There seems to be a trend among Japanese fighting game developers of late. Two or three years after their original arcade release, they will be ported onto home consoles. The latest game to make the transition is Under Night IN-BIRTH Exe:Late, an enhanced port of the 2012 title Under Night IN-BIRTH. It has been developed by Ecole Software and French-Bread, two companies who have an established history with visual novels and fighting games such as the celebrated Melty Blood series that has appeared on consoles and in the arcade..

Under Night IN-BIRTH takes place on an alternate version of present day Earth, where a mysterious event known as the Hollow Night takes place every thirty days. On the Hollow Night, creatures known as Voids feed on the life force, known as Existence power, of those that are able to commune with them. These special individuals have differing supernatural powers and weapons, but for the most part, they share the same goal, to avoid becoming an In-Birth as a result of a Void attack, and to ensure that the humans of the world remain unaware of the situation they cannot see.

As you would expect in a Japanese fighting game, there are a large number of characters for you to choose from. From the fairly aesthetically neutral fighters such as the trench-coat wearing Gordeau, to the former human Merkava and the monster like being that is Waldstein. Each of the characters fighting styles feels unique, and the physics seem to fit the players for which they have been designed such as Waldstein’s slow movements but intense physical attacks. Instead of being drawn with vector based computer graphics, it is a pleasant change to see the backgrounds and characters portrayed using high resolution retro styled sprites.

If you are used to seeing certain aspects of a fighting title, such as the Round 1 announcement used to commence the fights, then I’m afraid you will be in for a shock. While this was not an issue for me, fans of other fighting games such as Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat players may find the naming convention to be slightly irregular.If you have played games such as BlazBlue or Guilty Gear, then the Divide announcement or the Breakdown at the end of the round will not phase you at all. In a similar vein, while the storyline was quite enjoyable, there was a lot of lore to be explained in a short space of time, rather than being allowed to digest the information at a reasonable pace.

All the usual modes from fighting games appear in this release, such as the Story Mode, Versus Mode and Gallery screens to look at any previously unlocked movies or additional content. Although the battles in the game are quite entertaining, Under Night IN-BIRTH Late:Exe feels very safe in comparison to some of the other fighting games I have played. There are not a lot of gameplay options or modifiers to adjust the battles to any reasonable degree, so for the most part, it is a case of defeating one enemy, watch a cutscene, and then move onto the next fight. While this is not a problem, it would have been nice to see an occasional feature that would break the mould.

If you are interested to play the game online, there are a vast selection of options are included in the online lobby, so you can alter the number of players you want to be allowed into your room, the amount of spaces reversed for your invited friends and the amount of time that is allowed for each battle. When I was able to play these matches, I did not find any traces of lag or slowdown, and to the game’s credit, the same is true outside of the online environment.

The music tracks that play throughout the game are well composed, but there are several tracks which do not quite make the grade. This is particularly noticeable in the beginning cinematic, as it does not seem to match the high intensity action which is taking place alongside it. Although the game is fully subtitled in English, there is no dub track to accompany the translation. The Japanese voices are well acted however, so while it is a shame that the localisation process could not be extended beyond text, it is not a detriment to the game as a whole.