Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet - PlayStation 4

Update: i needed to update this as i posted this initial review a long long time ago. Finally got around to replaying this in 2024(yea i know) and let me just say we didnt realize it at the time but this is the last good sao game we got. There's a ton of updates and if you can snag the complete edition add on a psn sale its alot of content. Not as much as hollow realization which was roughly 150hrs for me but enjoyable. It takes a bit for the gameplay to click because nothing is explained well and youre thrown into random mission markers instantly. The story is very mid even by sao standards and dialogue romance is basically nonexistent. Ill say it now that there is a TRUE ENDING and you better familiarize yourself with how to get it because it gets locked out after a certain point.I fell in love with the shooter gameplay after things finally clicked and continued playing it even after finishing the story in newgame+ and still have the dlc to get to.The original issues still stand but that was more of a shock coming from hollow realization. The actual problem now is going to the next sao game. Alicization on ps4 is ungodly bad in comparison to this. A downgrade in every way and has a far camera viewing bug where they didnt update the render cutoff line when camera is zoomed out so you see assets appear and disappear within view instead of behind. None of these issues existed in fatal bullet so this makes no sense besides different developer teams. Apparently last recollection downgrades graphics and quality even further for a 2023 release..In conclusion this is the last best sao game we got. It takes a bit to get used to the gunplay but its so much smoother than the sword combat from mainline. Cherish this and hollow realization while its still available because we aren't getting good sao games anymore. :(Original----I cant comment on the entire game yet but what Ive seen so far has not made me optimistic..As someone who has all the SAO games on ps4 besides accel world vs sao (we dont talk about that) I was surprised in how bad the game is in the first 15 min playing AFTER the intro/tutorial/opening song. Plenty of loading screens because we are apparently going back in time to sonic 2006 where everything needs individual lengthly loading times.It really feels like an unfinished game especially when I have seen single dev indie games produced games at a much higher and polished quality.. Its like the Bamco discovered certain effects in unreal engine 4 and was like "WOAH dude we gotta do all this right now to show off that we learned how to do this xDxD" and that statement is just enough cringe to reflect the quality of the game.Walking around feels awkward which is surprising considering how well (ok decent) implemented character movement was in the last 3 games. Character models are over exaggerated and really out of place like leafa for example. Someone put the values for the chest settings to near max which really stands out and not in the fanservice way but like a 5th grader who laughs at a lewd word.Sinon,, oh jeez what did that do to sinon. She looks completely reptilian in hair and clothes design and color lighting. WORST OF ALL everyone has dead eyes.. Bamco has been making anime style games for a really long time now and I am fairly certain they know what eye tracking is but that wasent a concern here so you get blank stares like everyone is truly a computer model with no personality besides voice acting which sounds like its done over a headset (not sure if this was intentional but still noticable).Already noticing character model elements crossing into clothing and enviroments, and asuna hair spazzing during a cutscene when she is standing still.I have been busy with other games and while I am not an sao addict who thinks they can do no wrong, I enjoyed all of the previous games despite some hiccups. This I cannot see myself enjoying simply due to the buggy half-finished job that I have witnessed within my initial impression. From what I have seen and read, it does not get any better and I wont even begin to comment on gameplay or quests. There definitly was potential with the initial idea but sadly everything went downhill really quick.I picked this up on a steep discount here compared to steam selling it on full price and am glad I did not buy the full price version. Do your self a favor and get any of the other 3 instead, even the psp port re:hollow fragment had loads of content and enjoyable stuff to do, here you get anime tropes and awkward trying to be funny "moe" dialogue which is forced in to basically distract you and make you think youre having a good time. You will not have a good time if you care about games not being bad.

"Welcome to the world", Okay so maybe its more like Ain-gun but that's alright with me, I have been waiting and waiting and finally SAO fatal bullet is released and honestly I love it, but my reviews are always about the glass being half full so that's obvious based on the fact that I'm writing a review at all. I personally have a great fondness for SAO games and watching them grow in quality with each iteration is like watching a dumb little baby grow into a less dumb teenager and then into a adult with the ability to work a faucet like a pro, but I digress the primary reason I am attracted to SAO games is because I will always enjoy the simulated MMO single player turducken that they've become "its like a game within a game". So fill up those glasses folks and lets dig in.Story: As always I hate spoilers so how about a vagueler, you are the main character playing a shooting MMO for the first time with your childhood friend and intensity intensifies. You have a AI companion that you can play dress up with and you meet all of the super anime characters of the SAO universe plus some new friends with their own parts to play, best part is you need no true prior knowledge of SAO or Gun Gal (the MMO this game takes place in) just jump in and enjoy yourself.Gameplay: This part is my favorite, in a landscape where so many publishers and even developers try to close off basic features of an experience to make the player pay for them later this game gives you plenty of options and choice of fun and frantic activities, they mostly revolve around shoot this thing, get the stuff off of its body and make more money to buy items that will help you shoot more things. However the game-play loop is very satisfying with many different items, clothes, accessories and weapon options even within the same category, skill is required to master the combat but with assist aiming, positioning and mobility are vastly more important than having the ability to 360 no scope some noob, but even with the great crutch of assist aiming (which can be turned off for more challenging and precise combat) you can still find many challenging battles against the games many NPC's and PCNPC's (I know right!) but for balance sake if there was a scale of RPG to Shoot style games this game would lean far more to the RPG side, so while a fun and satisfying 3rd person shooter this games is more of a fantastic RPG. P.S. While there are some multiplayer aspects that focus around PVP or Boss raiding I would not put that as a primary focus for this title, but if you have a friend that also has the game you can link up and show off your skills, or lack there of.Graphics: Its great to see what they did with the unreal engine, the character models look great and the environments while a bit dead, still look pretty neat and get the job, I'm not writing home about the vistas but they work. While some of the clothing options can jank out for hilarious results all in all the graphical upgrade is pleasant to the eyes.Sound: I love the music in this game its usually either techno or fantasy or some kind of amalgamation of the two, sort of like Phantasy Star online, the voice acting is Japanese but if you rather not here Japanese girls go crazy for girly boys you can always turn the voices off. The sound of each gun is different based off of the gun itself which is quite impressive some sound more explosive than others, but I'm sure that was a design decision, the only issue I ran into with the sound is that sometimes when a handful of very loud noises go off at the same time other sounds will become a bit stifled, but its no where near immersion breaking.All in all I love this game and knowing how SAO games are improved constantly once they are released I know this game will also receive extensive updates that constantly expand the scope of the game-play loop and the experience for each player. If your on the fence about fatal bullet and you like looters or shooters or SAO games, then pull the trigger, hopefully you'll be happy you gave this one a shot.

game came in and the case was cracked and the disc was loose inside and scratched. I'm now about 20 hours in and it seems like the same base mechanics over and over with new loot. the game is highly repetitive and not very fun. the multiplayer is simply bosses you defeat in the single player game just rehashed and higher level to account for the party. the loot system however is pretty addicting but overall this game was a letdown to say the least. its not completely awful but it had potential to be so much more with what it is based off (GGO). gameplay wise id give it a 5/10