Bloody Roar

BLOODY ROAR

Copyright (C) 1997 Hudson Soft & Eighting / Raizing
Sony Playstation, 1-2 Player(s)
¥5800

— by Chris Kohler

Ever since STREET FIGHTER II, it seems practically every software company has put out a fighting game. Unfortunately, very few are worth anyone's time. Gamers these days are faced with a new challenge—to weed through them all to find a good title. Most are copycats, while others are just plain bad. At first glance, I would have said that BLOODY ROAR falls under the copycat category. But thanks to the innovative "beast" ability of each character, this title couldn't be more original.
BLOODY ROAR (also known as BEASTORIZER) has graphics that remind me a lot of TEKKEN 2, the most popular fighting title on the PlayStation. The graphics engine is almost identical, which is a bonus for the game. In fact, if it weren't for the Hudson Soft logo at the beginning, I would have thought this was a Namco title. It even has the popular Namco-style practice mode with directional arrows to show your moves at the bottom of the screen. BLOODY ROAR also features the enclosed ring element and many of the flashy special effects of the Sega Saturn game FIGHTING VIPERS.

So what's different about BLOODY ROAR? It's the first game I've seen that allows your character to change into an alternate form and back during the battle. This adds a whole new level to the gameplay, unheard of before.
The premise of the game is based around eight characters who are all lycanthropes (werewolves, etc.). Each one has the ability to change into a half-human, half-animal version of himself, thus gaining incredible strength and power. This transformation also gains back a small amount of precious life for the character. As you would expect, each character's persona reflects that of their animal side. For example, Alice is very fast, dexterous, and cute—that's because she is part hare.
The control is quite good. (I won't go too deep into this area, because I don't claim to be an expert player.) The game features most of the moves and specials that you would come to expect in a fighting game: juggle combos, reversals, throws; but the game does not have any projectile attacks. It compensates, instead, with a variety of interesting throws. And characters gain unique moves when in their animal form, adding to the diversity. Even the mere act of transforming can be used as an attack.
The music is average and the sounds are nice. The music features both an arcade mix and a PlayStation mix. As for the voices, characters speak in their native languages, and none of them got on my nerves, thankfully. In my opinion, the best part about this game is its options. This game has all (and I do mean all!) the options that you have ever seen in other fighting games and a ton more. In fact, I can safely say I've never seen a game with so many extra features and options. To list them all here would take too much space so I'll just go over a few of my favorites. One of the play modes is called Watch, and it lets you do just that. You can pick two characters and watch the computer do its best to defeat itself. This is useful to learn new strategies and combos from the computer without having to concentrate on playing at the same time. A special Omake menu lists over 13 hidden options that can be unlocked by completing the game using certain characters under a certain amount of time. And best of all, anime fans in particular will get a kick out of the Art Gallery section. It features over forty original pieces of art that were created both before and after the game was finished. It includes both anime and manga style versions of all the characters, and some who didn't make it into the game.
With decent control, nice visuals and more options than imaginable, BLOODY ROAR gets a good grade in my book. If I can say one thing about BLOODY ROAR, it's that you definitely get your money's worth.

Rating: *** (out of 4)