I was very nervous (though extremely curious) with GG2:Overture. Arc System Works was taking their beloved and fantastic 2D franchise and turning it into a high-speed 3rd person action/strategy (phew!) Game. Yeah, I was INCREDIBLY mixed on this to say the least, but after playing the final product I'm happy to say that GG2:Overture turned out as good as I could have hoped, and if you give it a chance I think you'll agree too... providing you get a handle on the crazy amount of action/strategy. After picking your "captain", Sol, Sin, Dr. Paradigm, Izuna, or Valentine (all new characters except for Sol of course) you start out on a 3D battlefield with an overhead mini-map of the battlefield. The goal is to capture as many "ghosts" as you can so that you can destroy your opponents "master ghost" What are ghosts and master-ghost's exactly? Ghosts are main points on the map that you must take control so that you can gain mana points in order for you to summon your troops/army, you'll know exactly where to find the ghost's because they'll be the small black dots on the mini map. The more ghosts you take over the more troops you can summon the bigger and stronger your army is. Once you have a decent/good amount of troops to command its time to go destroy the master-ghost. The master-ghost is basically the head base of your opponent, found on the mini-map by a big black dot. The trick though is that there is a shield protecting your opponents master-ghost, and the only way it can break is attacks from ONLY your troops, not the captain. Once the shield is down your troops will continue to attack the master-ghost draining its energy but you (as in the captain) MUST deliver the final hit to get the victory. Now the combat and strategy aspects of Overture are (in my personal opinion) done very well. Combat has 2 forms, unlocked position (as in not locking on to an opponent) and locked position. Both positions have different attacks and combos for you to do. A simple example would be X,X,X,Y for a combo, but do the same in a locked position and it's a completely different combo. There are many moves and combos to learn and master. The tutorial goes through each and every one of your moves and combos and while it will definitely seem like a lot to learn, once mastered, it's no sweat at all. Now as for the strategy I'll give you simple examples. When you have your troops you press left on the d-pad to go into your command menu, once in the menu you can send a select group to protect certain ghost's that you've captured, or maybe go all out and have them all go for the master-ghost. I'll be completely honest, there's a lot MORE to the strategy but its WAY TOO MUCH to explain it all here. Just know that they didn't skimp on the strategy part, its handled and done very well. Graphics for Overture while pretty simple are good. The characters, special moves, and locations have cool detail. Nothing extraordinary but good nonetheless. Music is for the most part well done. Good amount of rock tunes to fight too though (strangely) it does have "dramatic" type music thats mixed in, a first for a Guilty Gear game. It works, period. And the controls are very easy to learn, but mastering the moves and combos is another thing entirely. All in all great layout. I'm a HUGE Guilty Gear fan. I thought that Overture would be mediocre at best and absolute garbage at worst, but damn did it surprise me when it turn out to be neither. Its great and a lot of fun (especially multiplayer). If you're a fan of the franchise AT LEAST give it a shot, it may also catch you by surprise.