Seven years ago an indie project was born of three developers who had worked in SNK and who dared to launch their own fighting game.
After changes, feedback with users and improvements, Yatagarasu Attack on Cataclysm is published today as the definitive version of that project with the intention of making a hole in PC. And it does not have anything easy, because if some users have won compatible in recent years is precisely representatives of the genre. Recent versions of Street Fighter IV or King of Fighters
XIII have been adding new contenders, such as Mortal Kombat X or the announcement of the also brilliant Killer Instinct, which jumps from One to PC. All this makes this platform, increasingly, the ideal for the genre that today receives an indie with classic aroma.
Yatagarasu is compared to Third Strike, the best version of Street Fighter III, and that is mainly due to the combat system, which has as its main differential element the system of parries. One for high attacks and one for low attacks, plus a parry for air attacks.
It is a demanding system that has a similar function to that of the Capcom game. If we hit when they hit us, a blue flash appears on the opponent and the time to counterattack is ours. But it’s not free, and even if we’re right with the parry, you have to be quick to respond.
It can be used on guard and we gain extra properties if we do it at the same time we press forward + parry (more dangerous, of course, than if we try luck blocking).
The parry is the key element of all the game’s gear. It causes that offensive situations such as jumping towards the opponent is extremely dangerous, since that can turn into a parry and a combo that ends with a Super and we lose half a bar.
The timming is demanding, so it is necessary to know the tempos of the characters and know when to use this action to counterattack. Also, as in Third Strike, you can chain parries for special attacks that release more than one hit. A very satisfactory mechanics to use but that requires practice.
The rest of the game options is very conventional. We have two punch buttons, two kicks, grab, make overea, make an attack unblockable-but foreseeable, super jump, several specials per character, EX attacks and super attacks through an energy bar
that is recharged as we hit, block, receive damage, etc. The combos system allows links between normal hits, cancel with specials and supers, etc.
And although it requires practice, the truth is that soon we can make combos with several hits that end in a special and a super. It also has a system of juggles and aerial combos that can be squeezed especially in the case of certain characters.
Shotos, load and some grapple
The title is technical and fun, and as we learn with a character more possibilities we see him within a very classic framework of the fighting genre. And is that some characters just have special attacks. On the contrary, the energy bar for the supers recharges quite easily, so they are quite present.
The character template reaches the eleven fighters, and as we always say,
the number is not so much a problem as their styles (BlazBlue with few characters is capable of providing a more complete experience than games with twenty clone fighters).
And in Yatagarasu there are well-marked styles, although it is a pity that there are two characters almost in style and attacks on two others, because the global calculation is reduced.
There are classic styles like Kou, a shoto of all life (projectile, shoryuken, attack kick with interesting range), some with variations like Azure that stands out for its two supers (one grip, another that serves as aerial), versatile characters like Juzumaru and his vertical kicks or his rekkas that surprise long distance and styles more different from the known. Hina and Shimo,
sword in hand, are blunt in the middle distance, although if we talk about blades the palm is carried by Aja, with four special attacks combined (she has a super that allows her for a limited time to improve properties to combat her attacks ) is a toothache as the final boss.
Another powerful fighter is JET, a kind of Dudley with several attacks and boxing moves that make him dangerous both in juggles (he is the best combea when he
has the rival in the air) or in the corner, where the opponent can be presumed dead. Finally, Chadha is the only grapple: great hitbox, high priority grapple attacks and a lot of damage.
