of all the games i find myself defending i never thought i would be going to bat for this one. there's something about this one to me especially playing it off the heels of my first ever watch through of the animated series but i really wish this wasn't roped into the film, because first of all. it does not adapt or run parallel to the film and besides the design of aeon herself and a few minor details features almost exclusively original material or inspiration from the series and the thing is that it's done fairly well. but this comes with the large caveat of the game being Terrible to play for the most part and i can only imagine that it was because this game was rushed to meet the release of the film. but if you look past that and look at the writing and the bonus intel cutscenes you can find across the game world there's a certain level of playfulness and care to it that you can really tell that there were fans of the show working on this and i honestly just wish this was given a longer deadline and wasn't forced to tie into the movie because i think they could have made a compelling game primarily lifting from the show and honestly would still like to see a game inspired by the show. i'm not sure if i recommend this game per say but if you can stomach that mediocre to frustrating gameplay you might find things to love like i did.

a really interesting proposal for what a fighting game can be. a practice in atmosphere and display of experimentation that feels lovely to be in and see where it takes you. making divergences from the set formula of the arcade mode, characters changing fighting styles for plot motivated reasons and a lack of care for competitive viability. something i wish more fighting game studios did at least once, not something i think needs to entirely replace fighting games that aim their sights at competitive audiences but a breath of fresh air that can co-exist with competitive games, fighting games that just Are.

I was really afraid to revisit this after finally playing through all of chaos;head noah and coming out the other end of that feeling rather negatively. but thankfully now that I have completed this play through of S;G i'm pleasantly surprised that this still holds up for me! it is not without faults (mostly pacing related and honestly you could relegate chapter 8 into a single scene and lose essentially nothing to the story imo, content of that chapter aside even) but thankfully it has a solid foundation, excellent atmosphere and a charming cast. whenever it's in it's full pseudo-science sci-fi emotional bullshit it's really gripping even when it doesn't necessarily feel entirely logical. there's an undeniable magic to this one even now, despite it's flaws