QCF: Yatagarasu: Attack on Cataclysm

n the Indie Megabooth at PAX Prime 2012, we looked at Yatagarasu, an indie-produced fighting game with some pretty intense developer pedigree. Now, I'm not nearly the best VS. Fighter by local standards - hell, not even by household standards—but Yatagarasu, even in its early form at PAX Prime 2012, was balanced enough that I could take on and defeat all comers.

Yatagarasu has come a long way since then, and has been released to Steam by Nyu-Media as Yatagarasu: Attack on Cataclysm. As a pretty big fan of the King of Fighters series, of course I was jazzed to get into the action, given its ex-SNK/KoF staff and similar character sprite work. But how has it held up?

Not especially well, I'm afraid to report. But more on that in a moment. There's still lots to like about Yatagarasu: Attack on Cataclysm, as we'll see. Primarily, your typical, standard modes apply here; Arcade, Story Arcade, Versus, Network Versus, Training and a bevy of options from online to local, control to difficulty, replays, ranks and everything in between. The level of customizability in Yatagarasu :AoC is pretty impressive, and allows players to really fine-tune their experience with a bit of technical know-how.

Matches play out just as in any other typical versus game you may have played in the last 30 years; two players have at it in a 2-D field and the first to lose their whole stamina bar is out. The number of rounds and time each one lasts for can be adjusted to make Yatagarasu as short or as long as you want it to be; if you want to really speed through the game, a single round match can get things over in a hurry, if you’re in a rush.

As with many other Street Fighter and King of Fighters games, each of the 11 selectable characters on the outset has their own roster of special moves that are usually inputted with the same typical quarter-circle-forward (Unnuhh, get it? Get, it!?) motions you might be used to paired with a punch or kick button. Super special moves can be performed when the gauge at the bottom of the screen has at least one full charge, with a double charge resulting in a way stronger attack.

As always, players can train themselves on the finer mechanics that will allow them to deal the most damage as effectively as possible. In doing so, the inputs that are being accepted by whatever device is in use are displayed along the top of the screen to show where players might be going wrong.

But then, there's a twist. In the background audio of your match, a fictitious Japanese commentator covers your match as if it were being played in an eSports-style setting, yelling out who gets the first hit, various comments on the moves used, winners and so forth. All of this is spoken over the actual game's audio for the round number, fight outcome, etc. Beyond even that, a selectable support character chosen at the outset of the game - which not only includes the cast of fighters but also real-world commentators from around the world - will rally you or question what you're up to, depending on your performance or tactics. It can be a little on the irritating side, but the commentator volumes can be reduced to nothing if you don't need that in your gameplay.

The difficulty balance is as you might expect from a game like Yatagarasu: AoC, and scales well between easy and its upper difficulties. This is a game that can actually be cleared on one credit of play on Normal with little to no practice, even for a complete incompetent such as myself. The fighter roster is fairly diverse and the backgrounds and music are pretty slick throughout, so the whole package is pretty great, if maybe a little generic – especially compared to King of Fighters in specific.

So it sounds great, right? Well, not so fast. There are quite a few sticking points with this title that had me scratching my head during some points, and subsequently, shaking it at other points.

First and foremost, the UI is a little on the confusing side, since there are two “arcade” selections on the main menu that go to totally different game modes. Add to that a very confusing front-end menu that can only be used and tweaked before the game actually loads and the options suddenly become both confusing, obtuse and really, only partially there.

Certain options combined with other prevent that game from displaying on screen as well; selecting 2X size and going full screen greets you with nothing but black. The online options are particularly head scratching, especially when it comes to titles and player messages, not to mention a totally busted custom avatar feature that I could never really figure out, even with the help of several forums and out-of-the-box thinking.

Speaking of online, the matches I played were horrendous. No, not my skill, I'm talking about the framerate. The framerate took a dive to 15 FPS, yet all of the frames were maintained. That means that the game was only running at 25% speed, making the game function in ultra-slo-mo. Not what you'd want out of an online, ranked match. Yatagarasu: AoC might well be great on the tournament circuit, but only if it is played locally.

Actually, I'm probably a little ahead of myself there. The gameplay itself, while solid, is also pretty limited in terms of special moves and technique. Only one super technique is available out of two when the game starts, and with an average of three special moves, every fighter starts to feel the same and moves are often re-used constantly; nothing fantastic for a game of this type. At the very least, the controller support in Yatagarasu: AoC supports digital control, unlike another game I had high hopes for; Vanguard Princess only has analog controller support—egh.

I definitely appreciate the work that went into Yatagarasu: Attack on Cataclysm. It's absolutely a competent versus fighting game that can talk the talk—but talk is cheap.

The relatively sparse gameplay mechanics and overly obtuse options and features, not to mention the utterly busted online functionality might not be what harder-core fans of versus fighting games are looking for. For now, the King of Fighters keeps its crown; At best, Yatagarasu: Attack on Cataclysm is the Court Consult.