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Review: Groove On Fight |
Oh god, how I wanted this game. I’m a huge fan of the art of Range Murata… so when I heard he did the character designs for a fighting game, I was immediately erect. After finally acquiring the game (despite a long wait), *glances at ObiJay* I could hardly wait to try it out. And so starts the day… the day of the incident.
I put the disc in my Saturn and eagerly pushed power… anticipating a great, stylish fighter. Let me tell you, the intro fufilled my expectations. A gritty, fast paced montage of sketches blur past the screen, reminding you of an old, decaying film. Let me tell you, folks, my pupils were as wide as dinner plates. Yet nothing could prepare me for what I was about to experience… I’ve never had a fantasy world crash down so hard before.
But before I get into that, let’s go over the system, shall we? First off, the game uses a 6 button style… but with a bit of a twist. Normal punches and kicks come in the light and strong variety, punches being on top and kicks being on the bottom as usual. Then you have two… er… other buttons. Your third “punch” is called a GA. I have no idea what it stands for, but it works as an overhead attack… a very slow overhead attack. Your third “kick” on the other hand comes out quite quickly. This is your DA, or Dash Attack. It essentially acts as a roll, but you come out of it with an attack of some kind. Note that these two moves are counted as either punches or kicks when doing specials. QCF+P can also mean QCF+GA, just as QCB+K can work with QCB+DA. Oh yeah, you get a taunt button. Magical, no? Now that we have the buttons down, let’s go over the (not so) advanced portions of the game.
Groove On Fight has you select a team of two, just like a certain Capcom game we’re all familiar with. Questions?
CAN I SWITCHE CHRARACTERS?!?!
Yes you can. Just press LP+LK. Alternatively, you can assign that function to one of the shoulder buttons. Keep in mind that you can only switch characters when you are not being attacked. Also, you can be hit out of switching… so make sure you’re safe before doing it.
ASSISTS! CAN I DO THOSE SO COMBOS DO?!?! 3 CHARACTERS ON SCREEN ERECTION!!!
Yep. Just press forward while switching, and your partner will attack your opponent directly. It works more like a “jump in from the background at your opponent’s face” sort of deal, rather than a striker.
…P-P-P-PARRYING?!?!
More or less. It’s done in the Last Blade style, rather than SF3. Press HP+HK and you make some silly pose. If your opponent hits you during your parry, they stumble back leaving them very open for an attack. Be warned though… the missed parry animation has INCREDIBLE lag afterward. I mean about 2 seconds. Very hard to use effectively.
*looks around* CAN I SMACK EM WITH NO BLOCKY BLOCKY TO THEM?!?
Uhhh… I assume you mean unblockables. They’re in there too. Press GA+DA… wait about 3 seconds for the move to charge up, and watch your opponent fly!
I LIEK JUMPING. HIGH. THIS CAN DO???
*sigh* While it may not take you up to nosebleed levels, like some games, pressing up twice gives you a double jump. Works about the same as it does in CVS2.
IS IT POSSIBLE TO DAS-
Yes, you can dash.
VIRTUA FIGHTER LE-
Yes yes yes… when your opponent is down, you can attack them. Press UP+K. Some characters can jump up and land on the opponent from a distance, others have to be near the downed victim.
*inhales* I-
YES THERE ARE SUPERS. It’s extremely easy to activate them as well. D,D+K. That’s it. No fancy movements at all. Also, you can do dual supers as well. Start to swich characters, but before the tag is completed, press D,D+P. These do crazy damage if they connect. They look really cool too!
OK, I AM DONE *vanish… followed by a curious explosion*
Wait wait! I haven’t explained shadow moves yet! Every character has a “shadow move”. This is basically a beefed up special. All you need to do is the motion for that character’s shadow move (which may be DP+P for instance) while dashing. When you execute one of these, you get one of those little shadow trails and the move does more hits than usual. Simple!
I’M GOING TO KILL YOU.
Now that everything about the system is explained, let’s get on to the ratings…
Graphically, the game has it’s ups and downs. Character art (as in portraits) are fantastic. Murata created some very stylish characters! They range from a white-haired kid with some awesome orange pants, to a bulky S&M man complete with leather mask, to two old ladies strapped to each other at the back (!). Yes… characters range from ultra cool to ultra bizarre, but they all have that same amount of style that flows from the imagination of Range Murata. Sprites on the other hand are, well… lacking. The game uses the 1MB RAM cart, which usually allows smooth animation and detailed movements. In this case, most animations have quite a low frame rate. The main character’s stance can’t be more than 3 or 4 frames. Disgusting.
Some backgrounds often look quite nice and detailed, while others just look awful. There’s a great stage that looks just like an H.R. Giger painting… there’s this freaky baby head coming out of the wall which twitches and convulses! Then there’s a stage on the wing of an airplane… I have no idea what happened here, but the pallete count is so low, you can hardly tell what you’re standing on. In this game, good stages are really good, while bad stages are… well _really_ bad.
Sounds are decent. Middle of the road kind of stuff. Voice samples are just fine. Music is above average, though… there are some really cool tunes in here, but in true GoF tradition, some are just bleh. The good songs outweigh the bad, though, so I can’t come down too hard on the soundtrack.
I don’t know why the 1MB RAM cart is required for this game. Loading times are atrocious. I suppose it’s because they have to load all the sprites and voice samples for 4 characters, but 15+ seconds between each fight is pretty bad. Do yourselves a favor and turn shortcut mode ON. This way, it won’t take 15 seconds to load a small (text) dialogue scene between characters before taking another 15 seconds to load the actual fight.
When you actually get to fight, the game does redeem itself… somewhat. There are a lot of things you can do in this game, as explained above (parrying, unblockables, assists, etc.), so that does offer a lot of possibilies in a match. Things are a tad slow, but nothing really bad. I’d describe the feel of this game as “A Bastard KOF On Heavy Narcotics”. Another thing, the CPU goes from incredibly easy to frustratingly difficult within 3 matches… ergh. Still, even after all of the bad things I’ve said, it really seems like there’s a good game in here that wants to come out. I can’t help but feel that there’s something more to this game that I’m missing… something that would make me completely overlook all the flaws and realize that a good game exists here. Needless to say, I haven’t found that key to GoF Nirvana yet.
All in all, I’m thinking that this is a game some people might really get into. I want to… and I’m trying.
VERDICT: 71%
P.S.: HOW COULD I HAVE FORGOTTEN?!?! There are two openly gay characters in the game!!! Gartheimer Rudolph (a giant guy with a trenchcoat and leather face mask) and Damian (Ultra-feminine blonde bishounen guy! With roses!). When you beat the game with Damian, it cuts to a fullscreen shot of him and Gartheimer shirtless and caressing! With roses all around!!! NEW VERDICT: 7100%
