Fans of Sword Art Online can rejoice because Accel World VS Sword Art Online was released on July 7, 2017 for PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®Vita. For those of you who follow the anime or original novels, but aren’t very familiar with the game, it is an RPG in which you freely roam the world of Svart Alfhiem Online from Sword Art Online: Lost Song, and embark on different quests complementing an original storyline supervised by series creator, Reki Hawahara. Accel World VS SAO features over 30 characters from the entire universe of SAO as well as Accel World, a series that focuses on augmented reality as opposed to SAO’s virtual reality. The combination of these two worlds provides for a unique story for fans of either series to enjoy.

Let’s start with the basics of what the game is like. Players will build a team of 3 characters from either series to strategically take on quests. Similar to other RPGS, as you explore the world within the game, you fight monsters, find loot and gain experience to level up. Earning money through quests and defeating enemies enables you to purchase a variety of items such as upgrades, costumes, and weapons. One extremely important element of any RPG is the amount of content the game provides for exploration. An RPG cannot survive solely on its main plot and Accel World VS Sword Art Online provides a plethora of side quests to provide diversity for players.    

Gameplay

Diving into the gameplay, Accel World VS Sword Art Online has a similar control scheme to most RPGs. Your character has both light and heavy attacks, which have different combos. Additionally, your character can learn different abilities as you level up in the game. To use them, there are little panels on the bottom of the screen that indicate the button combinations required to use these abilities. All abilities will require you to use the R1 or R2 buttons in combination with melee or D-Pad, and can range from healing your team to special attacks from the anime. Remembering which shortcut you have set for each ability may take some getting used to, but you can customize the button combination for any of the abilities in the menu. 

Locking-on to Enemies

By pressing L1, you can toggle locking-on to the enemy closest to your forward line of sight. The way the lock-on mechanic operates can be edited in settings to your preference. One other format for lock-on is locking onto a single enemy until you toggle it off or until that enemy is dead. In this setting, your camera will continue to follow that enemy regardless of which direction you move. The lock-on mechanic is very helpful when trying to focus your attacks on a specific enemy.

Switch Attack

As you deal damage over time, your switch bar will begin to fill up in the top right of your screen. Once you have enough of it generated, you can press “O” and “△” simultaneously when nearby an enemy to engage the switch attack. The switch attack will call in another party member while slowing down time. This way, the enemy is frozen and the amount of damage you do is increased. During the duration of the time freeze, you can freely combo and use abilities. This mechanic is useful against difficult enemies because it helps whittle them down and prevent taking damage.

Aerial Movement/Combat

In Accel World VS Sword Art Online, the most efficient way of traveling through the world is by flight and thus, it is important that players understand how to use it to thier advantage. Additionally, certain enemies are airborne and require aerial combat to defeat. To activate flight, you press the up arrow on the D-Pad or you hold down the O button. After doing so, you begin soaring in the air and can control which way you go using the left joystick. To exit flying to reach the ground, press the down arrow on the D-Pad. 

Now that we’ve got the basics down, there are four different modes of flight that you will work with in game. The first mode is the speed you are at when you just enter flight. The second mode (air dash) is quicker than the first and can be used by holding down R1 while in flight. Note that while holding down R1 and increasing your speed, you will also slowly deplete your stamina bar. The third mode (aerial drive) of flight allows you to soar at unimaginable speeds by holding R1 and X simultaneously. While using this, your stamina will decrease rapidly. These three forms of flight are for travel purposes primarily. The final mode of flight is hover mode which is entered by pressing the left or right arrows on the D-Pad, or as soon as you make any attack while flying. Your character will be able to hover and move around, but not very quickly. Aerial combat is almost the exact same as fighting on the ground aside from one difference: movement vertically. All your abilities and attacks will operate the same way, but the movement while fighting in the air might take some getting used to.

While flying, you can also dodge if you wish to avoid combat. While in the first mode, you can dodge from side to side by pressing O and shifting left or right with your left joystick. While in the third mode, moving the left joystick in any direction will quickly dart your character in that direction. While in hover mode, you can ascend by holding X and you can descend by pressing X twice and holding after the second time.

Launch Edition

Also, until 8/8/17, be sure to pick up the Launch Edition of Accel World VS Sword Art Online, which provides access to exclusive costumes and playable characters, Sachi and Yuna!