home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Cheet Sheets 1995 February
/
CHEET38.ZIP
/
INSTALL.DAT
/
4OMF.TXT
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1995-02-07
|
3KB
|
54 lines
~One Must Fall
Review by Neil Hopkins
You know me by now - a PC genre snob, looking down my nose at the
twin staples of the console world, platformers and beat-em-ups.
Well, I have a small confession to make. I do enjoy the occasional
platform game - Commander Keen and Jazz Jackrabbit have both enjoyed
a residency on my hard drive - and now against all the odds I have
found a beat-em-up that I enjoy.
Why do I hate beat-em-ups so much? The contrived scenarios apart,
it's just the feel of the things. It's not like any combat that I
have ever been in involved in - OK, so I've never had a Street Fight
but I have some experience of Judo and Karate, and I fence
regularly. The characters do not seem to have any mass, and success
seems to depend soley on joystick waggling and button thumping.
So why do I like One Must Fall?
For one thing, I'm a sucker for giant Japanese robots and Epic have
captured the Manga feel to a tee. The graphical style follows
through from the option screens to the post-match analysis, and
suits the theme of the game. Likewise the soundtrack is an
appropriately techno BPM affair, with all the usual thumps, crashes
and thuds. The sound of a robot being frazzled when it is body
slammed into the side of the electrified arena makes me wince! The
way that the screen shakes, the robots reel from repeated blows and
the sparks and debris that fly from successful strikes lend depth
and weight to this game.
A comparison with the supposed gore of Mortal Kombat et al is worth
making. The feeling of desperation as your stunned robot is backed
into a corner is palpable, something that the flying red pixels and
ludicrous death moves and combos of other beat-em-ups simply do not
deliver.
The game play contains the right mix of strategy and tactics,
particularly in the tournament mode. You need to earn money in a
series of combats to upgrade your robot to face tougher opponents.
You also have to pay the repair bill for your robot, which can make
a nasty dent in your profits! The cut scenes include a pre-fight
taunt from your opponent, complaints from your chief engineer if
your robot is badly damaged, and a post match analysis by a TV
sports commentator which usually is the spur to having just one more
fight.
That, I think, is the key to the success of One Must Fall - that
subtle hook of addictive gameplay, that rewards repeated play and
development of strategy. Compared to the overpriced and overhyped
Rise of the Robots, One Must Fall is a superb game. Well worth a
download, or a visit to your local shareware shop, particularly if
you are the sort of person that doesn't normally play beat-em-ups.