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| Title | Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax |
| Developer | KADOKAWA ASCII MEDIA WORKS; Ecole Software, French Bread |
| Publisher | Sega |
| Release Date | October 6, 2015 |
| Genre | Fighting |
| Platform | PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita |
| Age Rating | ESRB- Teen
CERO- C |
| Official Website | |
Dengeki Bunko has been around as a publishing imprint for over 20 years. Their speciality has been publishing light novels for readers to enjoy. Many of their light novels have been adapted as anime and other forms of media and entertainment. They are no strangers to video games and have produced crossover games in the past. This time around, we have a crossover fighting game developed by Ecole Software and French Bread and published by SEGA. Is this a fun smashing party? Or is it a disappointment?
Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax is a two-player fighting game incorporating various movesets and resourceful offensive abilities and meters to gain the edge against your opponent. There are plenty of series represented in the game such as Sword Art Online, Oreimo, Black Bullet, Strike the Blood, and Toradora!, just to name a few of them. Fights take place across SEGA stages such as Shinobi, Nights into Dreams, Sonic The Hedgehog, Virtua Fighter and Valkyria Chronicles. The game uses 2D sprites against 3D backgrounds. The result is a visually-appealing game. Fighting Climax has a decent-sized roster with 14 playable characters and 23 support characters. A variety of different teams can be created to fit any fighting style and to take advantage of different situations.
The game’s story revolves around Denshin aka Dreamcast from Sega Hard Girls asking the player for help to defeat the evil Zetsumu as he attempts to take over all the various worlds. Basically, the story gives us a reason for fighting the other characters from Dengeki Bunko and nothing else. Depending on the conditions met throughout the story mode, the final battle will be fought against either a famous duo from Virtua Fighter or Valkyria Chronicles and are unlocked for play in the other modes of the game. There is an additional story mode called Dream Duel. This is highlighted as one of the best modes from the game. To be honest, I was disappointed with Dream Duel, as I was expecting more from the mode than what was presented. It does, however, have different content that is not in the original story mode and allows players to fight battles in a different matter. As we all know, the story is not the focal point in a fighting game, the gameplay is what matters. So, how does the gameplay fare in Fighting Climax?
The game requires players to learn and master various combos to gain the upper hand in a fight. Going to Training Mode or the command menu is essential to learning various combos for different situations. Fighters can execute light, medium and strong attacks. The X button is used to call out assist attacks from the chosen support character. Every support character has an attack and a special attack to unleash. An attack is executed using the X button while a special attack is unleashed with the X button plus another button. The left analog stick is used to jump, double jump, dash and move around the stage to dodge attacks. During a fight, players can release a blast attack to send opponents back and get out of a bad situation. Activating a blast will help build up the Climax gauge, but will have to recharge before it is active again. This gauge can be built to Level 5 and is essential to pull off Climax arts. Climax arts are special attacks that can cause massive damage when executed correctly. The key to victory is to pull off combos at the right time and manage all the offensive resources in your arsenal to outlast and outwit every opponent.
There are extra modes for players to enjoy. Score Attack is all about getting a high score, Time Attack is finishing the mode as quickly as possible, and Survival Mode is a grind to see how long players can last with one credit. The results from the modes can be uploaded to the game’s online servers. Fanservice is abundant as there is plenty of content to unlock for players. As players play through the different game modes, they earn credits to unlock special illustrations, voice clips, and different words and icons to customize their online profile. There are also character biographies, novel covers, and more to view and enjoy. The music itself is nothing special. It has familiar tunes from our favorite SEGA games, but adds nothing special to the game overall.
As expected, two players can play against each other locally. If you don’t have a buddy who is willing to play with you, the game supports online matches. The online setup is interesting and differs from other fighting games. Instead of having players connect to the servers, then choosing a character, the game requires players to choose a character before connecting to the servers. The advantage to this method is players will not know who their opponent is and what character he has to face against in the match. It also allows players to use their best fighters and never have to change their character while they are online. The disadvantage of this method is the player has to disconnect and reconnect if they want to switch characters frequently. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a good stream of traffic online and only nine players have officially been ranked with myself, but this was partially due to only being able to fight against other players in Japan.
Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax is a solid fighting game. For hardcore fans of the fighting genre, the game may come off as too basic, but, for everyone else, there is plenty of fun to be had. Fans can look forward to plenty of content catered specifically to them.
Review Score Overall 
Review copy provided by publisher and was based on 12 hours of gameplay
