Fighting EX Layer

« On a pure gameplay level, Fighting EX Layer is an absolute treat. What it lacks in bells and whistles it delivers in pure, fun combat. This is a game made for the sort of people who will spend hours perfecting an impractical, extremely-precise combo in training mode simply for the satisfaction of having done it. If that describes you, then Fighting EX Layer will be worth everything you put into it. »

« A deeply engaging fighter that resurrects the Street Fighter EX combat mechanics of yesteryear, Fighting EX Layer's lack of single-player content unfortunately make it difficult to recommend to folks who aren't rabidly engaged in its online multiplayer shenanigans, those who are however will find much to enjoy. »

« As someone who has been playing fighters for nearly three decades, I can get on board with Fighting EX Layer's lack of pageantry. What I can't accept quite as earnestly is its issue with roster playstyle diversity. The foundation is there, it just needs to be built up further. »

« Fighting EX Layer is a hard sell to casual fighting game fans. Its lack of modes is its biggest downfall. For those who grew up with Arika’s work though it is a pure joy to play. I hope they continue to support the game and add more and more content as it goes on. Perhaps it will be featured at EVO next year instead of just a side option. With the announcements of new characters, stages, and even crossover characters, the future looks bright. I just hope the momentum continues. »

« Fighting EX Layer does not have a lot of options or fighters to choose from, but it does have a lot of heart. A lot of work went into its design, and those looking for a fighter that is a little out of the ordinary should set out to master its unique system. »

« game looks reeeeeally good and the cast is great but the controls are horrible »

« Single player content is a joke. In trials, they force you to continuosly check command list for the moves as they don't provide you with toggling command inputs, training mode is a joke with no selectable stages, no arcade mode, no story mode, online is laggy. This game is a failure, even worse than SFV's launch. You would think that these idiotic developers would have learned from the backlash of games with little content, but their stubbornness is going to cause this game to fail hard. »

« The good: It's nice to see the return of the Arika characters in a fighting game Skullomania, Allen Sinder, Karin, Hokuto, Pullum Purna, Cracker Jack. The character modeling is fine. Continue the Dark Hokuto plot (in Street Fighter Ex Series) The bad: The game is not as technical, it plays just like the Arcade Street Fighter Ex and it is not as polished, so you can lock characters and make combos to eliminate characters more quickly. Few characters and few new characters. An experienced player finishes the round in seconds. The online ended very soon now it is almost empty, dividing into two groups the extremely competitive vs. the newcomers. Empty and flat bottoms. Nanashe do not return. The Meh: It has nothing to do with the Arcade game Fighting Layer of the late 90s and early 2000s. Arika took a long time to recover these characters from oblivion. They did not bet on Xbox or Nintendo to return too. »

« Fighting EX Layer is the next step of one of the greatest fighting game classics on PSOne and Arcades, Street Fighter EX. Of course, there are other two games, SF EX 2 (PSOne and Arcade) and EX 3 (PS2). However, the older games has an emphasis on Street Fighter characters, the most famous series that pulled the game's marketing up. As a huge Street Fighter fan (especially from the 2D era), it always seemed clear to me that an EX series was excellent, but it was beeing a square peg in round hole. It's not canonical in the SF universe and the Arika's characters were somehow different from Capcom's. It sounded more like a crossover than a multi-character game. But here it is that excellent surprise: Fighting EX Layer! The game has its own identity, great gameplay, both for beginners and classics. It is a fair game, with its simple game modes, simple moves and memorable characters. But indeed, everything is not perfect: it could have more stages, more options (like languages change, changing the number of rounds, match time etc.). There are some misfit hitboxes as well. And I am not gonna talk about the tier list because it always seems very subjective and interesting just for hardcore players. But I'm sure, these game is gonna grow up if gets successful. A robust and expandable sequel of the series is gonna be one of the greatest fighting games of industry. Ah, of course, what an EXCELLENT idea of ​​bringing Terry Bogard (SNK) as a guest character from another company, something that is becoming common in fighting games (except for Street Fighter). Highly recommended! »

« good game. if you think its bad, chances are that you're bad xdddxddxdddddd »

« It all started as an April Fool’s joke. April 1st 2017 Arika, a Japanese game developer, famous for its Street Fighter EX series from the 1990s posted footage of a Mysterious Fighting Game featuring characters that were familiar with those who played the EX series or their Fighting Layer games. Those fans didn’t quite know what to make of it. Was it really a joke? Was it DLC for another fighting game? New Street Fighter EX? Turns out that yes, it was real, although it was at the time just a prototype for a game that was being used as a way for the team at Arika to get used to using the Unreal 4 engine. The game was revealed at EVO of that year as Fighting EX Layer, a fighting game that incorporates characters from Street Fighter EX minus the Street Fighters and it’s very good indeed. While Arika has worked on projects like Endless Ocean and their back catalogue includes hugely successful games like Street Fighter EX, they are mainly concerned with working on games in development by other studios, so this is their return to fighting game development proper, albeit on a tight budget. This low development cost shows in the lack of bells and whistles for the game but what is here is a true love letter to fighting game fans, particularly those who grew up playing games in the arcades and even more so those who consider themselves pros – and this for me is the most important aspect of what makes the game a must for fighting game fans and purists. There are no tutorials to get you started and you’re on your own. You have a command list in the pause menu and an “expert mode” which is basically the Challenge Mode from other fighting games where you are given a list of combos to practice and complete. There is an Arcade Mode (added soon after launch), an Online and Offline Vs Mode and an “expert mode” … that’s it. You barely get a paragraph of text for the character endings. No character progression, no accessories, no microtransactions, just Arcade or versus modes. The truth of the matter is, that none of that matters with a fighting game this brilliant. The roster of characters as it currently stands is not just pretty decent… considering old school fighting game fans such as myself ever expected to see them appear anywhere ever again it’s incredible to see characters like Allen, Pullum and Skullomania returning to modern gaming, Skullo is a cult classic and his broken English victory quote makes me laugh every time. Other notable returns include favourites such as Doctrine Dark, Blaire Dame, Vulcano Rosso and Cracker Jack (now just Jack) with Terry Boggard from Fatal Fury: King of Fighters and others such as Sharon and Area set to be added through DLC plus more if the game sells well. The updated artwork for the portraits is excellent and fans of the series will also enjoy some of the original musical themes from SFEX and rearranged versions which adds a 90s nostalgic hook to the game although I really hope they add Skullomania’s theme at some point, it’s my absolute favourite in the series! Drilling down into the game mechanics reveals fast, aggressive and hugely enjoyable combat. There a couple of ways to play, with “Progressive” being a more accessible way of stringing together fast and furious combos often initiated with a dash into repeated light attacks that trigger special moves into cancels into more specials and more cancels which can lead to some impressively long combos that can include several supers in between. The large window for cancels means that there is huge scope for experimentation with combos with almost endless possibilities, which is an exciting prospect for fighting game pros and tacticians. The supers aren’t as bombastic as those in a bigger budget game like Street Fighter or Dragon Ball FighterZ but they still manage to land a considerable thud each time they are executed. This for me is a good thing as it keep the battle flowing quickly and the fact you can cancel from within one of these moves into another makes them even more versatile and not just time consuming special effects. On top of this mechanic is the Gougi deck system, whereby you select a Gougi deck of cards that give you up to six different buffs once you’ve completed certain conditions in a match. This could be blocking an opponent for a certain amount to gain an armour buff or one to increase speed or throw damage. There are around 15 decks in the full version of the game and experimenting to see which buffs are most useful for your playstyle adds another layer of tactics that is pretty unique and make matches much less predictable and so far, balanced. It’s yet to be seen how this will work out on the pro scene but initial reactions are positive. »

« Loving the game. If you played the first one, you will like this one. Definitely worth buying. »

« NOTE: Arika, the company making this game, put in all of their money into this game after an April Fools trailer. Yes, content is lacking but it will increase with continued support. They have risked it all on this game for the fans. I understand a complaint for lack of content but this is a unique situation. At the least, you should complain about much larger companies getting away with this kinda of stuff. ARCADE MODE ANNOUNCED & FREE CHARACTERS If you're a casual player looking for single player content then please wait to purchase this game. There's no arcade mode and you can't play against the CPU unless it is in training mode. The only single player content is trials mode (trying to do combos given for each character) and training mode. If you're a player who enjoys fighting games and has a focus on online play then this is for you. The game has ranked and casual play. The game play is quite fun. It'll bring you back to the 90's style of fighting games where things weren't as crazy. However, things do become a bit unique with the Gougi System. Gougi System is a pre-made deck you choose to complement your character that will give you certain perks if you activate them in a match. They are quirky, fun, and adds a bit of nuttiness to it while still being quite balanced. The roster of characters brings back classics from the Street Fighter EX series that Arika owns. They are diverse and fun to play. If you wanted to play Skullomania after all these years then this is the time. There's two modes for controls. Classic & Progressive. Classic is how most fighters play with quarter circle, dragon punch, and 360 inputs. Progressive simplifies it to one direction + a button. I personally do not enjoy Progressive as it feels completely off putting to try to relearn how to play fighting games after all these years. However, it is possible that Progressive could make it easier for players to do things one couldn't before. Too early to tell. It could even cause issues with moves accidentally coming out because you walked back & forward to punch someone but got something else. Overall this game is just a ton of fun to play. It's straight forward, looks great, and plays great especially online. »