You probably would’ve never imagined that Virtual Reality would become a big thing in your lifetime if you grew up in the 90's, but imagine if Virtual Reality advanced to something even more realistic and lifelike. Imagine if we could insert ourselves into the game to experience it with all of our senses. Sword Art Online certainly allows this, but today we’ll be taking a look at a different type of Sword Art experience. We’ll be shooting our way through Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet.

Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet may carry the name of the popular franchise, but it’s quite the departure from the gameplay many have come to expect. This time around, you’ll be crafting your own story instead of filling the shoes of Kirito. Players can customize their own avatar to throw in to the world of Gun Gale Online, a vibrant world with a pretty steampunk feel to it. Overall, the game follows a similar graphical design that most anime based games follow, yet Fatal Bullet still manages to capture a vibrant landscape with character models accurate to the anime feel. While the graphics are very similar to what we’ve seen in other anime based games, I still feel this particular style of art and graphic sense has a unique and special feel to it. It really conveys a sense of what it may be like to actually be the ones experiencing the story of characters we’ve grown alongside. Imagine one day when we’ll be able to experience these types of stories in Virtual Reality. Blows your mind, huh?

If there’s one thing I have to praise in Fatal Bullet, it would be the soundtrack. I’m probably sounding like a broken record at this point, but I really am a sucker for soundtracks in a lot of video games. Last year’s game releases brought us some truly astounding music in video games and I would have been at wit’s end to try selecting a best soundtrack or best music for 2017. Fatal Bullet is following in the same vein with some great tracks and many of them convey a feel that most would be familiar with if they’ve played some other anime based games, but Fatal Bullet does a great job of captivating the audience with its own unique musical selections. There wasn’t a single track that ever put me off and I found myself often just standing still in different environments or in the middle of a crucial cutscene just to enjoy the music. From whimsical adventurous tunes in a field to the slightly more ominous but heroic tunes of a dungeon, the Fatal Bullet score has certainly earned a spot in my iPod. Also, for the curious ones out there, Fatal Bullet does feature voice acting, but it’s purely in Japanese. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of subtitles to allow players to keep up with the story.

In Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet, players are dropped into the world of GGO where they can compete to earn bounties from hunting down enemies in the wild and exploring dungeons to track down treasure. Once you start up the game, you’ll be able to create your own avatar to explore the world with. The game allows you to customize your avatar a decent amount, with the player being able to change many features of the avatar down to the detail. Don’t worry if you start to feel iffy about your avatar: You’ll be able to customize your avatar using your home in the main hub, SBC Glocken. There’s all sorts of things you can do in Glocken, but we’ll get to that.

SBC Glocken is the central hub of Fatal Bullet where players can come to relax and take the edge off after the numerous near death experiences they’re bound to have. Here in Glocken is where the player can visit their private home to do various things of their choosing. The most useful is leveling up. As players gun down enemies, they’ll gain experience points that will accumulate over time. Once the player collects enough, they’ll be able to level up at their home in Glocken, gaining points that can be distributed to one of the different skill parameters. There are six different parameters: Strength, Vitality, Intelligence, Agility, Dexterity, and Luck. Your playstyle will dictate how you decide to level these stats. Aside from leveling up, players can also edit their parties while they’re hanging around Glocken or customize their gear and skills. Gear can be changed while on the battlefield, but you’ll have to put your weapon away in order to do so.

Most people imagine an MMO to be a world where players unite with other players towards a common goal, but some players may simply enjoy a support backing them up. That’s where the Artificial Financial Adviser System comes into play. ArFA-sys for short, these intelligent AI’s serve as a support for the player. Basically, they’re a normal party member made to help you with anything you need. They’re very capable fighters and the player can customize what skills and gear the ArFA-sys has. These supports also earn their own skill points, so you don’t have to worry about burning yours to strengthen them. They’re here to please you, so get to know them well.

The main draw of an MMO is for people to be able to play with their friends. Fatal Bullet allows people to form parties online with up to four of their friends to embark on epic quests into the unknown. You can partner up with your friends for quests by talking to the receptionist in the governor’s lobby. As a plus, each of you can bring your own support units to aid you, bringing the total party size to eight. If you’re more of a lone wolf, don’t worry: For parties with less than four human players, NPCs can fill the slots to assist with online co-op missions. In addition to co-op quests, players can also squad up for two teams of four to compete for boss kills. After completing quests in the field, players should check with the NPC in the lobby to update their current bounty ranking. You should do your best to climb the rankings and hit the top in true GGO fashion!

Difficulty scaling in Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet works very similarly to other MMO games that exist in the real world. The difficulty curve increases as you explore new areas and gather new quests. You can gauge the difficulty of quests by checking the level recommendation next to it. Naturally, higher level requirements indicate a higher difficulty for the quest. You’ll be getting stronger as you progress through the game, so the difficulty is kind of determined by the player. Prodigies such as Kirito don’t really struggle with any type of content and can blast through anything the game may throw at them, but this isn’t always the case. Certain areas may require a different pace or strategy that may have been fine for earlier levels. There’s often many things for the player to keep track of in the heat of battle, and keeping a good balance is the difference between good hunters and dead ones.

Bullet line is a staple mechanic of Gun Gale Online. As the name may suggest, Bullet Lines are red lines that some enemies may emit to indicate the trajectory their bullets will follow. Once they appear, take the opportunity to hide behind some cover or evade the shot. They’ll definitely shoot if the lines appear, so you’d better get moving unless you want to end up full of holes.

There are many unique weapons for the player to experiment with in Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet, but there’s nothing more unique than the Ultimate Fibers Gun. A special gift from support to master, the Ultimate Fibers Gun (or UFG for short) allows the player unparalleled mobility within the realm of GGO. Players can press the (LB) button to display a reticle that, when shot, will cling to surfaces and pull the player towards the surface. You can also use it on certain enemies to down them and then steal an item from them. There’s a bunch of different things you can do with the UFG, so make sure you get very familiar with it.

A very important mechanic Fatal Bullet players should stay aware of is the customization. I alluded to it before, but after getting wiped several times, I think it’s worthy of its own section. A good combat balance is the difference between good hunters and dead ones, but customization and being properly prepared plays a big part too. Players are able to change their armors, guns, and even their skills to stay up to date with the enemies they’ll be facing, and that means you really need to make sure you’ve got the equipment to go toe to toe with these foes. There are two weapon slots, so you’ll be able to carry two weapons of your choosing. You can also equip an armor and two accessories to bolster your stats. Keeping track of these two things sound like common sense, but sometimes we get caught up in the game and it completely slips our minds. You want to make sure you watch your weight rating, otherwise you’ll end up over-encumbered. Leveling up to increase your HP when you can is always a good idea, and you’ll be able to spend your character points to increase the six other stat parameters as well. Keeping track of all these things will not only keep you alive, but also allow you to find success in the battlefield.

Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is a unique departure from the tried formula of Sword Art Online games. I’m personally a big fan of being able to create my own avatar to experience the story and gameplay with rather than following in Kirito’s footsteps. I’ve always been a fan of making my own story, and I think that players who share this sentiment will find a lot of joy in Fatal Bullet. I didn’t experience any game breaking moments, but I did get a bit annoyed with having to respawn back in the lobby when I died instead of just getting to retry the level or something similar. That’s only because I died pretty frequently though, so you might have other nitpicks. Overall, I’d say the game is pretty well crafted and allows players to kill time with their friends during a game drought. Even solo players will have a good time thanks to the presence of NPCs to make up for human players. One day, computer science nerds will be able to have NPCs in real life and it’ll be a done deal! Until then, let’s just rely on our Fatal Bullet AIs.