A Solid Fighting Game For... GameCube?

About 4 years ago I purchased the Sony Playstation console, and with this great console came a demo disk, and so naturally the first thing I loaded up on the system was this disk. There were plenty of games on this disc, but one in particular caught my eye, this game is called Bloody Roar. Now I'm not too big of a fan when it comes to fighting games, but the demo for Bloody Roar was incredibly fun, the demo only had 2 playable characters and 2 arenas, but I kept coming back for more. I decided to purchase this game, but after searching far and wide it was nowhere to be found. Shortly after playing the demo a sequel to Bloody Roar was released, somehow I missed that one too, I can't exactly remember why I didn't buy it. Well after the release of Bloody Roar 3 on the Playstation 2 console, I pretty much forgot about the series, until I read that Bloody Roar 3 was going to be ported to GameCube, I quickly made a personal note to myself, and set aside $50 for this game , I wasn't going to miss out yet again, and thankfully I didn't.

Bloody Roar: Primal Fury is a traditional 3 Dimensional fighting game; the first fighting game released on GameCube (if you don't count Smash Bros. Melee). Fighting games are something that Nintendo has really lacked on their consoles in the last few years, and so this game is warmly welcomed on the GameCube. Bloody Roar: Primal Fury has one really large feature that makes it stand out from other fighting games; the ability for any character to morph into powerful beasts in the heat of battle.

Now take this possible scenario, you are playing against a friend that is pounding you to a pulp, your health meter is extremely low, and just a couple more well placed hits could reign your friend the victor, but suddenly your character transforms into a menacing beast with more powerful attacks and new combos, you make a huge comeback using some attacks your character gained when they transformed, and with a few well placed hits you come out as the winner. It's all possible with Bloody Roar: Primal Fury, some fights become unpredictable and can sway in the favor of any person at any time.

The combo system can seem really shallow at times, that's why people are so quick to label this game as a "button masher", you can probably guess what that is just by reading it. Now I'm not going to disagree with these people, Bloody Roar: Primal Fury is in fact a button masher, but to a lesser extent than others proclaimed as button mashers. The reason I say so is because while a beginning player will resort to pushing the attack buttons randomly in hopes of getting lucky, I've noticed that professional players will usually come out on top, with the correct use of strategically transforming into a beast, and memorizing combos the professional player will most likely come out on top.

Characters Where Else Can You Watch a Rabbit Beat The Hell Out of a Tiger?
Bloody Roar: Primal Fury has some pretty cool looking characters, but what's truly impressive are the beast transformations, most of the beasts are based off of real animals, but some are just made up. Some beasts have certain special characteristics, a prime example is how Alice, when in rabbit form can jump extra high. Some of these characters are extremely cool to play as, the character "Long" comes to mind, while others just look annoying, Busuzima is the ultimate example of what I'm talking about.

Here are some of the beasts that the game's characters are capable of transforming into: Wolf, Rabbit, Half-beast, Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Mole, Chameleon, Insect, Bat, Unborn, Iron Mole, and Chimera. I may have forgotten a few, so if I did don't feel shy about leaving me a comment along with a correction. I'm not sure if I mentioned this or not, but each character has a particular beast that they can transform into, they can't transform into whichever beast they feel like, only the beast designated to that character.

Rated Teen For Suggestive Themes and Violence
The teen rating on this game is well deserved, you can expect quite a bit of violence, and in following the trend the developers also included some suggestive themes. For example, sometimes after winning a match the character Jenny will feel herself up and ask if "you want some more". I'm not exaggerating that either, the developer; Eighting probably decided to use these themes to add more appeal to the game. Bloody Roar: Primal Fury also uses what I like to call the "Dead or Alive Technique", the developers decided to make the female's bosoms bounce whenever possible, and so the game may not be suitable for anyone under say... 12.

New Additions To The GameCube Version
Since this game originated on the PlayStation 2, a couple enhancements have been made. I'm not totally sure, but I believe there are 2 new characters in the game, I haven't unlocked any new characters, I'm not too good at the game right now, but I'm working on it.

From what I hear the graphics have been slightly enhanced, but I haven't played the PlayStation 2 version, so I can't be totally sure of this. The game stays at a constant 60 frames per second, and features some pretty good looking texturized polygons. This game won't make your jaw drop, but it is satisfying to look at, even if the backgrounds are a little dull.

The single player mode is nice, but I particularly enjoy the multiplayer vs. mode, it's what keeps me coming back for more. The single player mode has you fighting fight after fight and advancing towards a goal with each victory, a commonplace when it comes to fighting games, but I prefer Bloody Roar: Primal Fury over almost every fighting game I've played, which isn't much, but this game still isn't as good as Street Fighter 2, Primal Rage, or even Soul Caliber.

Some of the game's levels are destructible, for example in one certain level if you hit your enemy right you can knock them through the floor, and the match will continue on the lower level. Something I really like about the fighting engine is the ability to sidestep, sure this feature is available in other fighting games, but I'm playing this game. Sidestepping can easily save you from a couple hits, and can be the difference between losing and winning, professionals will master the perfect timing for sidestepping to avoid major damage.

While the beast transformations can save a character, you can't always use them when you need to the most, your beast meter must fill up before you can transform. If your meter fills up even more then your character will start glowing, and will gain even more power when transforming. This also adds a layer of strategy to the game, professionals will eventually learn exactly when to transform to gain the biggest advantage, button mashers will generally have little or no pattern to their attacks.

All in all I would say that veterans of more complex fighting games may not appreciate Bloody Roar: Primal Fury as much as most people, being somewhat of a beginner to the genre allows me to experience the maximum enjoyment to be had from this title. Truth be told, the combo system isn't very deep, and people who simply push buttons can pull off impressive looking combos, but with enough practice the button mashing tactics will not help when against a player with a planned strategy, and with a couple combos memorized. Personally my favorite characters are Alice and Long, Alice is more for having fun in multiplayer, but I generally only play as Long when I need to get serious, like in Arcade Mode.

My Ratings For: Bloody Roar: Primal Fury

Graphics 8/10
This is a pretty nice looking game, the character models are extremely detailed, textures are great, but the backgrounds are a bit boring. Thankfully the developer didn't resort to using pre-rendered graphics, this would have made the game look less beautiful. Like I mentioned earlier, from what I've heard, the graphics have been noticeably improved from the PlayStation 2 version of the game, textures have improved, and the character models look better. I must say, Bloody Roar: Primal Fury offers a lot graphically, most of the beauty lies within the character designs, which are pretty nice looking. The lack of ultra detailed backgrounds doesn't take anything away from the play experience, you probably won't even initially notice this, I only noticed it after I read about it. All in all the graphics are solid, and the framerate makes the game run smoothly, even graphics nitpickers will enjoy this title.

Both the characters and beasts look great, the detail extends down to the muscle definition evident in some of the characters. The characters are impressive looking, I don't see any real graphical flaws when it comes to them, and the beasts all look like what I would expect them to look like; animals with a few human characteristics. If it wasn't for the somewhat lacking backgrounds, this game would be almost breathtaking.

Textures are very nice, and the colors are great, there's no gaping flaw when it comes to the texture style that this game uses. Textures are pretty crisp also, and I haven't been able to find a single jagged polygon in this game so far, and I have been playing it for quite some time now. Particle effects, background movement, the added lighting and shadow effects, and transparencies are all impressive, what's more is that the game stays at a constant 60 frames per second, you can't really complain about this game when it comes to the textures and effects, all in all a pretty good package.

Story 7/10
In recent years the story element in most fighting games has become more and more important, Bloody Roar: Primal Fury doesn't disappoint this trend, as the story is above average. The story in this game isn't that big of an element, but based off of the anime cinema at the beginning of this game leads me to believe that this game is partially based off of an anime series from Japan, but I could be wrong and the cinema could have been developed just for this game, instead of being taken from the series. So all in all, the story isn't bad, but it's not a key element towards the enjoyment of this game, it can be easily disregarded while playing.

Warning: This Paragraph May Contain Spoilers
Zoanthropes are humans that have a unique ability, they can transform into beasts at will. Surprisingly enough, humans and Zoanthropes have managed to live peacefully for many years, but after rumors start spreading around that a group of humans are kidnapping and experimenting on these Zoanthropes to find out the source of their power, they become a bit worried. The Zoanthropes decide to host a fighting tournament to bring the 2 races closer together, the winner will be deemed as the Zoanthrope Champion, and will recieve a cash prize, but not everything is as it seems...

Control 8.5/10
The controls are very crisp and responsive, but they seem to benefit beginners more so then professionals. Beginners will most likely be able to pull of impressive looking combos by mashing down on random buttons, while professionals will memorize these combos and know exactly what they are doing. Bloody Roar: Primal Fury is fairly easy to jump right into, and beginners won't have any problem pulling off these combos at random. Sidestepping is also nice, and executed with ease. Altogether I would say that the controls are very nice, the only reason I didn't rate it higher is because of the button mashing that is sometimes required to win.

Sound 7/10
The audio portion of this game isn't bad, but I expected a little more from this title. This game contains tracks that I would somewhat expect to see in a Sonic 3-D game, you know what I'm talking about, some songs sound so... 80s-ish. I can remember any particularly great songs from this game, but I do remember that I never felt the urge to turn down the volume and listen to something else. I must agree with other players though, voice overs would have been great for this title, I'm talking about more then just after battle taunts, and I'm pretty sure they had plenty of room on the GameCube disc to store them, but I guess Eighting/Hudson was just a little lazy.

Sound effects are above average, the crashing of surrounding objects, punches, kicks, and noises from the characters are all included in the game, and the transformation from human to beast makes a cool sound. All in all, you won't be disappointed sound effects wise, but nothing particularly stands out in this field either.

Multiplayer 9/10
I can't think of a single fighting game that doesn't have a multiplayer mode, in the case of Bloody Roar: Primal Fury I personally believe that the multiplayer mode is more enjoyable than Arcade Mode. Vs. Mode adds a layer of replayability to this game, and it's a good way to hone your skills, or even just to scare your friends as you transform into a large hulking beast to inflict massive damage. That's right, this game brought one of my friends into screaming out of frustration, I beat him everytime. Becoming a master at this game will take time, but since this game is so fun I'm willing to donate the time required to beat it 3 times over.

Fun Factor 8.5/10
This game is easily my favorite next generation fighter, sure games like Virtua Fighter 4 and Dead or Alive 3 may be the better games, but they are a little overly serious for me, being the beginner I am. I don't even like fighting games as a whole, but I enjoy Bloody Roar: Primal Fury quite a bit, and I will definitely be purchasing the sequel when it comes out. This is a solid title, but I only recommend it to people that don't play many fighting games, because to be honest it is a bit shallow, and this may turn away fans of the genre. If you are a fan of fighting games and are impressed with the way this game looks then by all means give it a shot, just don't expect it to be the next Virtua Fighter.

Overall 8.7/10