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Review: Pocket Fighter (alternate) |
What do you get when you take those cute little characters from Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo and put them in a regular Street Fighting environment? Pocket Fighter. The game is a winner on all counts.
Starting with graphics, the game is a nearly perfect arcade port. The frames are here, it runs smooth, and doesn’t leave much to be desired. The characters are small, and deformed, but hey, this adds to the fun. Nothing quite like a deformed Zangief to make my day. The backgrounds leave a little to be desired, I could go for some more “active” ones, as in the VS. (XMvSF, MSHvSF, MvC) series. I think Capcom must have hired some new artists, because some of the special moves pull out some crazy things that no anime expert could be used to drawing.
Moving on to sound, my favorite part of the newer breed of Street Fighter games are the taunts. Well they’re here. And I love them. Especially Dan. The fighting is the usual Capcom sample. Not too much different then the regular games. The music, to be honest, didn’t notice it, so it wasn’t anything spectacular and it wasn’t bad enough to make me want to point it out in this review.
As far as control goes, don’t expect anything out of the ordinary. It’s quick and responsive and easy to figure out.
Most importantly, I want to talk about the gameplay. Capcom has simplified the gameplay into 3 buttons (4 if you include taunt). Kick, Punch, and Special. Kick and Punch do you standard, Kick and Punch (go figure!). Since our characters are so small, their punches and kicks have a very limited range of motion. I think this just adds to the fun. Special is where all the fun starts to come into play. Using the special button, you can set up Guard Crushes. These are unblockable moves that almost literally crush your opponent. For example, Ken has 2 different ones. The first, he turns into a cowboy on a horse and kicks you in the face, and for the second, he gets out a spiked mace/club type thing and cracks you in the head with it. Both have good range and do decent damage. Other characters pull out road signs, Felicia turns into MegaMan (or is that woman?) and blasts you with his (her) cannon, and well, the rest you have to see to believe. Also in are Flash Combos, where your character does a series of hits, possibly ending with a Guard Crush. Some interesting moves come out of this as well. Alas, what SF game is complete without a super jump. These are also in. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, for our Super Puzzle Fighter fans, there’s also some gems tossed into the bunch. They increase your super level meter. You can use various moves to beat gems out of your opponent. Random treasure chests pop up for you to pull prizes out of, even the elusive diamond which increases all 3 super meters. All in all, it takes a little while to get used to, but is EXTREMELY fun after you get the hang of it.
Overall, I highly recommend Pocket Fighter. Whether you want to pick it up as an import or domestic is your choice. I didn’t mention it in the review, but an added bonus is the Rival Schools demo, which I’ll try and do a mini-review/preview of at a later time. But for a small sample, let me tell you, the game looks and plays amazingly. Pocket Fighter rounds out the regular Capcom style graphics (on a shrunken, deformed level), sound, and most importantly gameplay, into one tight package. What can I say. It’s really fun. And since Hardcore won’t let me review Super Puzzle Fighter, pick this one up too, if you’re a puzzle game fan. It’s the best.
- Valium
