Last Bronx

LAST BRONX

GS-9152
Copyright © 1996, 1997 Sega Enterprises, Ltd.
Sega Saturn
3D Fighter / 1-2 Player
¥6,800

— by Eugene Moon

LAST BRONX is the weapons-based fighting game from AM3, the R&D team within Sega's Amusement Machines division responsible for such games as SEGA RALLY, the Model 3 gun game LOST WORLD, and VIRTUAL ON. Set in a future Tokyo, LAST BRONX's story revolves around eight representatives from rival gangs fighting in a tournament to bring peace back to the streets.
LAST BRONX comes on two discs. The Arcade Disc contains the game itself, including options to play in Arcade Mode, VS Mode, Saturn Mode, Survival Mode, Time Attack Mode, Watch Mode (in which the computer fights itself), Movie Mode (where you can watch the introductory movie and the ending movies for characters that have finished the game) and Options. The Special Disc contains extra material, including the LAST BRONX Kyooshitsu (classroom), the LAST BRONX Doujou (training center), and Self-introduction Corner. The game also comes with a poster containing a moves list for each character and a set of stickers.
The first thing that struck me about this game is how much "character" AM3 was able to impart to each character. This has a great deal to do with the quality of the motion capture used for the moves. Kurosawa, in particular, has a couple of brutal moves with which to maim his opponents. In one, he does his best Al Pacino or Robert DeNiro impression by beating down the opponent with his wooden sword. For the last swing, he lifts up his rear leg and seems to put all of his weight into the blow. In another move, he grabs the opponent's head, smashes his knee into them several times, and then plants their face in the ground. It really gives an impression of moves which are vicious, rather than merely intended to hurt the other character.
The graphics are quite impressive in this port to the Saturn. The game runs in high resolution like VIRTUA FIGHTER 2 for the Saturn, yet it looks slightly better by virtue of an improvement in the way they handle the interaction between the 3-D stage and the background. Whereas VF2's backgrounds felt separate from the ring you fought in, LAST BRONX's stages feel like an integrated whole. Also impressive is the fact that a couple of LAST BRONX's rings have ceilings that rotate along with the floor when the camera's position changes. The graphics actually look much better than those in FIGHTERS MEGAMIX, the most recent Sega fighter featuring characters from various AM2 games. There is a problem with the high resolution, however, in that there is more polygon dropout than there was in FM. It occurs primarily during win poses and doesn't really affect the gameplay significantly. There are also some instances of slowdown in the game, but since combos are buffered as in VF2 (rather than dependent on timing as in SF2), this isn't much of a problem either.
As far as sound goes, the music is fairly average except for the closing credits track, which is pretty good. The voices, however, are notable not just for being clear and understandable, but for having been supplied by some prominent voice actors and actresses. The aforementioned Kurosawa is voiced by Norio Wakamoto, perhaps best known for his role as Coach Ohta in GUNBUSTE.R Some of the other voices are Kikuko Inoue as Nagi, Megumi Ogata as Yoko, Miina Tominaga as Lisa, and Yao Kazuki as Yusaku.
After having played VIRTUA FIGHTER 2 for several years, LAST BRONX's gameplay didn't really impress me all that much. Its notable features include throws that can be broken out of and guard-cancelling, a technique in which moves are retracted using the guard button. Guard-cancelling allows the player greater freedom in "rolling their own combos" and allows for a greater variety of combos. Other than that, it feels quite similar to just about every other polygon-based fighting game you might have ever played, and there just wasn't enough "stuff" to keep me interested and playing.
Perhaps this reviewer is just burned out on fighting games, but after the initial "honeymoon," LAST BRONX quickly dropped down in my list of frequently played games behind even AM3's own VIRTUAL ON. If you're new to fighting games LAST BRONX is a good choice; boasting great graphics, impressive sound, decent gameplay, and a couple of nice extras. On the other hand, jaded gamers can probably afford to pass on this one.

Rating: *** (out of 4)