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Brutal: Paws of Fury Review


Fighting games aren’t particularly supportive of the Mega CD. It’s not that they’re bad, it’s just they suffer from long loading times which detract from the pace. It’s unfortunate that Brtual: Paws of Fury suffers from the same problem as it has some great ideas that could have been built on if the loading weren’t an issue.

Brutal appears like another cutesy beat-em-up and in a way it is. The story is reminiscent of Mortal Kombat; the best fighters in the globe are invited to a remote island. Here they are given the chance to become the king of all fighting championships. Here’s the catch; they are all strange, human, cross-breed animals. The point here is that the story is simply put in place for the developers to show off some nifty animated cut-scenes explaining it. It doesn’t really ‘need’ to make sense.

After the introduction sequence (which happens to be one of the best on any game for the Mega CD) we are tempted into battle via the title screen. A very atmospheric, kung-fu film-esque song plays in the background and we press start. After another strange cut-scene involving a bear who is also a builder leaving his job to join the Brutal tournament we finally get to pick our fighter, and what a strange selection there is. To start off the game off simply, we selected Kung-fu Bunny (the ‘standard’ character).

Then after some loading we get into the action with Tai the Cheetah. Brutal plays like most fighting games should; 3 types of punch and kick (light, medium and heavy), lean back to block and up to jump. This is the classic formula laid down by such games as Street Fighter II. Unfortunately the way the character handles seems to leave a bit to be desired. The characters are very slow and ‘sticky’. They just don’t respond as quickly as you would like them to. Not only that, you’ll also find yourself only using the heavy punches and kicks as those are the only attacks that show any real damage to your opponent. Not only that but you have no special moves; you have to unlock them as you progress. Once you eventually unlock a special move you realise that you’ve unlocked a taunt which is absolutely no use to you (okay, it can heal you but you need to find the time to use it and not be completely off guard). Overall the gameplay lacks a lot and doesn’t really make for a pleasant gaming experience.

Where Brutal does shine is in its’ graphics and soundtrack. The levels all fit in well with its’ 70s kung-fu film settings. The character sprites are beautifully well drawn and their animation is really fluid. The music rounds the presentation off nicely with some up-beat, dance-styled action music that could have come straight out of The Matrix.

It’s a shame then, that Brutal is almost ruined by a sloppy gameplay engine that doesn’t give the gamer the responsiveness they need to play the game effectively. Dissapointing.



6/10


Written by Sonic Yoda on 25/9/07


Front Cover

Back Cover



Screenshots

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