Namco Bandai’s new Sword Art Online game for PlayStation Vita will be made to have more action to match the feel of the actual series, compared to their earlier PSP game. Today, the publisher provided a look at the game’s battle system and its special “Burst” gauge and attack features.
Unlike the PSP title, Sword Art Online: Infinity Moment, where the battles revolved around auto-attacks, Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment introduces a new “Burst Gauge” system to pull off special attacks.
The new action-based system with attacks that are done by pressing buttons to do “Burst Attacks” which use up the meter.
As long as the meter keeps filling up, you’ll get to keep using Burst Attacks; however, while the damage will continue increasing, there’s some sort of “Risk” involved, which is indicated with its own meter to the right of the Burst Gauge.
The “step” feature also uses the Burst Gauge, which is used to do short-dashes towards different directions.
The step feature will have its offensive and defensive uses, as it can be used to evade enemy attacks or quickly dash behind them for a positional advantage.
As long as your Burst Gauge isn’t empty, you’ll get to keep using Burst Attacks and steps, but knowing how to use them and making sure it doesn’t run out will be the key of winning fights.
If things start looking dicey in the middle of your Burst Attack, you can always use a step to cancel the attack for an evasion, then step again towards the enemy to continue doing more damage. The steps will also work for canceling out auto-attacks.
Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment will be released for PlayStation Vita next year.
