If someone time-traveled 4 years into the past and told me that one of the major fighting game franchises would be on a Nintendo console, I would’ve been skeptical, because third party support and fighting games specifically were everywhere except on Nintendo consoles. So, if you were a fighting game enthusiast you needed to be on PlayStation or Xbox. Now with the Nintendo Switch, the tables have been turned. Games like Dragon Ball FighterZ, BlazBlue, and Guilty Gear are available now, and its mind blowing to see developers support the platform. Now we have another great game joining the roster of fighting games on the console: UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late[cl-r] (for all intents and purposes I will refer to the game to UNIEL as known in the FGC), and as a fighting game fan this is a huge win for Nintendo Switch owners because this is a series that was only being released on Sony consoles. For those not in the know, last year it started to gain more popularity due to the amazing EVO finals, and its arrival to the Nintendo Switch is the perfect way to get into the series.
I won’t talk about the nitty-gritty bits of the story since the game offers a comprehensive story mode from each character’s perspective, but instead, I want to point out the strengths the game has that gives it a fresh approach compared to other fighting games. Starting with the tutorial mode it has a comprehensive explanation of every action in the game. So far it is the most complete mode I have seen in a fighting game, as it covers novice lessons, like basic movement and attacks, all the way to veteran lessons that teach complex techniques, like fuzzy guards and teching frames, that are sure to give players a better understanding of the different mechanics in place.
For the offline warriors, there is a lot of content to enjoy like the Arcade mode in which you can practice what you have learned from the Tutorial against the CPU, The Chronicles mode that is this game’s story mode, Score Attack, and Time Attack modes for those who like to challenge themselves, a Training mode for those who like to learn and create their own combos and situations, and speaking of combos, the Mission mode is where you can learn character-specific combos and, like the tutorial, they go from beginner to veteran and also include character-specific tactics so it’s recommended to try it. The Network mode is where the online warriors strive to apply everything learned in the game so far.
There are two modes, Ranked Match and Player Match, there is also the Network Ranking so you can see how you stack up against other players worldwide. I must say that my experience with this mode has been pleasant, because even among reviewers, I was able to find a match and the game plays buttery smooth. There was some slowdown at the beginning of the match when characters do their presentations, and I was able to see the frames of delay go up little by little, but even in a 7-frame, delay I was able to play without any slowdown at all. So, I can say that the netcode that the game has is well implemented (To explain this point further once the announcer said fight the frames never moved up or down, they were stable). I was playing with my friend Jonathan Balofsky online to include that in this review, and we were able to have player matches like we were in the same room. In reality, he is in Canada and I am in Honduras, so we are really far away from each other, but the online play was great. It is a good thing that care has gone into this game to make it the best ever.
Another thing worthy of praise is the loading time. The game loads the assets fast and it only takes a couple of seconds to load everything to get the match started. Even in online gameplay it didn’t take long for the match against the other player to start, and in the case of a rematch, it is even faster. I love it when developers take the time to optimize the game as best as possible since that makes the experience even more enjoyable. Arc System Works and Soft Circle French Bread have done a terrific job, and I dare say that the Nintendo Switch version is on par with the PS4 version.
Notes from Jon Balofsky: Not only was this game easily playable with both an arcade stick or just the Switch Joy-Con, but the movements felt natural to me. The game also has an excellent tutorial, and I found myself easily learning what to do. Once I got the hang of things, I went online to play against Haroldo and, as he said, the online felt seamless even though we are several countries away from each other. The fast loading time, and reduced input lag also helped here, and I must praise the developers for this.
UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late[cl-r] has a lot of animation frames, and the developers have taken a lot of pride in this. This is one of the best-looking fighters I have seen in a long time, and it looked great on Switch in either handheld or docked mode. I did spend the day with a friend who has the PS4 version in order to compare the two, and I can safely say the two versions are pretty much equal with only a few minor differences here and there.
UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late[cl-r] is an easy to get into, but hard to master, game that is perfect for newcomers and veterans of fighting games alike. There is intense action, great online play, and a well-designed system in place. The developers did a great job here and I must once again praise them for this. To sum up, UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH Exe:Late[cl-r] is a must play title and we highly recommend it.
Disclaimer: Review Keys Were Provided