Review for Accel World VS. Sword Art Online. Game for PC, PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 07/07/2017
Whether you like it or not, Sword Art Online is a franchise that over the years has managed to build an extremely loyal fanbase around the world, while Accel World it is a product from the same author, slightly less known in the West. It is therefore not surprising that Accel World VS. Sword Art Online may, at least on paper, turn out to be the "wet dream" of many gamers who are passionate about both brands.
Crossover between the two works by Reki Kawahara, Accel World VS. Sword Art Online shows a series of events whose chronological location slightly clashes with the timeline of Sword Art Online videogames, as it is placed between Lost Song and Hollow Realization, but with some temporal inconsistencies; however, since it is an encounter between two realities (an event that has already occurred within the novel, but never in such a macroscopic way), everything could be considered an alternative universe, or a simple narrative retcon.
Accel World VS. Sword Art Online can be considered a "Sword Art Online: Lost Song 2" in almost every respect. Kirito and his friends face the collision between ALfheim Online and Brain Burst, different game worlds (and different eras) and the appearance of the mysterious Time Witch, Persona Vabel. Despite some disagreements and misunderstandings, the protagonists of the respective VRMMOs will have to work together to shed light on the space-time erosion that afflicts the two realities, stop those responsible and save the artificial intelligence Yui before it's too late.
Plot aside, gameplay and general aesthetics of the title are all too reminiscent of Lost Song: in what cross-platform PlayStation 4 / PlayStation Vita title, the graphics sector remains clearly below the average of the current generation, despite a slight improvement compared to the past.
Models and animations are edgy and not very fluid, the settings and dungeons are varied but generally bare and uninspired. The same goes for the design of the enemies, of which just a couple of bosses are saved (often also recycled in the course of the game) while the rest of the enemies are fished out from the previous titles of the saga.
The combat system offers a good variety of executable actions, techniques and approaches to confrontations; compared to Lost Song, Accel World VS. Sword Art Online adds Accelerated Techniques, executable by the combat avatars of the Accelerated World, almost all unable to fly but extremely more effective and faster in land battles. The characters you can select to compose your party are numerous and therefore it is You can create your own "dream team" as an enthusiast, although these are all a bit similar to each other both for the animations and for the skills and equipment.
Unfortunately, the problems of Lost Song are inherited with regard to the management of the camera and the cumbersome controls, both aspects that you get used to during the main quest, but that it would not have been bad to see improved in a title released two years later. and most of them had already been solved in Sword Art Online Hollow Realization.
As always happened in the titles of the saga, Accel World VS. Sword Art Online provides anime style cutscene for the most important events, with the remaining (considerable) amount of dialogue between the protagonists carried out through banter between static sprites, accompanied by an always excellent dubbing.
Once again we are faced with the typical problem of the franchise, in this case further accentuated by the addition of the roster of protagonists of Accel Word, or the almost no presentation of the characters, shown to the player assuming that they are already known figures. This makes Accel World VS. Sword Art Online is not very digestible, but not even unpalatable, for those who have not followed the evolution of the events of the saga through manga, visual novel, mobile game, anime and so on and so forth.
The plot is still interesting and enjoyable, more mature than the events of Lost Song, but the overall feeling, for a novice, is that of entering a movie theater during the second half.
In addition to a narrative sector in perfect line with the respective brands, Accel World VS. Sword Art Online offers a main campaign of approximately 35 hours plus numerous side quests, many of which are linked to the level of affinity of the protagonist with the other characters: fighting side by side increases the link between supporting actors and unlocks additional and real dialogues optional missions, mostly with light tones and overflowing with "increased fanservice".
As happened in the past, there is also an online mode, extremely intriguing on paper but unfortunately sparsely populated and free of interaction between players, if you exclude a small number of preset phrases, little or no incisive in case you want to plan combat tactics. . However, multiplayer is still a good way to quickly upgrade your characters and get greedy prizes with the thrill of the unexpected and the pleasure of interfacing with other users in the flesh.
Accel World VS. Sword Art Online maintains the average level of video games of the videogame brand, improving the narrative element but being lazy on a technical level. It is a product designed almost exclusively for fans of the two sagas that does little or nothing to intrigue new audiences, as it presents characters already started and not inclined to talk about their past. Overall it is a pleasant game, with good ideas (almost all already present in Lost Song) and no concrete qualitative peak that elevates it beyond the degree of good tie-in.
► Accel World VS. Sword Art Online is a JRPG type game developed by Bandai Namco and published by Sony for PC, PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 07/07/2017
