Fighting Force 64 Review

If you haven't played the PlayStation version, and you are only interested in the game because of your fond memories of playing Final Fight or Streets of Rage, you'd better rent this one first.

Fighting Force 64 is a boring beat-'em-up that doesn't offer anything more than its PlayStation counterpart - unless you count inferior sound and slowdown. If you haven't played the PlayStation version, and you are only interested in the game because of your fond memories of playing Final Fight or Streets of Rage, you'd better rent this one first.

You play as one of four characters: Hawk Manson, Ben "Smasher" Jackson, Mace Daniels, or Alana McKendrick. The characters have the same basic attacks, but they also have their own attributes and special moves. Playing the game basically consists of entering a new area, beating up all the generic bad guys the game throws at you, then moving on. There are seven different levels composed of 25 different stages. One nifty gameplay element that mixes the game up a bit is that you occasionally get to decide what level you'd like to go to next.

The only problem with the game is that once you've gone through a few levels, and you start seeing the same types of enemies and weapons over and over again, the game simply gets boring. You must stay in certain areas of a level until all the enemies in that section have been defeated. But there are a seemingly endless number of enemies for each section of the game, and they attack you in the same manner over and over again. This repetitiveness turns the game into mindless button pressing after a while. The method of attack from the beginning of the game to the end is basically the same: punch, punch, punch, or kick, kick, kick. The only strategy involved is avoiding letting your character get surrounded by multiple enemies.

Visually, Fighting Force 64 is on par with the PlayStation version, though it's not without its differences. The polygonal characters move realistically and look fairly detailed. The 3D environments look a little drab, but they manage to get the job done. The game does, however, suffer from some slowdown when too many objects and characters are on the screen at the same time. The slowdown is extremely noticeable when you are in a two-player game, and it is obvious enough to affect gameplay.

The camera view is, for the most part, always fixed from a diagonal three-quarter view that lets you see most of what's happening around you. The only problem we noticed regarding the camera happened during a two-player game. The view tried to shift from one character to another, causing nothing but confusion. The sound and music was poor and consisted of all the typical cheesy punch-and-hit sound effects that we've heard a million times before.

In the end, Fighting Force 64 is a lackluster game that could have been good if the designers had created different types of enemies and offered more attacks for both the playable characters and the enemies. But as it is, the game gets too boring, too fast. If you and a friend are looking for a new game to rent that lets you simply pound buttons, you might get a thrill out of Fighting Force for a night - anything beyond that and you're just throwing your money away.

The Good

  • N/A

The Bad

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