It's too bad that this game kicks off with the infamous "WHEAR'S THAT WARRANT" line, because it's actually a perfectly acceptable brawler with an undeserved bad reputation. Yes, it's a Final Fight clone, and a rather shameless one at that. And no, it isn't as gritty as FF, nor does it feature characters and tunes as memorable as FF's. But it does control very well, and it has nice backgrounds and huge sprites (though the animation is pretty poor).
People cite the lack of "moves" as a major issue, but I don't particularly care, as I'm a button-masher for the most part when I play old-school brawlers, and I find that hard-core fans who speak of "strategy" in these games are usually full of it. It is rather odd that the designers didn't include stuff to break and weapons to pick up, but again, these are minor things: tossing the occasional knife and lugging around the occasional wrench never adds much in the way of "variety" for me anyway.
Lack of two-player mode is something that even I find fault with, however, especially considering the two heroes pledge to GO DOWN FIGHTING TOGETHER in the heartwarming opening cinema. Also, the game drags a bit towards the end. The developers did a decent job with enemy variation during the first two or three stages, but then the same bums appear ad nauseam--typical for a brawler, but even the tunes repeat themselves here.
It all leads up to a final boss that they had a nice idea for (even though he's easy as cake to beat, as are all the other enemies), and the final battle is accompanied by a quality tune, one that starts off with Metallica-esque riffs before hitting its stride with catchy hooks. Most of the tunes are pretty good, actually, although many of them are a little too laid-back and upbeat for me; I prefer Final Fight's urgent, gritty numbers. I must admit that I get pretty pumped up when I hear the track that plays during the opening cinema, however.
Even considering what people perceive to be flaws, there's no way that this game deserves to be lumped in with the likes of Rival Turf and Captain America at the bottom of the old-school brawler heap. As a matter of fact, I'd say it's one of my favorites, behind only Final Fight and Streets of Rage. It's certainly a "biding time" sort of affair rather than an experience that will actually engross you; if you're willing to accept that, you'll probably have a good time with it.
Someone forgot to tell these clods they're in a one-player game.
So, who will it be... Cody or mohawked Haggar?
The developers didn't do a bad job with the enemy and environment designs, though things do start to drag a bit during the later levels.
The Dragon Zone bosses aren't very difficult to hunt down...
No comments:
Post a Comment