#Bloody roar extreme developer series#

In the end, the only word that comes to mind when I think about Bloody Roar is 'meh'. Once you complete the game, which can be done with all of the characters over the course of a weekend, there's little else to play the game for other than unlocking the bland extras. Simplicity is always a good thing, but this won't appeal to hardcore fighting fans, and doesn't lend itself to giving the game lasting replay ability. A fourth button is available and allows you to activate your 'Beast Form', and the shoulder buttons allow you sidestep. The layout is straightforward, and features a single button for kick, punch and block. The setup is very easy to pick up on your first try, which is good, but it lacks the depth that makes fighting games fun to play. The same can be said for just about anyone since the game is about as basic as they come. Players who were raised on fighting games like Street Fighter and Virtua Fighter will find themselves easily mastering Bloody Roar: Extreme's control scheme. These run the gamut from hidden characters (only one of which is exclusive to this version) to fighting game standards like Hyper Fighting mode and big head codes. I was especially disappointed in the Team Battle option since it reverts to the old 'wait-in-line' approach, rather than the more current 'tag' mode where you can call new fighters in to save your ass during matches.Īs you complete the game (which is really no chore at all), you'll be able to unlock a variety of extras. There's really nothing here to spice up the formula, which leads to an incredibly boring game. Arcade has you fighting your way through about 14 different matches before you face the big, bad-ass at the end, Versus allows you to take on your friends, and so on. For the most part, all of the modes are played just how they sound. These, of course, include Arcade, Versus, Team Battle, Survival, Time Attack and Training. The play modes found in Bloody Roar: Extreme are the same, familiar set of old stand-bys found in nearly every other fighting game on the market. Sadly, Bloody Roar Extreme provides neither.

#Bloody roar extreme developer series#

Whether it's the random quotes found between matches in any of the Dead or Alive games ('You are my brother? Now we must fight!'), or the 'I can choose 50 random words out of a dictionary and have them make more sense' endings in the Versus series of games (ie: Street Fighter vs Marvel, Capcom vs Marvel, Street Fighter vs the cast of Friends), story and a good fighting game seem destined to never meet. The same goes for games with great fighting engines. Sure, Barbarian had a great Story mode, but look at how the rest of the game turned out. The lack of a coherent story is something that has always stuck in my craw about fighting games, and it doesn't look like things will get better anytime soon. Regardless of this change, it should be noted that this new sequence does nothing to further the game's story, and can feel like a 'hey - look what I can do' sequence. Instead of the animated sequence found at the beginning of the GameCube version, the game now features a newer, 'hipper' CG-animated sequence. It's also fun to note that even though characters may speak during the game, they all become mutes during cinemas.Īmong the 'improvements' to Bloody Roar: Extreme is a new intro movie.

Sound is just as abysmal, featuring bland music and terribly lip-synced dialog. The beast transformations are also neat to watch, but are nothing outstanding. About the coolest things in the game's entire graphical package are the special effects, especially when it comes to lighting and special moves. Arenas try to spice things up a bit by including breakable walls and objects, but it's just not enough. The character models themselves are also nice to look at, but it's fairly obvious that they weren't built with the Xbox in mind. The character designs are neat, but have an almost 'haven't we seen this before' (which we have) feel. Visually, Bloody Roar Extreme isn't very impressive. They may all have different names, but it's the same old ball game in the end. Bloody Roar: Extreme is an enhanced port of Bloody Roar: Primal Fury on the GameCube, which was an enhanced port of Bloody Roar III on the PS2. I mean this in a completely literal sense since nothing has changed in the game from its previous incarnations, making Bloody Roar the next generation console equivalent of the Street Fighter II series. Fans of the 'old' Bloody Roar games can rest assured that nothing has really changed from the game's original form.