(Review) Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax

What appeared to be a generic 2D fighter with an anime twist threw me for quite a loop. I tried my hand at Dengeki Bunko and while it seemed to be a rather simple fighter, that was because I am just terrible at it. That’s fine though since, at the time, I hadn’t spent countless hours playing it yet. Having put a bit more time in now, I can say that Dengki Bunko: Fighting Climax is a bit more complicated than I would have thought and I suck more than I thought I could as well.

If there's one thing that I love about fighting games is when there are super flashy moves. I've seen other people use them... but I can't do anything super fancy yet.
If there’s one thing that I love about fighting games is when there are super flashy moves. I’ve seen other people use them… but I can’t do anything super fancy yet. I hope it’s not beyond me.

The story you’re thrown into is one of dreams and aspirations and the reality of having them. Your main protagonist, Zetstumu, that looks like a bunch of images strapped to a large, disembodied eye is going on a rampage. He’s traveling to different worlds (of popular animes) and using the main characters as avatars with which to take over other worlds. Well, your world is up for the taking so you’d better prepare yourself! Luckily this whole situation was brought to your attention by Denshin who looks like a girl with some form of Sega Dreamcast controller glued to her head. I’m sure there’s a story there, but I’m not completely sure what it is.

Most of you are probably wondering what the meat of the game is like. The feel of the fighting in and of itself. Here’s where I throw out a disclaimer on my ability in fighting games. I’m kind of bad at them. There are some where I can shine a bit more than others (Tekken/Guilty Gear/Smash Bros.), but by and large, if we were to throw down at a convention, I’d probably lose to you. That’s not to say I didn’t beat Dengeki Bunko, but it wasn’t pretty.

There's my girl: Yukina Himeragi. I wish I could have used Rentaro Satomi or even Shizuo Helwajima (he kicks my butt whenever I fight him) better, but I'll make due I guess.
There’s my girl: Yukina Himeragi. I wish I could have used Rentaro Satomi or even Shizuo Helwajima (he kicks my butt whenever I fight him) better, but I’ll make do I guess.

There is a training mode where they teach you the basics. I mean that, the very basics. There isn’t much here. From my understanding, there are all sorts of variants from all the moves included therein. My fighting game theory is about as well-developed as my cooking. That’s kind of why I like Tekken because they give you the “War and Peace” booklet on the moves and yes I’ll go through all of them to see what I can pull off. Without this list, I’m doing roughly the same moves over and over again. Sure I’ll attempt to switch it up, but that usually ends up in half and poorly executed forms of combos that I could be pulling off if I wasn’t trying to be “original”. Like Smash Bros. though, the basics are basically similar for most of the characters so I can pull of most of the characters in easy mode but my favorite tends to be Yukina Himeragi (though I’d prefer someone else, I’m just better with her). I’ve seen fighting done well in this game, but with someone like me, the fighting doesn’t feel very fluid, but I know that’s a lack of skill. I can’t bag on that too much I guess.

There are quite a few modes here with more than enough to keep you occupied. If those weren’t enough, you get these coins for playing and winning. They let you customize your character with different colors and such to help you stand out. It’s not as robust as say Tekken: Tag Tournament 2, but it’s enough for those that do want something different. I like that they included this at least. It helps play a fighting game a little longer even if you’re not as good. This would be put in the category of “achievable goals” that helps to keep the carrot on the stick to be able to maintain its tasty looking appearance.

While I'm not sold on the premise to "play around and find the variants to the moves given" method, I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that appreciate not having their hands held. I wouldn't have minded just a bit more though. Without the knowledge or the possibilities therein, the gameplay didn't come off as very smooth. However, having seen others play I know that this is basically a testament to my personal skill instead of the game. (It's a mix, but mostly the skill.) It was fun to see and play with all the characters from so many different animes even if I'm terrible at playing with characters I'm familiar with and pretty good at play those who I'm not. Overall, Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax was a fun fighting game, but one I would prefer to pick up on sale.
While I’m not sold on the premise to “play around and find the variants to the moves given” method, I’m sure there are plenty of people out there that appreciate not having their hands held. I wouldn’t have minded just a bit more though. Without the knowledge or the possibilities therein, the gameplay didn’t come off as very smooth. However, having seen others play I know that this is basically a testament to my personal skill instead of the game. (It’s a mix, but mostly the skill.) It was fun to see and play with all the characters from so many different animes even if I’m terrible at playing with characters I’m familiar with and pretty good at play those who I’m not. Overall, Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax was a fun fighting game, but one I would prefer to pick up on sale.

More Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax info: Official Page

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2 thoughts on “(Review) Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax

  • October 15, 2015 at 20:36
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    But who’s in it? Akira? Vampire hunter D?

    Reply
    • October 15, 2015 at 21:00
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      You know, I don’t want to throw out many spoilers, but Akira is in the game… sorta. The roster of of playable characters isn’t very large. If you follow the more info link below the article they have videos showing the roster of characters in action.

      Reply

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