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- Arc System Works
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- Arc System Works
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- Arc System Works
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- Arc System Works
Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes
Released On: Jan 25, 2024
82
6.3
Where to Buy
Where to Buy
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
82
89% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
11% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
82
89% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
11% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Under Night In-Birth II [Sys:Celes] does not reinvent the wheel so much as it refines it to its most effective form yet. That takes more effort than you’d expect – UNI2 is the culmination of a decade’s worth of thoughtful design and carefully considered changes. Despite this, it effortlessly demonstrates why it’s one of the strongest competitors on the fighting game market right now.
Under Night In-Birth 2 Sys:Celes is a great addition to what we had that improves upon previous games in pretty much all the right ways. The new characters are fun, the new attacks for existing characters make new gameplans fun to learn, and there is a nice variety of online and offline modes in which to explore them and hone your game. I wish the music, story, and online lobbies gave me more, but UNI2 hits the right notes where it counts and delivers as a fantastic bastion of 2D animated fighting game goodness.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 8 User Ratings
6.3
38% Positive
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
38% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
25% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 8 User Ratings
6.3
38% Positive
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
38% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
25% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
It feels good, it looks good, it sounds good.I never knew how all this plays so much into just game FEEL when you play it. This game is so incredibly well made that I just can't stop playing it myself, the harmony of those three aspects make it so addicting and the fact frenchbread was really quick on pushing out early patches, considering the freeform combos, that already make playing this game always a new exciting adventure, the fact that there's still new things for veterans to explore in this game, that the online community is **** see it makes me glad that french bread has released such a gem into the world. Definitely a must play for all Fighting Game Enthusiasts
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PlayStation 5
It's peak. Under Night is up there among some of the best fighting games, featuring a diverse roster, compelling gameplay mechanics, gorgeous sprite-work, and one of the catchiest soundtracks in the genre. If you love fighting games this is a must buy. If you're relatively new to the genre, there's quite a bit to take in, but it's an excellent introduction to the anime fighter subgenre and has an expansive tutorial mode that does a great job of teaching the player how to play. Once you get the hang of it, everything flows smoothly and it's a blast to play.
The only thing stopping this from being a 10 is very minor criticisms. For me these are:
Somewhat limited mobility options relative to other anime fighters (this is personal preference and isn't an objective flaw of the game itself).
Lacking in singleplayer content outside of an arcade mode. Bringing back Chronicle mode would've been nice.
Player lobbies do not allow multiple matches to take place at once.
Though to be expected, player base isn't nearly as expansive as the giants of the genre like Street Fighter, Tekken, etc. There aren't nearly as many new players online which may make it difficult for the ones that are to jump in and find matches around their relative skill level.
No crossplay.
Despite these issues, they're minor grievances at worst for me and don't make this any less of a fantastic game. Dev team is very communicative as well and seems to genuinely care about the product and player base. Anyway, great game you should get it.
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PlayStation 5
Despite its modest production values, Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes delivers deep and engaging 2D fighting gameplay, with a diverse roster of characters and robust online features. However, its lack of additional modes and unremarkable presentation may deter some players.
Under Night In-Birth II is a fantastic fighting game experience when you focus solely on the core mechanics and how enjoyable it is to immerse yourself in the depths of its more intricate systems. Examining the package as a whole presents it as one that is perhaps a bit lacking on the content side, with there being a real absence of meaningful offline single-player modes to dive into, which in turn leads to a world that’s difficult to comprehend if you’re coming to this with no prior knowledge of the series. That being said, if you’re a fighting game purist who just wants a new fighting game to master that will offer hours upon hours of fun as you master its many interlocking systems, or you want something simple enough that you can enjoy a few casual rounds with friends here and there, then Under Night In-Birth II fits the bill almost perfectly.
UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II Sys Celes is a strong fighter with gorgeous visuals that challenges players to learn, adapt, and take risks.
Under Night In-Birth II Sys: Celes is a compelling fighting game, despite feeling old and way-too classic in many of its choices. It's really hard to understand why Arc System Works chose the same release window as Tekken 8, considering that it didn't help the game at all in getting the attention it deserved.
It has everything that made the original game so great, with layers lovingly added on top alongside new content that make it a fighting game you definitely shouldn’t overlook if you want to give something freshly baked a try ahead of its Evo 2024 showcase.
too many bugs, what happens to ARC ? first 3 uniel were perfects. even trophy bugged.
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PlayStation 5
Under Night In Birth II Sys Celes is an anime fighting video game that has no game! Don't take this the wrong way. One of the two only good things about UNI2 is its fantastic gameplay and the satisfying conclusion to at least half of the characters in arcade mode. As a former BBTAG player and a massive Gordeau Stan. The ending to his arcade mode was the highlight of UNI2 for me when it came to wrapping up his arc. When you compare Gord's ending to our "main protagonist" Hyde Kido, the ending he got just felt completely rushed without any explanation as to why certain events happened in the last sixty seconds of his story, and I like Hyde! He was also a character I heavily mained in BBTAG as well and I was quite disappointed with his arcade mode in general.
With that being said, if you are friendless or have no friends that are into fighting games in general like yours truly, this game is dead on arrival. As someone who really wanted to get good at UNI2, network mode is so void of any signs of life that it is comparable to sailing across the seven seas as you search for the Baiji Dolphin. A species that is either extinct or is so good at hiding that finding one is the equivalent of getting a winning ticket from the lottery. THAT is how impossible it is to play this game online.
And I tried everything. I joined the UNI2 discord in the hopes to find someone who is new to the game like me. When I did this, a series of problems arose that made the situation worse. Firstly, the beginner netplay room is also so void of life that experimenting or getting better at the game in any form is nearly impossible. The second issue, and the most egregious one, is that UNI2 is not cross console compatible. Wtf, are you kidding me!? French Bread, come on. You must know to some degree that your game will fail if you don't incorporate rollback. I swore I read somewhere that they struggled to put rollback into UNICLR which is the number one reason why Sys: Celes exists. So either that was a flat out lie or something happened along the way where that just couldn't happen.
The point is due to this game not being marketed at all along with the lack of cross play between consoles. You will never, ever find someone to play with you online that is on your level, especially if your new, and if you do, you will get the smack down by pros who have been playing the game much longer than you. As someone who wants to practice and learn through not so serious matches. This makes UNI2 a miserable experience to play. If the network is a dead zone, UNI2 has no reason to exist, none. This was the one thing they needed to get right and they failed miserably. You would think a company would learn from their mistakes despite being a small team, and I am putting that into account for this review. However, even if you are a small video game company or even one person working on a random project. The point of creating sequels or deluxe editions of your games is to make them better, not worse and in a lot of ways, this game is so much worse than UNICLR in every possible aspect.
The new character art? All of them either fall under mid, terrible or cursed with Hyde, Orie, and Linne strangely being the only good exceptions to the rule. Whoever created the female designs literally knows nothing about the female anatomy. Plus, many of the male characters are in awkward poses like Carmine, have bullet holes through their armpit like Mika, or are just not drawn correctly at all like Gordeau. If you drew a side profile of UNICLR Gord and UNI2 Gord, they are not even remotely the same design, and I do some basic drawing in my spare time and even I know UNI2 Gordeau's hair is not accurate to his original design in any form. Point is, the art is a massive downgrade.
Music? Stays mainly the same or is worse overall. UNI2's opening theme does not get me excited to play the game like UNICLR's did. Plus, the character select screen music and character themes like Hilda's, for example, is again a massive downgrade from its predecessor. I'm not even going to touch on the UI for this game. It's grey, it's boring, and it's very, very terrible to look at. Does not even compare to UNICLR's UI where color was allowed to exist.
To wrap this up, giving this game a score became difficult because if I had it my way, I would give it a 0 purely because there is almost no way to play it with other people online, it's soul purpose for being created in the first place unless you do have friends who are into it. That being said, UNI2 is the last game in the series and to put it as nicely as possible. UNI started the franchise with a bang and Under Night In Birth II Sys Celes ended it with a wet fart. Well, at least the UNI community is happy with it because new players who want to try to get into it will have a horrible, miserable time.
2/10
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PlayStation 5
Summary After 10 years of operation, the seventh title in the series is the first to affix a number! With completely redesigned visuals, a new tale of Night is depicted. Even more playable characters to be added. The first in the series to include rollback netcode, prepare for blistering online matches. New moves and new battle systems have been...
Rated T
for Teen
Platforms:
- Nintendo Switch
- PlayStation 5
- PC
- PlayStation 4
Initial Release Date: Jan 25, 2024
Developer:
- French-Bread
Publisher: Arc System Works
Genres:
