Acceleration of SUGURI 2 from Orange_Juice
Acceleration of SUGURI 2 from Orange_Juice is hands-down the most niche title I’ve played this year.
The Orange Juice universe is not one I was familiar with before, but it seems to have a small yet very active community. In 2014, SUGURI was localized, followed by SORA in 2016. These games very well resembled the Touhou bullet hell titles: free movement on a 2D landscape while the screen is completely littered with dangerous projectiles. Fast-paced and energetic, the object of a bullet hell is to attack and shoot through a level while constantly moving to avoid enemy fire. Usually at the end of a level is a boss character, providing an additional challenge on top of an already punishing formula.
So What Is It Exactly?
What makes Acceleration of SUGURI 2 (and its predecessor, Acceleration of SUGURI) so different is that it dispenses with the pleasantries of the bullet hell stages and focuses directly on the boss fight. Is Acceleration of SUGURI 2 a fighting game? It certainly plays and looks like one, but it’s an action game completely in a league of its own.
With over a dozen anime characters to choose from and more to unlock, Acceleration of SUGURI 2 has a variety of game modes to fight through. An arcade mode, local matches, online match-up and story mode means there’s no shortage of matches.
Placing characters in a floating, circular arena of sorts, the action kicks off right away. The objective is to pile on multiple attacks as quickly as possible to whittle away at the opponents health bar. It sounds simple at first, but certain gauges called hyper and heat rise and fall as the character attacks, evades and gets hit. Managing these two gauges gives Acceleration of SUGURI 2 quite the unique feel.
A Minute to Learn, a Lifetime to Master
Controls are quick and fluid. Using a controller, evasion is done with a right shoulder button. Melee, shields, ranged and special attacks are assigned to the face buttons. It’s an easy game to learn and control, but mastery takes a whole new level of dedication. Not only that, but each character in Acceleration of SUGURI 2 plays very differently. Some can dodge faster than others, and each character has a unique array of attacks with varying behaviors.
Each character has a bit of a backstory with the story mode. This is one spot that’s lacking within the game. The story mode only provides additional insight to the Orange Juice universe without giving new players anything tangible to understand what’s really going on. It’s not very important, as the core game revolves around the fighting. Arcade mode is the best bet for quick in-and-out action.
Hard, Harder, Hardest
There are three difficulty modes in Acceleration of SUGURI 2, as well as a control mode for executing hyper attacks. A fantastic soundtrack is the icing on the cake for this title; with many devoted players pouring over a hundred hours into this game, the last thing any of them would want is a repetitive or mundane soundtrack.
Acceleration of SUGURI 2 is for those who are tired of regular fighting or action games. The gratification that comes with mastery is enormous, and the addicting battles will keep players coming back for more.
Acceleration of SUGURI 2 is available via Steam.
[xrr rating=”4/5″]
Watch the official trailer for Acceleration of SUGURI 2 below:
