I play a lot of fighting games and this is easily one of my favourites. The source franchises don't interest me at all, so no comment on which characters are/aren't included or the story. That said, there are a couple of characters from the previous Melty Blood (MBAACC) I wish were included.

Compared to MBAACC the mechanics in Type Lumina (TL) are somewhat simpler. That may be a pro or a con depending on the player. For me, it's a pro as I don't have as much time as I'd like to play this or other fighting games. Having said that, the mechanics still have plenty of depth. This is not a brain dead game by any means.

Regarding the mechanics, this has most of the "standard anime systems" with enough of its own flavour to not feel generic. You have chains, auto combos, specials, EX moves, supers, a type of "manual cancel" like a Roman/Rapid/One More Cancel, and a bunch of movement options. The movement is one of the best things this game has to offer IMO.

The graphics are nice enough with a range of cool looking backgrounds and nice high res sprites. I must admit, I actually prefer the more "crunchy" sprites from MBAACC, but it doesn't stop me appreciating this games visual style.

Mad props to the devs who have released extra characters since release FOR FREE, which basically never happens with modern fighting games. I hope they add a few more, but the current roster as of this review has a lot of variety in terms of play styles and archetypes.

Characters have 24 built in palettes, but you can also save 6 custom palettes for each one. I wish more games would let us create custom palettes, so the feature is much appreciated. The practice mode is fully featured with options like reversal playback and random playback, and the combo trials give some good insight into each characters options. There is some kind of story mode (as mentioned before, I don't care about this, but it's there).

The net code is great, using rollback as all modern fighting games should. Online activity is somewhat low, but I have been able to find player and ranked matches daily without needing to use discord or forums. I'm in the EU and play sporadically from the afternoon to the early hours, but your mileage may vary depending on where you are and when you want to play.

I highly recommend this game for long time and new fighting game fans alike.

Hilarious chaotic co-op carnage.

Helldivers 2 (HD2) is a special kind of game. It's got plenty of elements from pre-existing games and genres, but the way all the elements are mixed together and executed makes it greater than the sum of its parts. There's a lot more to say, so let's break it down into categories.

-Weapons
The firearms in the game come in a range of types, including assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, flamethrowers, energy weapons, and more. I have unlocked maybe 12 primary weapons and have about 4 or 5 favourites I use. In truth, a lot of weapons feel kind of underpowered, but that leads into the next category of weaponry... Stratagems.
Stratagems are your Helldivers secret sauce. Each Helldiver has a battle cruiser in orbit above the mission planet and it can provide various types of support. You have special weapons, airstrikes, orbital strikes, a mech, turrets, minefields, etc. You can pick 4 for each mission, and they have different length cooldowns. Picking and using them requires some amount of strategy and they can make all the difference in how well you do in a mission. As a big fan of calling in airstrikes, these are a lot of fun.

-Enemies
As of the time of writing this review, there are 2 enemy factions; The Terminid and The Automatons. The Terminid serve as the 'Starship Trooper' bugs analogue, and The Automatons are basically 'Skynet' from 'Terminator'. Just pick whichever you are in the mood to fight. The devs have teased a third faction that seems like a technologically advanced alien race. I'm hoping they feel like fighting 'Predators', but we'll see.

-Maps/Missions
Maps are large enough to feel truly open, but not so big you have to run for ages to find combat or objectives. Main objectives include things like destroying enemy bases, defending an area for a set amount of time, killing a special enemy, rescuing survivors from a bunker, uploading data, etc. There are also side objectives and points of interest to find which adds some variety. Each planet has potential modifiers which further mix things up, including weather effects, earthquakes, meteor showers, and restrictions on stratagems. There are lots of planets on the galaxy map, but only a few are available at any given time. The selection changes periodically which helps keep things feeling fresh. This seems to be controlled by one of the devs who sort of acts like a "Dungeon Master" for the live service aspect of the game.

-Live Service/DLC/Microtransaction/Battle Pass Stuff
As an always online live service game it's no surprise there are multiple overlapping currencies and resources. The premium currency in this game is called Super Credits (SC). You can of course buy Super Credits for real life human cash. However (and it's a big HOWEVER), you can also find SC in missions. There is literally no reason to ever buy SC unless you just want to give the devs some extra money.
'Warbonds' are this games version of Battle Passes. As of this review, there are 3 Warbonds. They don't expire, so fear not the FOMO if you didn't get this game at launch. There is the default free Warbond which is available from the start, and where you will be unlocking most of your weapons, armour, cosmetics, etc., then there are 2 "premium" Warbonds. The first premium Warbond is unlocked with the Super Citizen edition of HD2 (which I did NOT buy). Both premium Warbonds can also be unlocked for 1000 SC each. I have unlocked both premium Warbonds, and already have a hefty chunk of SC again. I didn't do any hard grinding for SC. It's definitely possible to do a mission and find none, but more often than not, just by normal playing I can find 10-40 SC in each mission. Anecdote: The other day I dropped into a mission and found 30 SC within 10 metres of my spawn position.

-Multiplayer
HD2 supports up to 4 player co-op. There is crossplay between PC and PS5. There is no versus/competitive mode. Voice chat is supported, but I don't use it with strangers. Team communication is still possible with text chat, map markers, pings, and an icon wheel. Using these systems it's totally possible to play in silence with randoms and still feel like a cohesive team. One thing to be aware of is that FRIENDLY FIRE IS ALWAYS ON! I found this off putting before I played the game, but it really adds to the sense of battlefield chaos and promotes good team play.

-Story/Setting/Satire
The setting for HD2 is a dystopian future where humans have colonised the galaxy and have already had a galactic war (events of the first game). We jump in as a new recruit for a second one. There are no actual "story missions", instead the story is delivered by the intro cinematic, tutorial, NPCs, in mission items (text logs), and propaganda videos. HD2 lays the satire on thick and it's one of my favourite parts of the game. It's refreshing to have a squad based shooter that doesn't take itself seriously and uses its narrative and setting to make some social/political commentary whilst also providing enjoyable digital fantasy violence. If you liked the satire of the 'Starship Troopers' movie, then you will likely enjoy it here.

-Graphics
The overall style is fairly realistic and everything looks good. One of my favourite parts is the lighting which makes heavy use of volumetric effects. Not only does this serve as nice eye candy, but visibility (and visibility restrictions) are actually important to the gameplay.

-Audio
The sound effects are all suitably weighty and nothing here feels out of place. The voice acting is great and really solidifies the satirical military themes. Terminids and Automatons have unique soundtracks, both of which are excellent and fit the factions well. The way the music ramps up during battle is very satisfying.

-Performance
I've been playing in "potato mode" on a Steam Deck, and though I am perfectly happy with the limitations, they may not be for everyone. Sure, ideally a solid 60 fps at native resolution would be nice, but if you're playing on a Steam Deck you WON'T find that here. I'm running the game with most settings on 'lowest', using DirectX 11, and a lower than native resolution. Running around in missions I usually get about 35-45 fps, but when the action gets frantic, it drops to 20-30 fps frequently. My first 3D game was Star Wing/Fox on Super Nintendo which ran at about 12-15 fps and it was still the most amazing thing I had ever seen at the time. Obviously we aren't in the 90s any more, but that's some perspective for you.

-Conclusion
I highly recommend HD2. It won't be for everyone, but if the above sounds appealing it could easily be your new favourite game. I've enjoyed playing lower difficulties solo, playing silently with strangers, and using voice chat as a duo with my younger brother is some of the most gaming fun I've had in years.


PS: Don't go on the forums unless you want your brain to melt. Despite the vast majority of my actual in game interactions being pleasant (I've had exactly 2 instances of overt griefing in my 100+ hours), the forums are a dumpster fire of stupidity, entitlement, bigotry, and doomsaying.