Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late - Japanese fighting awesomeness

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Hello everyone! After the last entry dedicated to one of the last great JRPG (or games in general) released by Konami, in this new entry we are heading back once again to the 2D fighting genre with a title that belongs to the new golden era that the genre is living at the moment, and more specifically to that group of Japanese games that look like interactive fighting animes in which we can find also games like Chaos Code, Nitroplus Blasterz, Dengeki Bunko, Koihime Enbu or Ougon Musou. The game is called Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late. Let´s see what this new fighter has to offer other than just another name incredibly difficult to remember.

Under Night In-Birth is the first collaboration between Japanese indie team French Bread (creators of Melty Blood) and Ecole Software before both companies joined to create the awesome Dengeki Bunko of which I already talked about a couple of entries ago. The game was released exclusively for the Japanese arcades in 2012 under the arcade board Sega RingEdge 2, and later in 2013 the game received a revised version known as Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late, which was ported to Sony´s PS3 in 2015 and PC in 2016 via Steam thanks to the collaboration of Arc System Works, the creators of Guilty Gear and BlazBlue series. For any fighting game fan, the simple fact of mentioning names such as French Bread or Arc System Works should fill them with joy, for they know those names equal to pure punching madness awesomeness, so if any of you were still thinking if this game could live up to the reputation of those names, I can already assure you it does; however, is not Guilty Gear nor BlazBlue. As I always say with this kind of game, the story is normally just a mere excuse to start punching and kicking everything and anything that stands on our way and Under Night is no different in this regard. The story of Under Night tells that every certain period of time a phenomenon takes place in Japan in which strange creatures knows as Voids roam around freely. This phenomenon is known as the Hollow Night. However, these creatures are invisible for everyone except for some chosen ones known as the In-Birth, and the story of the game will focus in these chosen ones and the organizations interested in them for several reasons. As I said, nothing special, but enough to start crashing some skulls. The roster is composed of 16 characters:

 Akatsuki                                                                   Byakuya

Carmine                                                                   Chaos

Eltnum                                                                   Gordeau

Hilda                                                                   Hyde

Linne                                                                   Merkava

Nanase                                                                  Orie

Seth                                                                   Vatista

Waldstein                                                                   Yuzuhira

Although 16 characters might seem like a rather limited roster for today´s standards, the game compensates it with the great personality of all and each of its characters, each with their very own unique fighting style completely different from the rest. Regarding the gameplay, the game makes use of a four-button layout, with 3 buttons assigned to the weak, medium and hard attacks, and a fourth and last button assigned to the “concentration” of which we will speak later on. Every great fighting game must have something that makes it unique and help it to distinguish itself from the rest, and although it is true that the combat system of Under Night is not innovative, remaining somewhere between the more slow and tactic style of Street Fighter and the combo frenzy of Guilty Gear, the game includes a system that helps to distinguish itself from those two titles, and that is its GRD system. During the combats we will be able to see circular icon with a gauge located on each side at the bottom of the screen. This icon will fill up automatically during the combats, and every 17 second will grand a power bonus knows as Vorpal to the player with the most units in their gauge once the circular icon is completely full. Getting use to this system will be vital is we are to be victorious; however, if we really want the bonus, we will first have to earn it. Have you ever heard the saying “no guts, no glory”? Well, that could perfectly be the slogan of Under Night. In order to be able to fill up our GRD gauge, we will have to adopt an “active” aptitude during the combats. Every time we get close to our rival, hit them or stop their attacks, our GRD gauge will fill up, on the other hand, every time we get away from them, we get hit by them or abuse the same mechanics over and over again, our gauge will drop. This system really helps to make the combats thrilling and tactical, pushing the players to do their best as both sides aim to obtain constantly the Vorpal bonus in order to get the upper hand. On top of the GRD gauge, Under Night also makes use of the typical power gauge, in this case called EXS, and which will allow us to perform the special version of our special attacks (think of Street Fighter´s 4 EX attacks) as well as devastating combos. As I was saying before, the game makes use of a fourth button used for the concentration. If we press this button, we will be able to use part of our EXS gauge in order to charge the GRD gauge, thus allowing us to sacrifice part of our power gauge to compensate our lack of skill (or “bad luck”) in order to try to obtain the Vorpal power bonus. On top of the GRD system, Under Night also makes use of another system that will be essential if we want to obtain some advantage during the combats, and that is the Shield defense system. On top of allowing us to push back our rivals every time we stop one of their attacks, thus giving us some space to breath, every time we stop one of our rival´s attacks we will fill up a bit of our GRD gauge, while at the same time we reduce our rival´s GRD gauge, preventing them from obtaining the Vorpal power bonus. However, this system will imply a big risk, as our rivals could “break” us. If we miss while using the Shield defense and our rival hits us, we will enter the Break state, in which many of the special mechanics of the game won´t work for us for a few seconds, thus leaving us with a huge disadvantage, so it will be up to us to decide whether we go for a more safe defense with no bonus, or we stick to the “no guts, no glory” and we go for a more risky defense that could bring us big bonuses. On top of the Vorpal and Shield systems, the game will make use of several other systems to give the title more deepness and personality, on top of being able to perform other actions typical of the genre such as rushing forward and backwards, o throwing our rivals. Overall, Under Night offers a really solid system that, despite not being very innovative, has enough personality to set itself apart from other fighting games, avoiding to feel just like a another generic fighting game.

Regarding the game modes, Under Night comes fully packed with all the modes you could expect from a title like this. The game includes the typical arcade mode, which in this case serves also as the story mode of the game, and in which we will face a series of computer controlled rivals while the story unfolds via conversations between the characters in between the combats. There is also the versus mode, in which we will be able to face our buddies in local multiplayer matches or fight against computer controlled opponents, then we have the training mode, which will allow us to practice the different combos and techniques of each of the characters, then there is the time attack mode, in which we will have to complete a series of combats in shortest time possible, the score attack mode, in which we will have to aim for the best score possible, the survival mode, in which we will have to survive for as long as possible, and finally we have the online mode, which will allow us to play against players from all over the world, and although the online side of the game works fine, given that the game is not (and probably will never be) as popular as other games such as Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, it is possible we have some difficulties to find rivals. Finally, it would be also worthy to mention that the game also includes a customization mode that will allow us to customize the color palette of the characters with the colors we will unlock while playing the game, as well as the icon we will display on our online profile.

As for the graphics, just like in other recent fighting games such as Phantom Break or BlazBlue, Under Night makes use of 2D sprites over 3D backgrounds. The 2D sprites masterfully crafted, with the models displaying all kind of details and really fluid, although perhaps they don´t reach the level of BlazBlue. However, the same cannot be said about the 3D backgrounds, which are perhaps the weakest point of the whole game. While the backgrounds are well done and varied, they are completely lifeless, perhaps due to some budget limitations.


Overall, Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late is an extremely competent fighting game that proves once again the great talent that French Bread possesses when it comes to deliver some good ass kicking, and although it is true that the game is not that innovative, the title has enough personality in order to set itself apart from other fighting games, at least when it comes to gameplay terms. The game is available for the PS3 (here) and PC via Steam. So if you are looking for a new fighting game to take a break for your “typical hadokens,” you should definitely give a chance to Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late, for I´m sure it won´t disappoint you. Enjoy!


GAMEPLAY VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKmrW70O7RA

TUTORIAL 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT81K40ew3s

TUTORIAL 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0ONLGCKFsY