At first, all you do is run into the walls. This game is action-packed, fast-paced and intense. Acceleration of Suguri is ultimately a fighting game, mixed with a side-scrolling shooter. That means lots of rockets, lasers, explosives, beam swords and fire. While this game takes a while to become good at — or at least good enough where you can tell what’s going on amidst the shower of bullets — it is fun and entertaining.

You can choose from a variety of female characters, each having undergone body enhancements to become fearsome warriors. Now they fight to save Earth, which is on the verge of extinction. Sound odd? Not in the world of anime and manga. This game is as over-the-top as any anime fighter. But, this is hardly a bad thing; Suguri is definitely one of a kind.

Each stage has its own background and music. Each is confined to a circular area, the boundaries being marked off by bright neon circles at the edge. You have a health bar, a meter that measures your heat level and a power bar that lets you unleash deadly super attacks. Keeping all of these status attributes in mind is key to gameplay. The battles are extremely fun, once you get used to them.

The effects for each attack are and bright and vibrant and really just look good. The sound effects are nice too, with lots of whooshes, explosions and laser sounds. If you like games in which massive amounts of bullets and missiles are flying about for you to avoid and fight back with, Suguri is for you. After the round begins, you and your opponent soar around the circular ring, firing attacks back and forth, trying to dodge your enemy’s moves and fire some of your own to trap them. The key is to rack up as many attacks in a row as possible to add up damage. The more damage you do, the more your special meter fills and the more deadly attacks you can unleash. These specials range from massive laser blasts to a huge glowing ball of energy that flies around in circles.

The controls are nice and easy: The arrows move your character around, and you have three attacks buttons, Z, X and C, which you use in combat. If you hold the A key in conjunction with Z, X or C, you can use three new attacks that give your character their own twists in battle. You also have a button that makes a temporary shield. That’s about it, but it gives you plenty of options as you fly around the battlefield.

Suguri thrives on being a part of the anime genre. The art is excellent; the animations are funny and very fitting to each character’s personalities. The music, catchy rhythm driven techno, lends the game its arcade feel and adds to the lighting-fast action. Your character moves fast, attacks fast and dies fast. The real key to this game is to simply boost your reaction speeds and get to know your character’s every attack. But far from being daunting, this makes the game challenging and fun. However, I must say that if you are not a fan of the anime genre, whether you dislike it or simply aren’t accustomed to it, this game really isn’t for you. The primary attractions of this game are all centered on it being an anime game. It isn’t like your average fighting game, and that limits its audience a bit. But, if you enjoy anime games or like the style, you’ll love this game.

Acceleration of Suguri has plenty of game modes to keep you busy. To play on your own, you can have a single battle against the CPU or play through the Arcade mode, defeating each enemy to reach the boss. Beating Arcade mode unlocks a backstory for each character you beat it with, and these stories are entertaining and surprisingly lengthy, although the translation is a bit choppy. There is even a bonus character for you to find. You also can play a practice mode to test your moves without getting attacked by your enemy. Instead, you can beat up a motionless foe, much like a punching bag. Plus you get infinite health and power, so you can try your specials without charging your meter through attacking.

In each of these modes, except for Arcade, you choose how much health you and your opponent have, so you can make things easier or tougher. As for multiplayer, if you have any PC controllers, you can plug them in and play a two-player game on one computer. If you have an Internet connection, you can even play a network game against people from all over the world. In these modes, you also can set the amount of health that you have.

Having a good variety of features, attacks, levels and characters keeps this frenetic and over-the-top action game fun and fresh each time you play. Since it takes a while to become skilled at Acceleration of Suguri, you can’t master it in a day. The game stays challenging, and each battle is different from the last. If you like anime, you’ll love this game’s art style and some of its little details as well. If you like fighting games, you’ll love the mayhem that this one delivers. However, the game does get a little tiring when you get an opponent that seems to bend the game’s rules to attack and defend incredibly fast, and you just can’t beat them. On the whole, this game does stay pretty fun. This is definitely a worthwhile purchase.

So, buckle up and put on your safety helmet, because you are going to need it.