Controversial bit first. I like Sword Art Online. Yes, I know it has massive limitations in how it is written and some of the tropes the author uses are not great but on the whole I like the light novels and the anime. Ok, controversy over and I will say from the off that this is not a good game adaptation/tie in.
Gameplay
The game is set in an open world divided into areas with some dungeons added on as you get further through. Played in a third person perspective the design is fine and it runs smoothly save for the ridiculous number of loading screens which take some lime to finish. This maybe due to assets in each zone but it breaks the gameplay up a lot (as does the 2d cutscenes which dominate the early game time). On the whole though things look good. The problems come when you actually start playing the game and progress a bit. Firstly the camera control is awful in that it does not seem to lock onto the enemy you are attacking (and pretty much all you do in the game is attack enemies). As a result aiming your skills is often a case of luck rather than judgment and you can end up launching a ten move combo at thin air. Frustrating.
Secondly is the control mapping itself. I have played this on PC and switch and both have issues. On PC the default bindings are awful and for me rendered the game unplayable (I don’t have time to remap everything). The switch is better but every button does two or three things depending on the combination used and it just feels clunky. Combat lets you use four possible attacks depending on combination but I usually found myself sticking a strong attack on the easiest option and running with it. This game feels like it was designed as a PC MMO and then they decided to port it to console. With better key maps the range of skills would work well on a PC setting with the ability to customise a skill tray. On console though it is just a mess.
Finally is the game premise itself. Basically you can watch the plot cut scenes but you will still end up doing the same thing. Killing monsters. That’s it. The skill tree covers weapons skills only and whilst you can build friendship with other characters this is all driven by the combat engine. This is a waste given that the whole premise of the original SAO was that it was a virtual world and we know that several of the key characters had other skills such as crafting, cooking, beast taming.
Really?
So the gameplay is limited and after a few hours of killing different monsters I decided to explore the friendship system. Oh dear. In combat you can praise your teammates for certain characteristics they demonstrate and build affection with them. Get it high enough and you can then reach the ‘hand holding’ stage and then eventually the ‘princess carry’ stage which triggers a bedroom cutscene. No I am not making this up. You basically get a romance cut scene with characters who are all canonically under eighteen replete with the character you are romancing in nightwear. Nothing too risque in the design but that is beside the point. Ignoring the garbage design around the friendship system the idea that you would stick something like this in is little more than fan service of the worst kind and it’s a shame as the main outfit designs are actually really good.
Conclusion
This is a bad game in terms of implementation and there’s no way I can dress that up. It feels like a compromise on every front and were it not a game gifted to me I would be trading it in. I do think there is scope for a proper RPG in the SAO world using a skyrim type approach with you being able to do lots of different things. This game though just feels like a soulless bit of marketing with a smattering of fan service thrown in to appease the likely target audience.
rating 3/10
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