REVIEW

Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet Review

by Rob Pritchard, March 2nd, 2018

The Sword Art Online series originally began back in 2009 as a series of short stories, and was eventually turned into a manga series, which in turn received several anime and video game adaptions. Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is the fifth game to be released from the MMORPG styled franchise, following Hollow Realization which was released back in 2016. Fatal Bullet makes some welcome changes to the formula, but there are a few issues which render certain aspects of the game feeling worse than previous instalments.

This time around, the setting of the in game VRMMORPG is Gun Gale Online, which is the spiritual successor to the original Sword Art Online. When you have made your avatar, you are thrust into a tournament alongside the game’s tutorial. After logging into the game for the first time, you are welcomed by Kureha, the avatar of one of your character’s ‘real life’ friends. During one of the in-game tournaments, you accidentally activate a rare item known as an ArFA-sys, which is a fully automated AI digital assistant with a human like personality. The storyline of the game is considerably darker than previous entries, with many of the characters you meet threatening to eliminate you rather than become your ally. Fans of the previous entries will be pleased to see that the previous SAO protagonist Kirito returns, alongside his trusty companion Asuna.

Unlike earlier entries in the Sword Art Online series, the combat system for Fatal Bullet uses guns and projectile based weapons in the vein of Mass Effect alongside the usual array of swords and melee combat. While the latter options feel as smooth and responsive as ever, the guns can sometimes feel a little sluggish to respond to the player’s input. Alongside the weapons, you are given a hook shot styled item known as a UFG, which allows you to travel across large distances quickly and ascend to higher areas with ease. One of the best features of the UFG is the ability to down flying enemies, regaining the advantage against some of the vertically superior opponents.

The gameplay of Fatal Bullet is split into two main types of mission. The story quests progress the main storyline, allowing for new mechanics such as the ability to customise your ArFA-sys’s capabilities with additional parts. The side quests usually consist of fetch quests and dungeon exploration, with some of them providing a rare weapon or large amounts of money upon their completion. Some of the highlights include the final boss fight, which requires to use several weapon types in tandem to ensure their defeat. Like many games that simulate a MMORPG, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet begins with you customising your player character. There are a vast range of hairstyles and facial features on offer for both genders, allowing you to create truly unique characters with barely any effort. It was slightly disappointing to find there was no randomising feature, but this is more of an additional perk rather than a mandatory inclusion for the genre. The same system is used to customise the appearance of your ArFA-sys, although there are fewer options for a few of the choices, such as the type of voice your digital assistant will have.

The graphics of Fatal Bullet are slightly different to previous entries in the series, opting for a more futuristic world setting over the usual fantasy styled aesthetic. Thanks to the power of Epic’s Unreal Engine 4, the character models and environments look crisp and colourful, and there appears to be very little frame rate slowdown anywhere during the game. One of the major flaws is the loading time between areas and cut scenes, even on the PS4 Pro hardware they can sometimes last between ten and twenty seconds each.

Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet’s soundtrack is a mixture of orchestral interludes and high intensity rock styled tracks. One of the highlights include the opening theme, ‘Thrill Risk Heartless’, a fast paced guitar JRock theme to get you in the mood for the adventure ahead. The lack of an English dub track for the dialogue is slightly disappointing, but the Japanese actors do an excellent job with their voiceover, particularly Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, who returns once more to voice Kirito.

Overall, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is an entertaining JRPG with third person shooter elements. Despite the lengthy loading times, and the occasionally stiff gun combat, this is a capable futuristic styled adventure with high quality graphics that takes a brave step beyond its comfort zone. If you are a fan of the Sword Art Online series or modern third person shooters, Fatal Bullet is a capable JRPG that presses all the right buttons for its target audience.