to light a mash-up of interesting anime stylized characters brought together from various interactive anime novel based video games. Among the series that were included in it's back story were "Utawarerumono", "ToHeart 2", "White Album", and "Tears to Tiara". The characters picked from those anime inspired stories were then brought to life in a wacky tale that paved the way for the fighting game that I'm speaking of now. It is these chosen characters, and their personalities that were finally planted firmly among the menus, art galleries, and modes of play contained within "AquaPazza". AquaPazza's roster which contains 13 individually unique main characters, and 13 equally unique assist characters ultimately comes together to make what I call an MvC-style experience. Like the first "Marvel vs Capcom" you will be choosing one main character, and an assist character/partner as you take on the offline, and online opponents in a variety of different modes.

Characters in AquaPazza are an oddly grouped bunch to say the least, but in their own way they are very relatable. They come in an interesting variety that will be somewhat familiar when it comes to fighting styles, and somewhat different when it comes down to appearance, and movement. As you play you'll find that a good many of them sport that cutesy anime look that's synonymous with the more lighthearted anime series. While the schoolgirl fighters included are a bit cliche as I said before the fighting styles, and assist styles associated with each uniform wearing cutie definitely differs. For example, in the roster you'll find a petite uniform wearing maid robot named "Multi" who uses a mop to beat the fool out of her opponents. There's also a gun toting schoolgirl named "Satsuki" as well as a student librarian named "Manaka" who uses books as her main choice of offense/defense. When it comes to the more unique characters in the roster the winged angel girls "Camyu", and "Ulthury" definitely stand out as being among the more different ones. Other character oddities include the feline sub-human girl known as "Karulau", her other feral companions from "Utawarerumono" named "Touka", and "Oboro", and "Chizuru" who is a claw bearing female with an Oni bloodline curse.

Most of the characters you'll find in "AquaPazza" do have some sort of weapon in hand whether it be books, swords, or staffs, and often times dish out punishment in the form of projectiles. As such Choosing which character suits your play style best will rely heavily on whether you're a zoning player, or an up-close, and personal fighter. With the assist partners utilizing the same variety of keep away, and up-close, and personal fighting attacks as the main ones you'll need to balance out your main character, and your assist partner intelligently. If you go with an up-close, and personal fighter such as "Konomi", for example you'll want your assist partner to have distanced attacks so that you can deal damage to any zoning characters/players when you aren't within range of them. The exact opposite goes for the zoning characters, or the characters that are projectile heavy. If you opt to go with a heavy zoning character such as the book toting "Manaka" you'll need an assist partner who will stick nearby in case someone gets too close to you.

Along with the partner based gameplay, and assist based mechanics comes a plethora of "AquaPazza" specific additions that will alter the way you go about winning a match. Matches in the online, and offline modes of "AquaPazza", as with any other fighting game use a life bar system to let each player know exactly who it is that's on top of things. The difference between that of AquaPazza's, and traditional 2D fighters such as 'Street Fighter' though is that the AquaPazza's life/health bar is a color coded one with multiple color changes signifying your characters increasing/decreasing health. Each player/character in the game is initially given a full health meter that is blue in color. As you are hit with attacks the color will change from blue to green, and eventually to orange. While this is one of the more obvious features of the game there are also other things that might not seem so obvious.

In AquaPazza you'll find three modes of offline play (Story, Another Story & Versus) as well as a detailed online multiplayer that will allow you to connect, and compete against other gamers via the Playstation network. Whichever mode you choose to play in your ultimate goal is, and always will be to defeat your opponent utilizing your character specific attacks (Unique Attacks, Specials, Supers ...), and your assist partners' attacks. As you fight you'll also want to keep an eye on the other gauges/meters in order to realize the best scoring opportunities as well as to recognize when your partner is ready to be called in again. One of the more unique aspects of "AquaPazza" is the emotion gauge that surrounds your character's picture at the top of the screen. By continually dishing out combos, and sneaking in assists the emotion gauge will go from a neutral white to a red color signifying the low, and high changes in your character's emotion status. As the emotion status changes so does the character's expression in the picture. Maintaining a high emotion will allow you to rack up more points for your leaderboard placing at the end of a playthrough as well as help your assists to be more effective during a match.

Scoring in this particular fighter goes a lot like other ATLUS, and ArcSys Works fighting game titles. As you complete combos with, or without your assist partner you will gain score bonuses based on your attacks. Landing a longer string combo will reward you the most, but even landing a 2-hit combo will increase your scoring well enough. As you play AquaPazza, and become more familiar with each character's fighting style you'll become better equipped to land higher combo-based attacks as well as incorporate specials, and supers into the mix. Speaking of which, another gauge/meter that I almost forgot to mention is the one that is used to activate the supers, and finishing moves. This meter which is a lot like that of "Darkstalkers" holds five levels of different colors that will let your character execute level specific super attacks. While the gauge can be depleted quite quickly with usage it can also be filled up rather quickly as well by landing attacks, combos, and specials. As usual you'll find that each character in the game comes complete with a pause menu command list that explains how to execute each, and every attack that they have. The different attacks contained within the menu are conveniently divided into sections for better understanding.

When a match ends in AquaPazza, whether it be by a finishing blow, or a time out your final score will be determined by several different factors. As with most 2D fighters life left, and time remaining will be tallied up, and added to your total score. The rest of the score in AquaPazza comes from your assist usage, your emotion peaks, and your highest combo count. Last, but not least is also something called a "Straight Bonus" which I assume means using simple melee attacks instead of specials, and supers. For all you top score hounds out there you'll be glad to know that EXAMU Inc. has also added a "Score Attack" mode in the offline menu. Like the other story modes you will be playing through 7 matches, and a final match against the game's boss character. Your score at the end of your "Score Attack" playthrough can then be uploaded to online servers in order to be comparable to other gamers across the globe.

As far as extras go AquaPazza has a slew of them available in the game's offline "Gallery Menu". As you play through "Story", and "Another Story" you will unlock a wide variety of character expressions, animations, art, trailers, and even music for your viewing, and listening pleasure. Out of all the fighting games I've ever played AquaPazza definitely takes the cake as being one of the more extensive games in the "EXTRAS" department. Any fan of anime will definitely love the behind-the-scenes look at the mythology of this fighting game mash-up, as will fighting game fans. Aside from the offline extras you'll also find that AquaPazza has it's fair share of online extras as well. Like "Persona 4 Arena"" you'll find in place a naming system that uses various word tags in the form of applicable titles that can be applied alongside a gamers' PSN ID. It give as sort of added personality to the player using the name tags. I was excited to have found the words "The", and "Inferno" amongst the collection of unlockable titles, and being able to apply two words at a time worked out quite nicely for me.

When it comes to online play the online offerings in AquaPazza are not unlike the offerings of previous 2D fighters. Like past fighting game releases such as that of "Persona 4 Arena" you'll find the usual online matchmaking options including "Ranked", and "Player". While the "Ranked" matchmaking options are quite limited the game does allow you to setup you personal team ahead of a match as well as as your color palettes of choice, and the stage of choice. Search settings can also be tweaked to your liking in the "Ranked" menu as well as in the "Player" setup menu. By playing ranked matches you will earn points based on your wins which will in turn land you a spot on the online leaderboards assuming you are good enough to make the cut. As far as the "Player" options go you can setup lobbies for random players, or even friends. Private slots are definitely an option. Each lobby can only hold up to 6 players including the host. The host of the lobby of course has the ability to kick anyone should they see fit. Another unique feature of the online lobby/room system is that players awaiting a fight will be privileged to spectate the current match that is going on. This is definitely a plus in any fighting game.

Another thing to note about AquaPazza's online offerings is the state of the netcode prior to launch. I know that many of you are curious as to how this game plays online, and for the most part I can honestly say that it was a mostly lag-free when playing with gamers who were in the same region, especially during ATLUS's online test day. Even against players with yellow, and red connection signals the gameplay was nearly flawless. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to play with ATLUS's interns as well as some fellow gaming journalists during the test phase, and the netcode seemed to improve the more we played. Initially there was a small amount of lag going on, but by the end of the test period I think they had the netcode tweaked enough to make for a decent online fighter. If it should arise that the netcode needs to be fixed even more I'm sure the interns at ATLUS will fix things up properly. I do have faith in them.

Before I go I also need to mention the character color palettes that you can choose from as well as the online replay uploads. As with any modern-day 2D fighter you'll find that EXAMU Inc. has put into place a nice assortment of selectable color palettes for each character in the game. This includes palettes for both the main character of choice as well as the assist partner. Each custom color palette comes complete with a name for easier identification later on. As far as the color palette swaps go they include all of the clothing articles as well as the hair color for each character. This customization option will definitely make for a more personal experience when taking your matches online.

When it comes down to online replay uploads little is known due to my inability to experience a "Ranked" online match, and my embargo limitations. All I know is that the replay upload option is in place as well as a menu where you can access, and view your latest replays. If it has Youtube upload capabilities that would truly be awesome, but as I said little is known about the replay uploads at this point. I assume we'll all figure out one way, or the other when the 19th arrives.

About the controls ...

The control layout in "AquaPazza" is a very simple one. You'll find that you have access to a light, medium, and heavy attack as well as an assist call button. The light, medium, and heavy attacks are each assigned to the (SQUARE, TRIANGLE & CIRCLE) buttons respectively. This setup makes for quick combo creations, and keeps things simple enough, so that you can focus on your opponent's actions, and reactions more easily. As you can probably guess the character assist function lies with the "X" button. This too allows for easier access when dealing with your AI, or online opponents. As far as specials, and supers go you'll find that by combining light, medium, and heavy attacks with the proper directional input via the (Left Thumbstick / DPad) you'll be able to execute them with ease. Overall the control setup fits quite nicely with the games mechanics, and features.

Now for the verdict ...

AquaPazza is not exactly what I had expected after seeing all the trailers, and press releases. Having that been said though it's still an alright fighter in some respects. The game's lighthearted theme, wacky character interactions, and interesting fighting game mechanics made for a notable addition to the fighting game universe. As far as the oddly mismatched characters go the two separate story modes helped to better flesh out their involvement, and even made for some entertaining/laughable moments from time to time. The whole friendship theme revisited throughout the game as well as in the combined assist partner feature really came together well. I for one found favorite characters amongst the roster, and will definitely be using them when I take my matches online.

Considering everything I experienced during my playthrough I think it's safe to say that there's a select group of gamer types who will be interested in this game. It will definitely provide a new outlet for tried, and true fighting game enthusiasts here in the US, especially the more hardcore players. Anime fans will also find some slight enjoyment from the fun-loving Japanese soundtrack, and the extras that can be unlocked through multiple playthroughs of the game. The gender neutrality of it is also a good point. When it comes to gender based gameplay this is a game that male, and female gamers alike could enjoy. The violence isn't too over-the-top, and the characters included are about as innocent as they get. The fact that everything about the game is beautifully rendered in a kawaii sort of way, and is nice to look at only furthers it's innocent appeal making it's accepted age range a little more lenient.

From a competitive standpoint this game does have it's pros & cons though. After receiving a proper online beating from "maggotsai" I realized that some characters are definitely OP (Over Powered), and that some are extremely heavy on the zoning attacks. While the roster is diverse for the most part it is these OP characters that will no doubt be exploited online within due time, and will ultimately end up ruining the fun to be had. I've seen it happen too often in the fighting game scene, and I'd really hate for it to happen again here. Sadly, the probability of such a thing occurring is high though.

Lastly, there are a couple of bad points to the game that mostly involve selection screen lag, and the abusive AI. For some reason or another the character selection screen in the offline story modes will lag from time to time, and fairly severely at that. I've personally never seen anything like this happen before, so I'm not sure if it's fixable, or not. I would hope so though. It's certainly a bothersome bug, and one that is quite concerning from a gamers' viewpoint. As far as the AI goes you'll find that setting it to the "Normal" difficulty in the offline modes can be quite the unforgiving experience. The boss at the end of the' Normal' "Story" playthrough is so relentless, and cheap with the attacks that winning is almost an impossibility. As such the boss fights in this fighter could easily be considered the cheapest in the history of fighting games. One would cringe at the thought of what the hardest difficulty setting would be like. Why EXAMU Inc. chose to make the end boss so unforgiving at "Normal" difficulty is beyond me. I'd say that that in itself would be a game breaker if it weren't for the ability to change the difficulty settings, and if the online weren't there to save the game from being a total loss.

If you can get past the brutally unforgiving AI, and the lag bug that's currently plaguing the game then you might possibly find some pleasure in playing it online. As of now the online looks to be it's more promising aspect. I think the uploadable replays would make for some interesting Youtube content, and if the netcode is as good, or better than it was when we were testing it then there is still hope for the game. For $29.99 you might be taking a gamble, but in the grand scheme of things it's one of the milder risks in the gaming industry. If you have $30 lying around, and are looking for a fighting game to hold you over until the next "Guilty Gear", or "Persona 4 Arena" game then you might just want to give this PS3 exclusive a try.