Chaos Code -NEW SIGN OF CATASTROPHE- (Nintendo Switch)

Chaos Code -NEW SIGN OF CATASTROPHE- is the latest anime fighting game published by AFG powerhouse. Developed by FK Digital. Is this title worthy of hanging with the Gear and the Blue? 

Chaos Code originally released in arcades in 2011 and made its console debut on the Playstation 3 in 2013. This version is a port of the Playstation 4 release that arrived in 2017 the most up to date and content wealthy version of the title. 

Chaos Code doesn’t exactly have the rafts and rafts of lore and narrative that its kin like Blazblue and Under Night do, instead it keeps it light and breezy, there is the Chaos Code, everyone wants it for different reasons so everyone fights, typical fighting game set up and works. 

Visually Chaos Code isn’t a slouch by any stretch. It’s pure Sprite art mimicking titles such as KoF, Waku Waku 7 and all the other fantastic fighters of the late 90s to mid 2000s. I’m a huge fan of hand drawn sprites and background and Chaos Code is a visual treat for me, as good as current gen titles using Unreal engine look, give me something hand drawn everytime!. 

On the audio side of things the game sounds as good as its look. Banging songs and voice tracks accompanying the moves show that Chaos Code is in the upper echelon of fighters.

15 characters make up this respectable roster and they are varied and outlandish as you would expect from an anime shooter. The main pull of Chaos Code for me lies in the customizations you can make before a match.

Once you have chosen a character you can choose if they will run or hop when a direction is pressed twice. This allows you to choose if you want to sprint into a combo or hop away or into the action, for people unfamiliar with fighting games this may seem trivial but for fans of the genre you should know not only does this work really well but the way it changes your style is astounding and it baffles me that this hasn’t been done more. 

Following that you are also allowed to choose 2 more additional moves from a list, these can only be used if you chose them and that will dramatically change the way each person plays a character. You can go all out offensive or pack on some defence, chances are you’ll be playing your character a totally different way to someone else who plays the character and this really opens up the game.

In terms of modes Chaos Code offers the genre standard, Arcade, VS, Survival, Practice, Score Attack & Mission Mode. They are all as you would expect, Mission mode on the other hand needs a shout out, rather than just pulling off combos this has you tackle fights in unique ways such as no kicks or only certain moves damaging your opponent, it helps to think outside of the box and is a nifty tool in not only time stealing but teaching you the ropes of this title. 

Finally there is a Colour Customiser, this is a feature that used to be in alot of fighting games and only recently in Ultra Street Fighter II. This allows you to edit the colours on the characters and this skinning them the way you want, it may be a small addition but it’s certainly welcome and brings back fond memories of classic KoF titles. 

I love Chaos Code, it seems like an ideal bridge between anime fighting game and classic Neo Geo fighting games with it’s zooming in and out camera and the ability to customize it to play as such. The only issue I find with Chaos Code is that despite it having a great roster and other fantastic features it doesn’t seem to have a strong enough identity, especially in what is becoming an oversaturated genre again. This isn’t to say anything is wrong with the way the game looks or its art style, trust me it looks great and the stages are fantastic, it just seems to blend in with its peers and while the game has enough to stand on its own the title just needs that little more to make it stand out.

Chaos Code -NEW SIGN OF CATASTROPHE- is a fantastic title that would do well in any fan of the genres library. While it doesn’t have heaps of offline content there is enough to keep you going and the customization of the characters is currently unmatched. Chaos Code should be more of a household name and this is apparent from the second you pick your character, despite the franchise bleak future I hope to see more of this series and hopefully in a more prominent position within the FGC.