Fighting EX Layer

 PlayStation 4
  • Publisher: Arika
  • Release Date: Jun 28, 2018
  • Also On: PC
User Score
6.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 51 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 30 out of 51
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 51
  3. Negative: 14 out of 51
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  1. Fury283
    Jul 2, 2018
    9
    To the people complaining about no Single Player content:

    Arika stated they cannot afford to put single player content in, it's not that they focused on Competitive Gameplay, it's that they were FORCED to focus on Competitive Gameplay, they said this over a year ago. (Or around that.) They spent every single dollar to make this game, consider yourself even lucky you got the content    To the people complaining about no Single Player content:

    Arika stated they cannot afford to put single player content in, it's not that they focused on Competitive Gameplay, it's that they were FORCED to focus on Competitive Gameplay, they said this over a year ago. (Or around that.)

    They spent every single dollar to make this game, consider yourself even lucky you got the content you did.

    ------

    Now that THAT'S out of the way, onto the actual game itself:
    It's fun, the roster is pretty well diverse with their own moves.
    90s style gameplay with lots of footsies involved
    Colorful
    The Goagi system is really well balanced
    The netplay is actually good, better than others I've seen.
    It's set up so new players can select easier ways to do moves or the Classic Mode with basic inputs.

    The game is just FUN.

    It's not without it's flaws, but ignore the people complaining about no single player content because they did no research on why they didn't include such content to begin with. (AKA: ARIKA is broke and published/developed everything themselves.)    … Expand
  2. Operator6O
    Jun 29, 2018
    9
    I've always been a big fan of fighting games, due largely to the story, characters, and worlds they take place in, but not for gameplay because I'm not too great. But! That being said, I adore Fighting EX Layer gameplay. It's easy for even a button-masher like me to make combos and do some damage to an opponent. The graphics are beautiful, from characters to the stages, and the music isI've always been a big fan of fighting games, due largely to the story, characters, and worlds they take place in, but not for gameplay because I'm not too great. But! That being said, I adore Fighting EX Layer gameplay. It's easy for even a button-masher like me to make combos and do some damage to an opponent. The graphics are beautiful, from characters to the stages, and the music is really catchy. I know that there's no story or arcade mode yet, but I do think it's important to support Arika in their hard work. It's a small company (they only have 50 employees, according to their wiki page!) and are stepping into a very big market, with only a few beloved characters to their name against big titles like Street Fighter and Tekken. Even if this game only has versus modes and missions as of right now, it was worth every penny to support this small group of people for delivering something that looks and plays beautifully.… Expand
  3. Marksman_JP
    Jun 30, 2018
    9
    The fact that this game exists is a miracle. I never thought I'd see the characters from my favorite childhood fighting game (EX plus @) in a game again. And I'm so happy Arika has decided to risk it all in order to give the fans what the have wanted for so long. Although the game is bare bones at the moment content wise, the core of the game is extremely solid, with online functioningThe fact that this game exists is a miracle. I never thought I'd see the characters from my favorite childhood fighting game (EX plus @) in a game again. And I'm so happy Arika has decided to risk it all in order to give the fans what the have wanted for so long. Although the game is bare bones at the moment content wise, the core of the game is extremely solid, with online functioning flawlessly and the new gougi system adding a surprising layer of fun and complexity to the already fun mechanics of the ex fighting games of old. And man is that soundtrack amazing. To those saying not to buy the game based on the fact that it lacks single player content, and that the game is a "SCAM" and the devs are "LAZY", please consider this: Arika has put everything on the line releasing this game, using the vast majority of their money to get this game out. This small studio has risked their very existence for this passion project and are no doubt going to be releasing more content as they receive support. It's not that they didn't want to add more to the game, or they are trying to cash grab with their price points, It's simply the fact that they didn't have the money to add anything else and will go under if this game doesn't do well financially. So please, if you love fighting games, consider buying at least the light version. You will undoubtedly have fun with the current content and with the future content that will be released.… Expand
  4. SWERY_51
    Jun 28, 2018
    8
    Obviously not design for anyone, but if you are a Versus Fighting game lover, it's a blast. Graphics are pretty decent even if the animations looks a little dull. It's very fun to play and the on-line network seems to work fine. Finally, you can select classic SFEX's musics in the option menu, which is amazing.

    Note that there is no solo mode. Only a 2 players local versus mode, a    Obviously not design for anyone, but if you are a Versus Fighting game lover, it's a blast. Graphics are pretty decent even if the animations looks a little dull. It's very fun to play and the on-line network seems to work fine. Finally, you can select classic SFEX's musics in the option menu, which is amazing.

    Note that there is no solo mode. Only a 2 players local versus mode, a training mode (in which you can fight against AI) and a challenge mode to learn combos. The rest is classic on-line modes.

    Content: 12 playable characters (13 in standard edition) and 5 stages (each one available in two versions) + the training stage.

    I just regret i can't fight AI in the Off-line Versus mode, because training mode just let you play in the training stage.

    If you are just a casual gamer looking for solo content, it's not meant for you.
    If you are an old school fighting game player, missing the good old time with your friends on games like Street Fighter EX , then it's an absolute must have!    … Expand
  5. rmaddi
    Jul 9, 2018
    9
    Okay, let's do this: from the start, Fighting EX Layer is not for everyone.

    Do you like old style arcade-fighting games? You will love Fighting EX Layer. Misses the gameplay and (non-SF) characters from Street Fighter EX series? Fighting EX Layer is perfect for you. Anybody els may get mixed feelings from this game, it's as simple as that. Gameplay wise, it works wonders, exactly    Okay, let's do this: from the start, Fighting EX Layer is not for everyone.

    Do you like old style arcade-fighting games? You will love Fighting EX Layer. Misses the gameplay and (non-SF) characters from Street Fighter EX series? Fighting EX Layer is perfect for you. Anybody els may get mixed feelings from this game, it's as simple as that.

    Gameplay wise, it works wonders, exactly what a fan would expect from a 20 reboot of sorts of the series. Even though there are few characters at the moment (13 and a possibility for more depending on how well the game sells), all of them have their own personality and playstyles so it never feels stale playing Fighting EX Layer.

    As a whole, there should be nothing but praise for Arika for been able to even putting this out. With a very reduced team working solely out of passion, the games feels incredible, with arguably even better gameplay than some of the bigger names on the FGC scene, but theres a big drawback: as it stands now, theres pretty much no single player content present on the game. Even though the game is in an early access state of sorts as it is in launch and the team responsible for it have promised an important announcement of sorts at EVO 2018 (probably regarding an arcade mode in a future patch), the game pretty much stands on it's online matches. (if you're really itching for single player action, though, there's an option at the training mode called Kumite where you can play a Survival Mode against the AI, and it's pretty fun!). Again, it's quite impressive the game being as it is on launch (no connection problems even with players from all around the world). Before someone makes the comparison, it's completely unfair to put this side to side with SF V on launch taking in consideration both the size of the company and teams related to both projects.

    All in all, this is a great fighting game that depends only on bringing in the abandoned EX scene and some new players who never got the chance on playing the old games to get into stellar proportions. If you have the 40 dollars to spend, I highly recommend to buy the light version of the game, both to try it out and see if it fits you and to support Arika's newest passion project.    … Expand
  6. Urizen22
    Jul 3, 2018
    10
    The game surely lacks in terms of contents, expecially on the 1 Player's side... but it's a grat game, the best I've seen since VF5 FS! It requires a discrete amount of practice, but when you fall in love with a character and try to master it, well, that's the moment when you discover how deep the system (and the game itself) is!
    Plus, I love to think of the community supporting Arika and    The game surely lacks in terms of contents, expecially on the 1 Player's side... but it's a grat game, the best I've seen since VF5 FS! It requires a discrete amount of practice, but when you fall in love with a character and try to master it, well, that's the moment when you discover how deep the system (and the game itself) is!
    Plus, I love to think of the community supporting Arika and showing them real love. A great game, made with heart. I just hope this love will lead to a Story Mode...    … Expand
  7. RiceCakes
    Jul 1, 2018
    10
    It’s a phenomenal game for the die hard fighting game players. It’s a ten for the gameplay, graphics and system mechanics. It was told by the developers that it will be expanded upon in the future. If you want a fun online game it’s a must buy. If you want offline single player then wait till the devs include it.
  8. EctoILLusion
    Jul 11, 2018
    9
    NOTE: Arika, the company making this game, put in all of their money into this game after an April Fools trailer. Yes, content is lacking but it will increase with continued support. They have risked it all on this game for the fans.

    I understand a complaint for lack of content but this is a unique situation. At the least, you should complain about much larger companies getting away    NOTE: Arika, the company making this game, put in all of their money into this game after an April Fools trailer. Yes, content is lacking but it will increase with continued support. They have risked it all on this game for the fans.

    I understand a complaint for lack of content but this is a unique situation. At the least, you should complain about much larger companies getting away with this kinda of stuff.

    ARCADE MODE ANNOUNCED & FREE CHARACTERS

    If you're a casual player looking for single player content then please wait to purchase this game. There's no arcade mode and you can't play against the CPU unless it is in training mode. The only single player content is trials mode (trying to do combos given for each character) and training mode. If you're a player who enjoys fighting games and has a focus on online play then this is for you. The game has ranked and casual play.

    The game play is quite fun. It'll bring you back to the 90's style of fighting games where things weren't as crazy. However, things do become a bit unique with the Gougi System. Gougi System is a pre-made deck you choose to complement your character that will give you certain perks if you activate them in a match. They are quirky, fun, and adds a bit of nuttiness to it while still being quite balanced.

    The roster of characters brings back classics from the Street Fighter EX series that Arika owns. They are diverse and fun to play. If you wanted to play Skullomania after all these years then this is the time.

    There's two modes for controls. Classic & Progressive. Classic is how most fighters play with quarter circle, dragon punch, and 360 inputs. Progressive simplifies it to one direction + a button. I personally do not enjoy Progressive as it feels completely off putting to try to relearn how to play fighting games after all these years. However, it is possible that Progressive could make it easier for players to do things one couldn't before. Too early to tell. It could even cause issues with moves accidentally coming out because you walked back & forward to punch someone but got something else.

    Overall this game is just a ton of fun to play. It's straight forward, looks great, and plays great especially online.    … Expand
  9. deyvisoon
    Aug 10, 2018
    10
    Loving the game. If you played the first one, you will like this one. Definitely worth buying.
  10. RatedCGO
    Jul 3, 2018
    8
    First of all, this game is a real miracle that exists, we were waiting a Street Fgihter EX sequel for 18 years.

    Even Arika doesn't have enough budget an faith about the making/release of this game, we insist through the years. The game right now generates polarized opinions, because some players critizices lack of content and bad design, but the old fan doensn't care and support it    First of all, this game is a real miracle that exists, we were waiting a Street Fgihter EX sequel for 18 years.

    Even Arika doesn't have enough budget an faith about the making/release of this game, we insist through the years.

    The game right now generates polarized opinions, because some players critizices lack of content and bad design, but the old fan doensn't care and support it an play it.

    The game has good online netcode and the play is really smooth, even SFV and Tekken 7 can´t reach it, FEXL nailed it from the start!!

    8/10 From a SFEX fan!!    … Expand
  11. Nysp
    May 2, 2020
    9
    Fighting EX Layer is the next step of one of the greatest fighting game classics on PSOne and Arcades, Street Fighter EX.

    Of course, there are other two games, SF EX 2 (PSOne and Arcade) and EX 3 (PS2). However, the older games has an emphasis on Street Fighter characters, the most famous series that pulled the game's marketing up. As a huge Street Fighter fan (especially from the 2D    Fighting EX Layer is the next step of one of the greatest fighting game classics on PSOne and Arcades, Street Fighter EX.

    Of course, there are other two games, SF EX 2 (PSOne and Arcade) and EX 3 (PS2). However, the older games has an emphasis on Street Fighter characters, the most famous series that pulled the game's marketing up.

    As a huge Street Fighter fan (especially from the 2D era), it always seemed clear to me that an EX series was excellent, but it was beeing a square peg in round hole. It's not canonical in the SF universe and the Arika's characters were somehow different from Capcom's. It sounded more like a crossover than a multi-character game.

    But here it is that excellent surprise: Fighting EX Layer! The game has its own identity, great gameplay, both for beginners and classics. It is a fair game, with its simple game modes, simple moves and memorable characters.

    But indeed, everything is not perfect: it could have more stages, more options (like languages change, changing the number of rounds, match time etc.). There are some misfit hitboxes as well. And I am not gonna talk about the tier list because it always seems very subjective and interesting just for hardcore players. But I'm sure, these game is gonna grow up if gets successful. A robust and expandable sequel of the series is gonna be one of the greatest fighting games of industry.

    Ah, of course, what an EXCELLENT idea of ​​bringing Terry Bogard (SNK) as a guest character from another company, something that is becoming common in fighting games (except for Street Fighter).

    Highly recommended!    … Expand
  12. Deafdumbmute
    Sep 10, 2018
    8
    It all started as an April Fool’s joke. April 1st 2017 Arika, a Japanese game developer, famous for its Street Fighter EX series from the 1990s posted footage of a Mysterious Fighting Game featuring characters that were familiar with those who played the EX series or their Fighting Layer games. Those fans didn’t quite know what to make of it. Was it really a joke? Was it DLC for anotherIt all started as an April Fool’s joke. April 1st 2017 Arika, a Japanese game developer, famous for its Street Fighter EX series from the 1990s posted footage of a Mysterious Fighting Game featuring characters that were familiar with those who played the EX series or their Fighting Layer games. Those fans didn’t quite know what to make of it. Was it really a joke? Was it DLC for another fighting game? New Street Fighter EX? Turns out that yes, it was real, although it was at the time just a prototype for a game that was being used as a way for the team at Arika to get used to using the Unreal 4 engine. The game was revealed at EVO of that year as Fighting EX Layer, a fighting game that incorporates characters from Street Fighter EX minus the Street Fighters and it’s very good indeed.

    While Arika has worked on projects like Endless Ocean and their back catalogue includes hugely successful games like Street Fighter EX, they are mainly concerned with working on games in development by other studios, so this is their return to fighting game development proper, albeit on a tight budget. This low development cost shows in the lack of bells and whistles for the game but what is here is a true love letter to fighting game fans, particularly those who grew up playing games in the arcades and even more so those who consider themselves pros – and this for me is the most important aspect of what makes the game a must for fighting game fans and purists.

    There are no tutorials to get you started and you’re on your own. You have a command list in the pause menu and an “expert mode” which is basically the Challenge Mode from other fighting games where you are given a list of combos to practice and complete. There is an Arcade Mode (added soon after launch), an Online and Offline Vs Mode and an “expert mode” … that’s it. You barely get a paragraph of text for the character endings. No character progression, no accessories, no microtransactions, just Arcade or versus modes. The truth of the matter is, that none of that matters with a fighting game this brilliant.

    The roster of characters as it currently stands is not just pretty decent… considering old school fighting game fans such as myself ever expected to see them appear anywhere ever again it’s incredible to see characters like Allen, Pullum and Skullomania returning to modern gaming, Skullo is a cult classic and his broken English victory quote makes me laugh every time. Other notable returns include favourites such as Doctrine Dark, Blaire Dame, Vulcano Rosso and Cracker Jack (now just Jack) with Terry Boggard from Fatal Fury: King of Fighters and others such as Sharon and Area set to be added through DLC plus more if the game sells well. The updated artwork for the portraits is excellent and fans of the series will also enjoy some of the original musical themes from SFEX and rearranged versions which adds a 90s nostalgic hook to the game although I really hope they add Skullomania’s theme at some point, it’s my absolute favourite in the series!

    Drilling down into the game mechanics reveals fast, aggressive and hugely enjoyable combat. There a couple of ways to play, with “Progressive” being a more accessible way of stringing together fast and furious combos often initiated with a dash into repeated light attacks that trigger special moves into cancels into more specials and more cancels which can lead to some impressively long combos that can include several supers in between. The large window for cancels means that there is huge scope for experimentation with combos with almost endless possibilities, which is an exciting prospect for fighting game pros and tacticians. The supers aren’t as bombastic as those in a bigger budget game like Street Fighter or Dragon Ball FighterZ but they still manage to land a considerable thud each time they are executed. This for me is a good thing as it keep the battle flowing quickly and the fact you can cancel from within one of these moves into another makes them even more versatile and not just time consuming special effects. On top of this mechanic is the Gougi deck system, whereby you select a Gougi deck of cards that give you up to six different buffs once you’ve completed certain conditions in a match. This could be blocking an opponent for a certain amount to gain an armour buff or one to increase speed or throw damage. There are around 15 decks in the full version of the game and experimenting to see which buffs are most useful for your playstyle adds another layer of tactics that is pretty unique and make matches much less predictable and so far, balanced. It’s yet to be seen how this will work out on the pro scene but initial reactions are positive.    … Expand
  13. MegaManX4
    Nov 30, 2018
    10
    good game. if you think its bad, chances are that you're bad xdddxddxdddddd

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 5 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. Gamers Heroes
    Aug 26, 2018
    70
    Fighting EX Layer does not have a lot of options or fighters to choose from, but it does have a lot of heart. A lot of work went into its design, and those looking for a fighter that is a little out of the ordinary should set out to master its unique system.
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  2. ZTGD
    Aug 23, 2018
    70
    Fighting EX Layer is a hard sell to casual fighting game fans. Its lack of modes is its biggest downfall. For those who grew up with Arika’s work though it is a pure joy to play. I hope they continue to support the game and add more and more content as it goes on. Perhaps it will be featured at EVO next year instead of just a side option. With the announcements of new characters, stages, and even crossover characters, the future looks bright. I just hope the momentum continues.
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  3. Destructoid
    Aug 3, 2018
    70
    As someone who has been playing fighters for nearly three decades, I can get on board with Fighting EX Layer's lack of pageantry. What I can't accept quite as earnestly is its issue with roster playstyle diversity. The foundation is there, it just needs to be built up further.
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