"Chaos Code: New Sign of Catastrophe" is a remastered version of the original Playstation 3 game I reviewed back in 2013 that was simply titled "Chaos Code". The story is still trite and confusing with no real understanding of what events are occurring; outside of the opening intro scene. The game has no traditional Story mode, yet completing Arcade with a character will unlock an ending for them.
As a remaster, Chaos Code is supposed to enhance upon the formula of the original. However, outside of a few new features, it doesn’t do much. The remaster brings two new fighters into the fray, new modes (Survival, Score Attack, and Mission), and an online network the first game desperately needed.
The two newest fighters to fight in Chaos Code are Ray and Lupinus. Ray is a brawler who looks suspiciously like the anime character “Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo” and has moves similar to Tekken brawler Miguel. Lupinus is a rushdown character with a bionic arm that provides her a unique ability set to close the distance on her opponents. Survival and Score Attack are fighting game staples so I won’t waste time explaining them. Mission Mode is another new mode that adds some slight depth to this remaster. In Mission, players choose from one of ten challenges that get progressively difficult.
In its original release, Chaos Code did not have any online network play which hurt its growth within the fighting game community. However, Chaos Code: New Sign of Catastrophe has the network play that was missing from the first. Unfortunately, it may be too late to salvage any goodwill for CC in the fighting game community.
Chaos Code looks like an old PS2 game and it doesn’t work in its favor. But throughout all the bad, Chaos Code is still a solid fighting game. Controls work on a solid four button control scheme of weak and strong punches or kicks. Combos are easy to pick up through simple buttons strings. The level of depth is sadly hidden behind a lot of trial-and-error, but once you understand how to manage super meter and move cancels you will pick up new tricks quickly.
As a fighting game, Chaos Code feels great and its animations are fluid throughout even the most visual of special moves. Regrettably, its fighting mechanics cannot stop it from being a poor game overall. The team at FK Digital knows the groundwork for what a fighting game should be and how they should work; so for that, I applaud them. Perhaps if the original could have built an audience they could improve on the foundation, but it may be too late. I give Chaos Code: New Sign of Catastrophe 2 TOV Stars out of 5.
