Real Bout Maniac
Corporal Dick,
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2001
- Posts
- 885
I haven't had a whole lot of time to put into it yet, but I can already say right now that this is probably one of the most fun games I've played in a while.
As Lee posted in another thread, the gameplay isn't very deep (pretty much standard for the genre), but the control is top-notch, graphics are detailed and colorful, the animation is good, and the music is rockin'! <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">
The actual engine is pretty standard for this type of game, but what really makes it stand out is the combo engine. The way you can link the attacks together really adds another whole dimension of fun, IMO. You can link all sorts of attacks to create your own chains, and there are also air juggles aplenty! <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0"> You can also mix thrown weapons such as shurikens, bombs, dirks, etc. into the combos(used by pressing the D-button), and each character also has 2 special moves activated by pressing "down, down" and either A or B. And just like in one-on-one fighting games, these can be implemented into your combos for some truly devastating effects! <IMG SRC="smilies/smirk.gif" border="0">
BTW, for some reason the combo engine kind of reminds me of that old (Playstation?) game, Batman Returns (maybe Guardian Heroes for the Saturn as well - can someone else confirm this?) , in that a lot of the high combo numbers come from hitting multiple enemies during the same barrage. If you're pounding on one opponent, and then a second walks into the hits, this will be figured into your hit count. I've even seen times where I'll be hitting an enemy on one side of the screen, turn and run to the other side to attack a different guy, and the hit meter will keep going as if it were all one big attack. Kind of goofy, but fun in it's own way! <IMG SRC="smilies/tongue.gif" border="0">
Each character also has a "super move" done by pressing "down, up + AB", but this doesn't seem to be too helpful. You seem to need a full energy bar (separate from your life bar) to do this, but this gets depleted pretty easily during the normal course of fighting (your other two regular moves draw from it), and it fills up VERY slowly.
As has been said by others before, the game has a rather high difficulty. There aren't that many "life up" items that I can see, and the fact that your "Super Special" seems nigh useless makes it quite a challenge, but the controls are spot on, and everything just seems put together so well that you more than likely won't even notice it (if you're like me, you'll be too busy trying to put together your own nasty combos on the hapless villains! <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">)
All in all, it's a GREAT game - probably the best Neo game I've picked up in quite some time. While not really ground-breaking for the genre, it's chock-full of that old-school beat-em-up fun you don't see much nowadays, and for that reason alone, would be worth picking up for anyone even remotely interested in this field.
As Lee posted in another thread, the gameplay isn't very deep (pretty much standard for the genre), but the control is top-notch, graphics are detailed and colorful, the animation is good, and the music is rockin'! <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">
The actual engine is pretty standard for this type of game, but what really makes it stand out is the combo engine. The way you can link the attacks together really adds another whole dimension of fun, IMO. You can link all sorts of attacks to create your own chains, and there are also air juggles aplenty! <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0"> You can also mix thrown weapons such as shurikens, bombs, dirks, etc. into the combos(used by pressing the D-button), and each character also has 2 special moves activated by pressing "down, down" and either A or B. And just like in one-on-one fighting games, these can be implemented into your combos for some truly devastating effects! <IMG SRC="smilies/smirk.gif" border="0">
BTW, for some reason the combo engine kind of reminds me of that old (Playstation?) game, Batman Returns (maybe Guardian Heroes for the Saturn as well - can someone else confirm this?) , in that a lot of the high combo numbers come from hitting multiple enemies during the same barrage. If you're pounding on one opponent, and then a second walks into the hits, this will be figured into your hit count. I've even seen times where I'll be hitting an enemy on one side of the screen, turn and run to the other side to attack a different guy, and the hit meter will keep going as if it were all one big attack. Kind of goofy, but fun in it's own way! <IMG SRC="smilies/tongue.gif" border="0">
Each character also has a "super move" done by pressing "down, up + AB", but this doesn't seem to be too helpful. You seem to need a full energy bar (separate from your life bar) to do this, but this gets depleted pretty easily during the normal course of fighting (your other two regular moves draw from it), and it fills up VERY slowly.
As has been said by others before, the game has a rather high difficulty. There aren't that many "life up" items that I can see, and the fact that your "Super Special" seems nigh useless makes it quite a challenge, but the controls are spot on, and everything just seems put together so well that you more than likely won't even notice it (if you're like me, you'll be too busy trying to put together your own nasty combos on the hapless villains! <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">)
All in all, it's a GREAT game - probably the best Neo game I've picked up in quite some time. While not really ground-breaking for the genre, it's chock-full of that old-school beat-em-up fun you don't see much nowadays, and for that reason alone, would be worth picking up for anyone even remotely interested in this field.
