Fairy Tail 2 opens up near the end of the franchise's run, in particular in the Alvarez Empire arc. The story follows the Fairy Tail guild, a band of magical misfits who have gotten into countless scrapes with everyone from bandits to demigods. Their latest and biggest adventure brings together the entire guild against the forces of the Alvarez Empire, which is ruled by the malicious Emperor Zeref and his powerful generals, the Spriggan 12. It's up to the heroes of the Fairy Tail guild to stop him before the entire world falls under his evil sway.

Fairy Tail 2 is a game for fans of the manga and anime. The game opens up so late into the story arc that if you don't know who these characters are and why they are having adventures, you're going to be completely lost. There are some tidbits of info that summarize important people, terms and plot events, but Fairy Tail is weird enough that you can't just hop in. This isn't necessarily a flaw, but it's not a stand-alone anime tie-in in the way that something like Sandland or other tie-ins would be. This title is for fans only. I'm not a huge Fairy Tail fan, so it's difficult for me to say how appealing the fan service is, but the game tried to give every character some time to shine. However, as a relative neophyte, I was befuddled when characters appeared, vanished, seemed to die and then returned to life. It would make a lot more sense if I had all of the context.

The core combat system in Fairy Tail seems like an evolution of the Atelier Ryza system. You have a party of three characters, you only have direct control over one. Combat takes place in semi-real time. You can't move or attack freely and must wait for your character's action bar to fill up, old-school ATB style, but all action occurs in real time. The character you are controlling can attack, with only a specific number of attacks per turn. As they attack, they build up special points that can be spent on special moves. Each special move has a specific cost that goes up by one every time it is used during a turn and resets after your turn ends.

Special moves come in all shapes and sizes. Almost all of them have an associated element. Beyond that, some are area of effect (AoE), some are single target, some do damage over time (DoT), some give buffs, some give debuffs, some heal, some steal life, and more. More powerful moves tend to cost more points but gain a corresponding boost in power. You can have up to six different skills equipped at once on a character, and you unlock more as the game progresses, allowing you to mix and match skills.

There are also team-up and combo attacks. Certain strong enemies have the now-standard RPG mechanic, the break meter. Certain attacks are better at reducing break meter, while others are good at dealing health damage. Deal enough break damage, and you can reduce their meter, which can trigger a team-up attack from your allies. These team-ups not only deal damage but also have special benefits ranging from setting enemies aflame to healing your party's SP. This also raises your guild rank, which allows you to do longer combos, and it eventually unlocks the ability to use super attacks or transform into awakened forms. Once an enemy is fully "broken," they also are vulnerable to extra bonus damage so that is where you can pile on the damage.

If I had to compare the combat in Fairy Tail to another title, it's less of a standard RPG and more akin to something like Dynasty Warriors. You'll get into huge battles where you chain combos and unleash even bigger attacks, which can chain into even bigger attacks. Once everything is said and done, you've probably wiped out several dozen enemies in a single fight, and there's another almost-as-large fight just around the next corner. A huge emphasis is being able to swap between dealing huge AoE damage to facing swarms of mooks and single-target combos to the generals and bosses.

The result is a combat system that feels closer to a Warriors RPG than the actual Warriors RPGs that came out. It's flashy, focuses on button-mashing, and it often feels like raw power fantasy as you send waves of fire, heroic transformations, combos and more. It's pretty fun to turn off your brain and watch the numbers go up. I can't say it has strategic depth, but it does offer a lot of customization options.

There are flaws, but they are somewhat expected from an anime tie-in. For example, the cast is gigantic. Between actual fighters and support characters, there's an overwhelmingly large group of potential characters. However, this also means they tend to be defined more by their element and visual style than their gameplay mechanics. It's not a difficult game, so the appeal of gameplay comes in seeing cool animations as you wipe out armies. It's not a game I'd buy for the combat system on its own merits, but it does the job of letting you play as your favorite character.

Outside of combat, Fairy Tail 2 is a bit thin. There's a relatively wide-open world to explore, but the bulk of exploration involves going from spot to spot to collect items or equipment. The goal is to craft stronger skills so you can go to more dangerous areas. The big appeal in exploration is the variety of character interaction and subplots; the various Fairy Tail guildmates bounce off one another in frequently amusing or silly ways. There are some new plotlines that aren't in the manga and anime, and they add more in-depth scenarios to the various members of the cast.

Fairy Tail 2 looks great, with lots of stylish and vivid animation and a huge variety of character models. Almost every attack looks stylish, and there's a ton of effort put into making it feel like the anime. Likewise, most of the Japanese voice actors return to give their characters the proper voice work, and it's clear they have plenty of experience with the characters. While it didn't have a super-high budget like some other modern RPGs, the development team knew where to spend it to please fans of the series.

Fairy Tail 2 seems like a perfectly lovely RPG for fans of the franchise. It doesn't break any molds, and it leans heavily on fan service, but if all you want is a chance to play an RPG with your favorite cast members, it does the job. The over-the-top combat styling keeps things interesting in what would otherwise be a generic button-mashing experience, and there are enough RPG mechanics to provide the satisfaction of tricking out your favorite characters. It's not a game for people who are unfamiliar with the series, but Fairy Tail fans will be quite delighted by the experience.

Score: 7.5/10