Sword Art Online, or SAO for short started out as a popular Japanese novel, that later was adapted to mangas and even an anime. With all of its success Bandai Namco Entertainment took in the rights to make video games of the series and Fatal Bullet is the fifth full on videogame in this amazing world. In between these games, a few mobile games were released an also some browser games and even a VR demo of an open world RPG. However, this remains to be just a demo as of now.
Sword Art Online is set in a future world full of VMMORPG’s, these are Virtual Reality MMORPGs. The virtual reality tech they have in this future is a lot more advanced than the VR experience we get today. The games are linked to the nerve system and you live almost a complete life in the game. Fatal bullet is set in one of these games, called GGO, which stand for Gun Gale Online. In this particular game you get to play with some big guns, raid some dungeons and fight NPCs or other players with your team.
I was not familiar with the series before testing this game, so for the big fans out there, I’m sorry if I butcher this. I really enjoyed the game so let’s dive right into the world of SAO: Fatal Bullet. In Fatal Bullet you get some glimpses of what has happened in the past, which makes me wonder and gets me intrigued to find out all I can about these characters and the world they live in.
When starting the game, you get to create your own character, there are many options and sizes you can change, a great library of different haircuts to choose from and some different voices for your character. After that you get to name him/her and start off on your journey through GGO. The game is completely made in an anime style of course and this give me some prejudices about the game being a little too much like others in its stylistic genre. Fatal Bullet however took me by surprise, I kept playing and had a lot of fun doing so.
It has to be said, the conversations in this game are horrendously long and tend to get a bit dull. However, they are needed to explain all the different mechanics and game modes that Fatal Bullet has to offer. When you first enter the game, you get greeted immediately by an old friend of yours Kureha, she will help you and be on your side in almost every fight you engage in. She pushes you into joining a tournament right away because of an amazing prize that can be found on the tournaments grounds.
You, of course, happen to be the one that finds this priceless item. An Arfa-Sys Artificial Intelligence, a cyborg human-like AI. This particular AI you find is an X-model, which is the rarest type there is. It will help you organize your stuff and help you as some kind of financial advisor as well. You get to design it with just as much depth than your own character and name it too. After that you will constantly get offers from NPCs that want to buy your X-model, both because they see it as a good investment, or the just fall deeply in love with it.
After all these introductions and long conversations with all the important characters you get to go on some missions to find lost parts of your AI, which will make it even stronger and more intelligent. On these missions you get to fight low-level scorpions, drones and guards and fight your way to a regional boss, an angry berserker. The combat mechanics are well done, you play in third person perspective and you have an aim assist that helps you lock down enemies and kill them without much trouble. The stronger enemies are quite a bit more difficult. Here you will have to dodge attacks and hide behind cover, help and revive your teammates Kureha and your AI. As the game progresses, you level up and get to invest skill points into different areas that can help both your character and your AI. Leading to bigger guns and bigger enemies.
All in all, it’s a very fun experience and the world of Fatal Bullet or GGO is very well made, the economic system is complicated but very well done. The way you get loot by fighting the various foes is nothing new but works perfectly fine. You also get credits to buy weapons, clothes and other equipment for your character. This makes it fun to personalize everything. I will be playing a lot more of this game and maybe I’ll get into the anime or manga as well. This a very well-made world that got me curious about the backstory.
