Getting back into the rhythm of fighting games, I’ve been playing the shit out of Tekken 6 and GGXrd Revelator in MOM and Ghost Battle and kinda had this thought about if other people like me only really enjoy Fighting games to the fullest in single player.
For me I only play the endless stuff like Ghost Battle but CPU Versus is cool too which I’m so glad SFV recently added it.
One thing I dislike though is making you go through a 10-20 hour storyline to unlock half of the content. I’m looking at you Pokken! The only fighting game I stopped playing because of League being pretty much mandatory to enjoy the game.
Anyone else like me that enjoys single player modes more than online?
In terms of single player, my best experiences have been with the world tour mode of Street Fighter Alpha 3 and the weapon master mode of Soul Blade.
I have probably gotten more playtime from Virtua Fighter 4, Evolution, and 5 overall though. Those games have phenomenal A.I… Tekken is no slouch either and is great fun to play in single player.
As I recall, Guilty Gear Judgement (PSP) had a beat 'em up that you might want to check out if you are really into Guilty Gear. Personally I enjoyed Mission Mode in Guilty Gear XX: Slash.
I had a lot of fun with Tekken 5 single player for the PS2. Used to imagine back then that I was playing real people online given that the cpus had different names and ranks (of course, they were only CPU)… forgot what rank I got up to, but it was relatively high considering it became hard to even gain another rank (felt like I was not able to rank up any more, no matter how many more wins I get). This was back when online gaming for consoles weren’t that prominent until the PS3/360 came out.
I probably would of liked P4U2 given the golden arena mode. Internet has been a standard thing to have by this time though, so getting to play it hasn’t been to common (had Live at the time too). The only fighting game I’ve been playing single player a lot lately is KOFXIV, since I don’t have PSN+ invested yet.
A3 World Tour and Soul Calibur 2 Weapon Master are definitely the most fun FG single player modes I’ve tried. Wish more current developers would try something similar.
Also, even though I didn’t actually like the mode, Tekken Force from Tekken 3 is also something I wish we’d see more often. A straight beat 'em up-single player would often be more interesting than what we currently get from fighting games, which is either an arcade mode or a glorified cutscene with some random fights thrown in.
Tekken Force on 3 was mind blowing at the time I first played it, but has aged badly. The lock on system, fixed 2D perspective and fixed control scheme definitely hurt the experience. Tekken 6’s Scenario Campaign despite all its flaws was executed far better in that regard. Worst of the bunch is Devil Within with its awful level design, horrible timed platforming, and lack of character variety. The Tekken Force mode in 4 is my favorite of the bunch due to the freedom of movement.
Soul Calibur II Weapon Master was good, but I did not care for it being forced in order to unlock characters/stages and hated dungeons with a passion. I preferred Soul Calibur in that regard. However, its Weapon master mode was excessively padded out with repetitive missions. Soul Blade’s mode was straight and to the point. Fight a character or set of characters under a specified character specific scenario to unlock a new weapon and travel the world to unlock more weapons and read more of the character’s story. Soul Calibur III’s Tales of Souls mode took a similar approach with its choose your own adventure style, but it was much more immediate and with much less scenario variety.
Also, I think Tobal and Ehergeiz’s (Squaresoft) RPG modes were much more elaborate, but of limited entertainment value.
