Up until 2008 2D fighting titles were virtually non-existent, 3D fighters were in favour and even then releases were still fairly few and far between, and then came Street Fighter IV The first numbered Street Fighter title since 1999, released to critical acclaim bringing with it the same depth and replayability as previous titles in the series but also a unique almost hand-drawn look to the graphics and a whole host of new gameplay mechanics. Fast forward to now and we find ourselves awaiting the imminent release of Street Fighter V which promises to redefine the genre yet again, but in the meantime a literal plethora of 2D fighting titles have sprung up hoping to take the crown, we've found ourselves with some really excellent games, such as Skullgirls, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, and Injustice: Gods Among Us. In that same vein we have Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax, published by Sega this is your standard 2D fighting caper which features over 30 characters from a variety of manga and animé under the Dengeki Bunko banner. The story is your basic malevolent entity kidnaps people in order to steal their dreams thus destroying all hope and the world itself affair and plays out through some fairly basic scenes between fights where the characters converse and can only settle their differences through beating each other senseless. The short scenes between battles are quite subtly animated and all voiced by the original animé actors which adds a nice touch but once it comes to the fights the animation lose a little of its sparkle, the character models appear slightly rough and not so crisp and clear as their cut-scene counterparts and with so much happening on screen at times you can find yourself getting a little lost. Each character has a whole host of over the top moves under their belts and the visual effects on these are suitably massive too, ranging from picking up a vending machine and launching it across the screen at your opponent, to trapping them in a giant claw crane arcade machine and plucking them up and away to cause immense damage.
The controls are straight forward and easily accessible, with 3 buttons representing weak, medium and strong attacks, and then a forth button which temporarily calls in a chosen support character, combining different attack buttons allows you to use any of your special moves, Impact Skills or even launch your Climax Arts which will fill the screen with mayhem and hopefully finish off the other player in the process.
The characters should all be recognizable to fans of their respective series, the only one I had heard of was Sword Art Online but was pleasantly surprised to spot Akira from Virtua Fighter as the main boss and even noticed Selvaria from Valkyria Chronicles as an unlockable fighter.
Another nice inclusion was stages themed around other Sega titles, Sonic the Hedgehog, NiGHTS, and Shinobi all make an appearance and each have the appropriately remixed music to suit.
The overall soundtrack is good and everything you'd expect from an animé mash-up fighter, J-Pop and synth tunes pump out underneath the sounds of crashes and thumps from the action and the various characters shouting at each other, each announcing their attacks before launching into a major barrage of laser fire or onslaught of sword strikes, the best word for it all is functional, it matches the action perfectly and manages to add to the shear frenzy that is occuring on-screen.
Overall, functional is the word that really sums this game up, it doesn't do anything that'll set the world on fire but it's also not a bad game, on it's own merit it's a competent fighter with a good level of depth, easy to pickup, with two story modes for each character and when you're feeling confident you can take the challenge online and go against others around the world.
I'm into my animé in quite a big way but even found I hadn't heard of most of the characters or series but as fighters they all work well together, each having their strengths and weaknesses and I'm sure it'll appeal much more to fans of the Dengeki Bunko imprint.
Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax is out now for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, & PlayStation Vita