2XKO Comments in Progress – Closed Beta Impression

I think there has never been a fighting game before than 2xko released for a long time. Between three EVO demos and two “Alpha Lab” tests, Riot's exciting League of Legends theme 2V2 Tag Fighter repeatedly popped up in my life and then gradually faded from survival until I fell down with friends Ekko Ekko and Ahri next time. But in the end, with the recent closed beta, the 2xko will stay here (if everyone is not fully available), which means it's time to see why I've been expecting this exciting tag fighter.

There are a lot to be taken apart, so let's start by focusing on simple controls. Unlike most fighting games that offer at least traditional command input for special actions (e.g. those arcade cabinets that date back to Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat), 2xko reduces all its special and super moves to a single or simultaneous two bondage. So, what you didn't do is press the S1 button instead of doing a quarter-blur forward motion for the fireball. If you want to do Super, press one of the attack button and one special button; and, if you want to do the final attack, press two special buttons at the same time.

It's a double-edged sword because it does make it a little easier for full-time novices who are having trouble with quarter-loop or dragon punch input, but it will also change the four-button, light, medium and heavy attack buttons, as well as a tag button, and a six-shot game that will be finalized. Most people will also use dash and parihong, putting every button on the standard controller at work.

As a result, I felt like my hands lost on the 2xko Moreso controller than any other fighting game I've ever played because my brain had to parse which special move was with which special button and which direction I had to stick to. Ultimately, it's easy for me – a person who promises thousands of hours to train my muscle memory to train my muscle memory, which is how the fighting game works – input special movements related to punch or kick into the punch or kick button instead of trying and remembering if they place it on S1 or S2. This is the learning curve I was able to overcome in the end, but despite that, I was eager for classic/modern control schemes such as the 6 Street Fighter 6 to use.

The second big thing is that 2xko uses an active tag system, similar to what is used in games like Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle and Power Rangers: Grid for Grid. The idea is that each character has two auxiliary actions that can be asked to perform, and once the attack is completed, they will stay in the pose for a few seconds before returning to the screen. At any time, when auxiliary characters are on the screen, you can press the label button to swap controls. This opens the door to potentially tricky hybrid opportunities, especially when you are able to sandwich the target between the auxiliary and the point characters.

The system works very well here in 2xko, especially since many characters have special movements that seem to be specially designed. For example, both vi and ekko have special features that allow them to cross the other side of their opponents, the downside is that they are usually punished. However, if you cover them in terms of assists, not only will you make the crossover safe, but you can get a free left/right mix chance by exchanging another character. This is just a basic example, once you start digging into the techniques of some of these characters, you can find something absolutely dirty to do with your opponent.

All this before adding the fuse to the mix. Just like the grooves in the Capcom vs SNK series, Fuses is an extra small bonus you carry around, allowing you to break an established rule. For example, usually once you use Super, the combination ends. But with the double you can do a super and then tag in the companion role for them to do Their Super adds extra damage and switches characters in the transaction. Usually you only allow one active tag per auxiliary call, but with a freestyle fuse, you can call your assist, active tag, make a few hits, and then active tags back to the dot character again. These fuses can completely change your approach so you can use the team and spend the meter and try to find a way that suits my play style, and the best thing about my team is fun.

If you don't want to learn two characters and just want to focus on one character, there are two fuses that will allow you to do so. Both Juggernaut and Sidekick give you a role with only one life stick, but make up for their health, a higher defense, start with two supers instead of one bar, and can have up to five supers five bars instead of three.

2xko role community layer list

2xko role community layer list

Juggernaut also has the added advantage of being able to force swap opponents’ characters, focus on healthy characters, and prevent them from regaining gray life, while Sidekick allows you to reduce the damage caused by pressing the button pressing through the enemy’s attack. You can also charge your assist mobile by holding the tag button, allowing them to go a long way before actually making the attack. You do lose the ability to perform active tags, which is one of the most interesting aspects of 2xko, but, however, when the tag fighter finds a way to let us focus only on mastering a single character, I like it without having to be the same as two or three.

However, the best unique feature of 2xko is that it is a fighting game that can be played with friends. In duo mode, each person controls his or her character, while off-screen players are players who can call assists, while the other person is someone who has to perform an active tag to give up control of his or her partner. It is both a fun way to experience fighting games with a skilled friend, which doesn’t have to beat each other, and it can also be a way to introduce people to the genre and be able to give them real-time feedback.

If there is a huge 2xko weakness at the moment, it is its roster size. Currently there are only nine characters, Riot promises to only add 1 character to start. Even if ten aren't even a lot for a 1V1 fighter, for the tagged fighter you need to find two characters that fit your play style (unless you decide again to be a fuse with the Swordsman or partner). While it really sucks and leads to a lot of repetitions, you fight the same characters and the same team over and over again, it's a blow, at least softened by the excellent design of a few characters. Whether it's Ekko and his tricky clone game, Yasuo's wild combo routes make him stand up and challenge himself to bounce his opponents on the screen, VI's crazy moves and Whiff punishment abilities, or Illaoi's Tentacle settings, these are the most fun fighting game characters I've ever played. Its advantage is that due to the 2xko combo and the flexibility of the fuse system, I rarely see any of these characters in exactly the same way as two different people.

Having said that, it's too early to make proper comments for 2xko, as we haven't seen everything yet. For example, there are ranking modes, and the tenth character on the launch roster – once the store is more fully populated with cosmetics purchased with game currency, I definitely want to see how the progress of free playback feels. But for now a lot of An exciting warrior is coming.

Mitchell Saltzman is a senior guide producer at IGN. You can find him on Twitter @jurassicrabbit