In fact, despite the cool-looking characters, the character design is, ironically, where the game goes flat. Graphically, the game is sweet, with great shadows, detailed textures in both the background and on the characters, and likable but yet bizarre design character design. At the end of a battle, with little energy left, you can hit your transform button (which pushes your opponent back), and then perform combos to waste their sorry asses as a last resort. Add to that the "Rave" button (would it have been a "Rap" move if the game appeared in the '80s?), which doubles your strength, and you've got yourself a game to play for months to come. Besides being visually enticing, the beasts pack an entire arsenal of blinding, kick-ass moves special to their animal side. The animal transformations prove to be more than just a good marketing ploy, too. When you get really good (like us!), you can get at least a multiple-hit combos, (like the 17-hit combo that I unfortunately experienced).
You need not just learn how to fight, react, and play defense, but move up a solid learning curve that's built into the game. There are combos, but you need to find and link them yourself. The combo-system isn't as damage-heavy as games like Tekken or Killer Instinct, something I like. Alice is speedy and agile, but doesn't do as much damage, and characters like Yugo, Bakuryu, and Mitsuko are generally well-balanced. And like Zangief in Street Fighter, he's an acquired taste. While Greg has massively powerful moves that do a lot of damage, he is a slow guy who can be very frustrating at times. Bloody Roar is not an example in turning around, as gamers will often find themselves somehow trapped, unable to simply turn around and fight back, and losing points more often than not.īut Bloody Roar is a good example of balance. With the exception of Virtua Fighter 3, I haven't seen a game that handles turning around that well. The game also contains two health meters: a sweet, complex little power bar that enables you to grow back your health to a certain degree and a Beast bar, which measures your beast power. Although it initially seems as if there aren't a lot of moves, half- and quarter circles, and easy-memorize moves are here in abundance, while high frame rates and a speedy graphic engine enable moves to be executed quickly and without wait. Technically, there is little to complain about.
You also can turn side-stepping off in the options menu if you want, but in my opinion, that takes away all of the fun. The mastery of the side-step is not to be ignored, as the fighting system is build around it, so for those who ignore it, you'll be sorry (and you'll lose a lot, too). Shoulder buttons L1 and L2 enable side-stepping that's more effective than even Tekken 3, which is a big deal, since Tekken 3, well, is Tekken 3 (this is poetry, no?) Circle turns you into a beast, Square is punch, X is kick, and Triangle is Rave Mode.
The full realm of movement doesn't always enable gamers to get away with every single move, since round-house kicks and punches will still connect, but there is nothing better than trapping your opponent in the corner with a quick dodge to the side. Add to that two interesting ploys - the metamorphosis of your character into an animal and a Rave Mode which doubles your strength and simultaneously leaves you twice as vulnerable, and gamers now have a full-on contender for the top spot in all 3D fighting games.įor those of you who love the idea of real 3D fighting, this game is all about the third dimension.
Taking cues from Tobal's smooth, 3D movement the simple, effective, and killer moves from Virtua Fighter 3 and three-times playback cinema from Fighting Vipers, Bloody Roar implements each of these aspects with skill and taste. The most mind-bending part of this is that Hudson, which created the horrific, pathetic Dual Heroes for N64 in Japan (and which can't pay to find a publisher for it in the West), can make a sound, deep, original fighter like Bloody Roar. Called Beastorizer in the arcade, Bloody Roar is a schoolbook example of how to take the best attributes from past fighting games and hone them into one great beat-'em-up. N64), the N64 would be a furry, flattened roadkill.Ĭase in point is Hudson's brilliant Bloody Roar. If the battle for console superiority were based on fighting games alone (PSX Vs.