Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization Reviews
While it can be a fun action game in the short-term, it quickly becomes repetitive due to its meandering plot and disingenuously perfect cast of characters.
Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization is yet another licensed anime game that does not live up to the expectations. While the presentation is a success, lousy storytelling, a broken battle system and dull dialogues ruin the overall experience. The game has no rhythm or anything that makes it worthy of your attention.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
What turns out to be a fun JRPG with a big world to explore and good combat is marred by bad story, bad quests and some diabolical pacing. Only recommended for SAO fans.
With it being the first SAO game set outside the anime, it does a good job of creating a new story, even if it takes some time to get going.
It is hard to recommend Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization to anyone who isn’t already a Sword Art fan. The story just takes so long to get into and you can’t skip the cut scenes. If you are a fan of Sword Art on the other hand, the combat and co-op is enough to make this game enjoyable.
Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization is a game that places too much of its emphasis on its dating sim mechanics rather than a polished RPG experience. Dodgy armor designs mar the progression that the weapons add to the game, and a rather stale storyline does not give enough motivation to want to progress through the game.
In summary this is a game that fans of the genre will love and those new to it will most likely give up on. You can tell there has been a ton of work gone in to tweaking this game, making it clearly the best of the series to date, but the onerous nature of the storyline along with the static nature of the interaction during dialogue will put a lot of people off. Into the series? You will love this game. Hopefully I’ve helped with the pros and cons. Have fun!
Aquria have created a game that really does feel like an MMO.
Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization augments the formula of past entries and largely succeeds by doing so.
Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization is a faithful representation of the source material that unfortunately has flaws in gameplay that can be infuriating at times. This is an unfortunate consequence of trying to follow the aesthetics of an MMO world.
Though fans of the series will feel right at home with the latest release, those that are not familiarly with the world and the stories of the main characters may feel a bit left out, even though there are a few attempts at explaining the backlog of events interspersed in the first hour or so of the game. With its wonderful visuals, compassionate, if naive story and character development, plethora of customization options, and wonderful relationship builder wrapped up into a universe that is beloved by many, Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization is a fun action-RPG romp that does an amazing job masquerading around as an MMO.
I feel conflicted about Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization, because while it’s never been more interesting to play as a game, the fact that its narrative is typical of latter-day Sword Art Online stories has actually become something of a liability. A bolder story, one that took more risk, established a better sense of stakes, or even did something other than tread water would definitely not be Sword Art Online-like, and would make it much easier to recommend to people outside the show’s fanbase. As it stands, though, Hollow Realization remains a Sword Art Online game, for better and worse.
Sword Art Online is built on high-stakes drama and a compelling premise--Hollow Realization delivers on neither.
Skip it unless you're a diehard Sword Art Online fan.
Hollow Realization is easily the best game based on the SAO Series; however its far from perfect. Albeit it offers a functional scheme of controls, a rich world to explore and an ambitious relations system, its weak and boring story, confusing menus and poor character AI make this game a hard test for all those die-hard fans. If you are a desperate gamer then maybe you will have a difficult time with this game; if you prevail all of its flaws, then you will get rewarded with a game that overflows with personality and fanservice.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Fun MMORPG-style mechanics aside, this game lacks much of the excitement the license is known for.
Things like grinding, incompetent AI and unrealised affection and attribute systems mean the experience isn’t going to compare against other RPGs on the market. If you’re a fan then there’s a lot to take in, but otherwise there’s little here to keep you interested for long.
Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization feels like a game that’s on the cusp of something great but is held back by a few hiccups. The story is interesting and quite fleshed out, and the base combat has potential. The inconsistent pacing, sketchy AI and grindy nature of the game, however, make it feel like a slog after a while. If you’re a fan of SAO, though, this is worth checking out just to re-experience Aincrad’s rebirth once again.
Hollow Realization is a vast, open game. If you enjoy aspects of MMO’s and have always wanted to play one offline and single player, this is a great title to jump in and do that with. Sure, it doesn’t have everything that an MMO typically offers, but what is there is really well done. The story is interesting enough at times, the combat continues to shine, and the exploration will keep fans of the genre and of the anime busy for months to come.
Hollow Realization shows no progress for a series that appears to be relying solely on its base franchise for sales.