|
|
Game Information
|
Preview
|
Review |
Screenshots
|
Forum |
»Buster Fight
"A so-so fighter."
As I said in another review, the one area where the Game Gear’s library
likely edged out over the Game Boy would be in fighting games. Granted,
they both had the Mortal Kombats and the Game Boy did have a mediocre
port of Street Fighter II, but the Game Gear had awesome fighters like
the Power Rangers games and Virtua Fighter Mini. That doesn’t mean that
all of the fighters on Sega’s portable were stellar. Case in point:
Buster Fight. Developed by the makers of the critically-tolerated
(well, on this site, at least) Vampire: Master of Darkness, BF had a
few good things going for it, but it had an equal amount of things
wrong with it. In the end, the flaws won out.
The year is 20XX.
A UFO lands somewhere on Earth, and an evil alien entity has emerged.
Four warriors have been assembled to battle the threat: Hayate, a
powerful ninja warrior; Gonzalez, a muscular plant worker; HighVoltman,
a SWAT team officer with powerful electric attacks; and Wingberger, a
cyborg with extending legs. In order to prove themselves worthy, they
must fight each other in combat. The last man standing will go
head-to-head with the alien threat, known simply as “The Alien”.
Original name, right?
The game’s engine is actually not that
bad, now that I think about it. Everything runs pretty smoothly, button
response time is pretty good, and the game’s physics are actually
pretty good. Plus, it has a two-player link mode, in addition to the
main story mode. That isn’t to say that the game is perfect in any way.
In fact, there are two major problem that I feel cripple the game.
First,
the control scheme in this game is pretty odd. As opposed to using Up
on the D-Pad to jump, Buster Fight uses the 2 button as a hybrid jump
(when used alone)/dash (when hit in sync with left or right on the
D-Pad), while 1 is a generic attack button. Granted, everything works,
but it gets a little annoying considering the D-Pad jump is standard
for 2D fighters. Special moves, on the other hand, are quite similar to
those found in other 2D fighters, performed when a certain D-Pad motion
is in sync with a press of the attack button.
The other major
problem I have in this game would be the lack of variety of characters
in the game. I mean, there are only four standard characters and one
that can be unlocked upon completing the single player mode: the final
boss, The Alien. I mean, granted, most of the other fighting games on
the Game Gear have small rosters, but this one has the smallest roster
of playable characters in a fighting game since the original Fatal Fury.
The
graphics are probably the best quality of the game. Everything in the
game is well-designed. The character sprites are clear, the profile
shots look good, and all of the text appears to be readable (wouldn’t
know, I don’t speak Japanese). Best of all would have to be the game’s
backgrounds, all of which are well-designed, smoothly animated and fit
in with every other visual aspect of the game.
The sound, on the
other hand, isn’t nearly as inspiring. The music’s pretty generic; it’s
not offending to the ears, but it’s not likely to find its way onto
anyone’s top 10 video game soundtrack list (or top 10,000, for that
matter). The sound effects are pretty good though. I mean, the various
hits, falls and other sound effects you’d expect to here in a fighting
game (with the obvious exception of the characters’ voices) are
well-represented on the Game Gear’s sound card.
Replay’s not
very good. Granted, the two-player mode adds a bit of replay, but the
story mode is pretty bland. At best, it offers five different
experiences, which doesn’t really count because each character has the
same ending sequence. The fact that the game’s sort of clunky doesn’t
help matters much either. In the end, I’m a little disappointed. With a
greater roster of characters and maybe a better control scheme, this
game could’ve been pretty good. Ah well, you can’t change the past.
Article by: Wolfdogg
Posted on: Jul. 29th, 2007 |
|
|
|
Review Recap |
| Gameplay |
| Decent engine, but the small roster and odd control scheme don’t help matters. |
 |
|
|
Graphics |
| Actually, it’s a pretty good-looking game. The backgrounds especially. |
 |
|
|
Sound |
| The soundtrack’s okay and so are the sound effects. |
|
|
|
Replay Value |
| Eh, aside from the two-player mode, there’s really nothing to bring you back. |
 |
|
|
Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
