The best version of Under Night to date.
A couple of years ago, I reviewed Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late on the PC and enjoyed my time with it. It was a bit rough to get into due to the lack of a proper tutorial and no real direction on how to do a lot of things, but after putting some time into it and looking at an online FAQ, I was able to understand the mechanics and enjoy them for what they were. It was a complex fighting game, but one that was both visceral and flashy. Now, I’m looking at the newest entry in the Under Night series, Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st]. Yeah, crazy name, I know. But you know what? They actually improved the game significantly with some updates.
Really quickly, I’m going to go over some of the main things about Under Night as a whole. Under Night is a four button fighting game created by French Bread and Arc System Works, the same people that brought us the old school Melty Blood. In the same vein as these other fighting games, it features multiple systems that play into meter management, aggressiveness in fights, and proper frame perfect moves. Players utilize a meter that fluctuates between each opponent that increases when players attack and move forward and decrease when backing away and playing defensively. This GRD meter plays into both a performance boost to attack power as well as increasing the special EXS meter used for EX attacks and super attacks. I really enjoyed this system and it felt like its own little meta-game inside this complex fighting system. If you would like to know more about the systems in detail, check out my review of the PC version here.
Platforms: PS4, PS3, Vita
MSRP: $49.99
Price I’d pay: $40
As for the [st] version of Under Night, it comes with some added things. The first is four new playable characters, bringing the full roster to now 20. There are also some added stages as well. A game play change of an added “Veil Off” ability has been added that, when the EXS meter is full, can be activated that allows the user to use any and all EXS meter abilities for free. This allows for chaining together EX moves with super attacks for a short period of time, much like the Max Mode from King of Fighters XIV.
But the biggest and most important part of the updates is the tutorial and challenge modes. Finally, we get a tutorial that shows exactly what all these meters and mechanics do, and not only are they there, they are done in a very simple and easy to understand way. There is also a combo challenge mode that has players attempting simple and advanced combos for each character, which is still a fantastic way to learn new characters. All done in a fun and easy way.
Aside from that there are story and campaign modes along with time attack and others. The online is where many will gravitate obviously, and I can safely say it works well. Players can set up lobbies with other fighters and duke it out king of the hill style if they like. On top of that, the net code is smooth and had almost zero lag when I was playing. That just made my fights against other players go by quickly since I suck at the game.
When it’s all said and done Under Night as a whole is a great fighting game. Although, I d have a small issues with the $49.99 price tag when the previous version was only half of that. With the [st] version out with new fighters, new mechanics, and a much needed full tutorial with challenge modes it makes this the best version yet. I highly suggest checking this game out for hardcore fans of the fighting game genre. It’s fast, fun, complex, and very stylish. If you’re not that big into fighting games, you may want to look elsewhere. This has the potential to be an easy to learn game, but it will take a lot of patience and practice to hold your own online.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
