Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising Reviews
Finding its feet for a second round, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising comes out swinging. Delivering an exciting, accessible, and shamelessly sexy fighting experience - packed with dramatic action, fun features, and bags of personality - GBVSR is a major improvement over its predecessor, fully deserving of a spot among the new year’s heaviest hitters.
Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising may feel like an enhanced release more than a sequel its impressive roster size and fast-paced easy to learn combat make this gorgeous fighter a delight to play.
Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising improves on everything that was the previous chapterz It adds content and makes what was already there much more enjoyable and easily accessible, thanks also to the presence of a free-to-play mode that allows you to play with a limited number of characters in all the modes present in the full game.
Review in Italian | Read full review
GranBlue Fantasy Versus: Rising made sure to perfect the main aspect, its combat system, in a way that changed completely the series' look and is a good choice for its diversified and well-rounded cast. Sadly, the previous extras, which were big attractions too, were reduced to mere decorations, which is a sin with such a rich creative source to use.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising certainly looks like one of the most gorgeous fighting games out there and it plays well, even if the actual content feels a bit bland.
Truth be told, GBVS Rising's fighting mechanics can get overwhelming, and it still comes off a bit short when compared to this year's 2D fighting crown jewel Street Fighter 6. Still, you have to give credit where credit's due: instead of leaving this 2D game to die, Arc System Works and co. breathed new life to an already-solid 2D fighting game and reworked it for a new audience. Welcome back, Granblue Fantasy Versus. We've missed you and your half-anime-half-traditional-fighting-game-like ways.
The attempt to make significant changes from the previous title was successful. Visual and system upgrades transformed it into a rewarding fighting game, bringing a new vitality. While efforts were made to enhance the tutorial and controls, it's regrettable that they did not integrate well with the story.
Review in Korean | Read full review
With Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, Arc System Works accomplishes the feat of making an already excellent fighting game even better. Weaknesses of the predecessor have been skilfully eliminated, such as the then still very small selection of characters. Only the story mode could have been a bit more exciting.
Review in German | Read full review
In a lot of ways, I find myself conflicted. On one hand, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is basically the base game with all the DLC and more, but on the other, it's a step closer to a traditional fighter. I don't think that is a negative per se, just a choice many fans might disagree with given the mobile game and previous version spoke to a wider audience than just fighting game fans. Regardless of where you fall on the casual side, the core gameplay remains good. Anyone determined to learn has more than a few options, plus a wide variety of offline modes to enhance your skill. So, fans of the fighting game will be happy, whereas RPG fans might walk away disappointed.
On a whole, I feel like Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is more sure of what it wants to be than its predecessor. It’s not trying to split the difference by being an RPG in one mode and a fighting game in others. On the other hand, the original’s RPG bona fides were a big part of what attracted me to the original, so it raises the interesting question wherein I both prefer the original for what it was trying to do while recognizing that the sequel is probably the better fighting game, which is what it’s trying to actually be. Taking into account the long tail of support for the original, the promise of more characters, and the surfeit of extra modes, this is almost a definite buy for fighting game fans, especially if you are a longtime fan of the original game. But it’s also a good buy if you’ve always loved fighting games but dislike threadbare stories or struggle with the controls. And with the sheer breadth of extra modes available, odds are good you’ll find stuff to love in here.
Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is a fantastic 2.5D fighting game that, despite some of its flaws, provides players an almost perfect and complete package that most Granblue fans will likely be proud of.
While it does scratch a certain niche, I wouldn't dismiss Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising as just another anime-inspired fighting game. It's a fun offering to get started with, and as you get better skill-wise, you're left with a moderately sufficient technical fighter with a large roster of characters to choose from. There's something for everybody in Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, and don't let its "fighting game genre" think that there are only versus modes available. The story mode allows you to enjoy a single-player experience where you can progress a character through the lore while learning the fundamentals of the game. Even if you don't embark on a fighting game career, there's enough content here to keep you interested and engaged, which is a very good deal for its price!
Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is an awesome game! It has everything GBVS and fighting game players have been asking for. It has a great story, a huge amount of fun online/offline content, a fantastic online experience with rollback netcode, and excellent presentation. While the RPG mode lacks the gameplay depth the original GBVS used to have, and the replay system does not make innovations, this is a great step in the right direction. If you are looking for a terrific fighting game experience, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is the one for you!