Review: Chaos Code – New Sign Of Catastrophe

So I was lucky enough to have grown up during the Golden Age of video games, that being said I was about thirteen when Street Fighter II hit the arcades. My friends and I spent one summer traveling from 7-11 to 7-11 eating Mike & Ikes and playing till our quarters ran out. That was one of my favorite summer memories, you just can’t do that anymore, especially now.

It had been awhile since I found a fighting game that reminded me of that particular summer; oddly enough Chaos Code: New Sign of Catastrophe brought about some of those old familiar feelings. Now, this game is not as epic nor awesome as Capcom’s Street Fighter II, but it is an enjoyable fighter that has a lot of replayability and will keep you coming back, match after match.

The game looks great, it has the old school feel of the first and second Marvel Vs. Capcom games, but you can tell that the graphics were brought up to this decade’s standards. I enjoyed the look of the game, the characters you can pick are unique and very showy and the levels you battle on are also very sleek looking. Playing match after match didn’t get boring cause of the surroundings, it got boring cause it’s a fighting game.

I will add that the translations for this game are pretty bad, when you beat a match your character says a snide remake to the defeated and man there are some hilarious mis-translations in there.

Controls in a fighting game are extremely important, and the controls for Chaos Code are very tight; they’re just difficult to figure out for a newcomer like me. I’m thrilled that the game actually puts the combos and such on the side of the screen for all to enjoy. The only problem for a noob like me what the fact that I didn’t know which button was the Power Move or Kick Move. My ass NEEDS the actual button prompt to be successful in fighting games. Hinting at which button will make my character do sick movies does not help me at all. And yes, I could attempt to make a note of which button was which, by when you’re playing the computer you are given no quarter at all.

For me, most fighting games are insanely difficult. I rarely block, I button mash and I get frustrated very easily. Thankfully button mashing got me through the first few rounds, but then I had to gain some skill and really get use to the controls. This is a very difficult fighting game for noobs. It took me a bit of time to really get good with the controls and start to get father and farther in the fighter’s campaigns. I usually don’t spend this much time with a fighting game that is difficult, but I really enjoyed the style of the game, it made me think to the older fighting games and plucked my nostalgia strings.

This game has tons of replayability and Modes that allow you to enjoy it for hours and hours. The Arcade Mode and VS Mode alone you could drop days into. In Arcade Mode you can pick one of fifteen characters and go through their story. If that bores you, you can hit VS Mode and play against the computer or other players. Survival Mode really tests your skills, you fight and fight and fight until you lose; once you lose the Mode is over. I didn’t last too long in this mode, but it was still a blast to see how far I could get. I’m sure people who excel in the games would totally beat my time.

Practice Mode, which is something I should have spent more time with allows you to hone your fighting skills. Mission Mode allows you to take a character and beat certain mission parameters for them. Finally there is Score Attack Mode, this mode lets you fight against the computer and battle for the highest score. As you can see there is A LOT of content in this game for hardcore fighting fans to enjoy.

I’m not huge on fighting games and I said before, but I enjoyed this title. I doubt that if I wasn’t given it to review that I would have even known it existed. Any fighting game enthusiast would be a fool to not get a copy or download this to their Switch. The game is fun, deep, gorgeous and has so much to enjoy. Unlike Street Fighter V where the game came out in chunks, this one came out full and ready to blister your thumbs. If you are a big fighting fan, by all means pick this up, you will not be disappointed. However, if you’re like me a gamer who dabbles in fighting games from time to time; I would steer away. There are easier fighting games for the likes of us.

This review is based on a review copy provided by the publisher