"Primal Rage is not a Mortal Kombat rip-off"

Genre: fighting
Warning: contains explicit gore (of none human subjects)

Story: 7/10
Primal Rage takes place after a massive asteroid hits the earth and civilization is destroyed. When the asteroid hit, seven "Draconians" where released (dinosaur like creatures). And people, for some odd reason. Worship the Draconians thinking there Gods. But, each of the Draconians have there own reason to, kill the other Draconians. So now they fight to the death in "Primal Rage."

Gameplay:10/10
Primal Rage has a very deep fighting engine that has gone over looked by many. Anyone who says Primal Rage is a Mortal Kombat rip off never played this game, or at least not very much. There are four types of attacks, fast but weak, medium attack and speed, slow but powerful, and of course special. Whenever you attack with a fast attack you can interrupt with a medium power attack, then interrupt that with a powerful slow attack, then last, finish of your combo with a special attack. Plus when your attacking from the air and you land, you can instantly begin a new attack. This allows for custom combos. Plus, if the computer detects that someone has "looped a combo [thus abusing the engine]" the computer will prevent the attacker from moving for a short period of time (kinda like tilt on a pinball machine). Overall Primal Rage has a very unique fighting engine that works very well.

Entertainment: 9/10
Primal Rage has a very uncanny "it's all or nothing" feel about it. One moment you won't want to stop playing, the next you could care less if the game had never been made. In most games this feeling of "I'm bored of that game; it's been a while I wanna play that game" comes and goes very slowly. But in this game, it can change by the day, or in a few hours.

Controls: 10/10
There is not much to say about the control set up but. The control set up is very well done. There are four buttons in the shape of a square, this makes it easy to hit any button combination you want with no problem at all. Most of the special moves are simple to memorize. Because most of them make since. Example: when you make "Armadon" spin towards your opponent you press the two bottoms then spin the control stick clockwise if there to your right and counter-clockwhis if there to your left.

Graphics: 9/10
Not the greatest graphics of all time... but they do there job and do it well. You can plainly see each and every detail of the Draconians, the back ground, and everything else you'll want to see. The flaw is, it's all dolls, yes, dolls. When they made the game they used stop motion animation. This means things look kinda funny, and not in a good way. Things are not too clear, they have a bit of a fuzzy-ish look to them. But for the most part your not going to be wondering what it is your looking at.

Sound: 7/10
For it's time Primal Rage had stunning sound. When you land you hear a loud "THUD" echoing slightly. The "Draconians" make some rather odd noises when there hit by an attack. There's no real way to explain them, there just odd. They also have a good "ripping of flesh" sound going for them. The music has nothing special about it, though it does have some depth, it's nothing amazing. The music is just average, nothing great nothing bad. The overall sound is just average, thus it gets a seven out of ten

Replay Value: N/A/10
I first started playing Primal Rage about ten years ago, and I still play it about once a week. I found the fighting engine to be superb, the special moves and finishing moves fun to watch, and that there where many secrets and hidden named combo's. This is the kind of game that you can become obsessed with (not saying that you will just saying that you can). There are plenty of reasons to play again, but not everyone will want to. This makes Primal Rage have a replay value that can't have a grade set in stone.

Overview: 9/10
This is a game with a deep fighting engine, yet one that is simple to get the hang of. New players will be playing like pro's in a matter of hours. But some will have natural skill at the game that lets them become unstoppable. The game is fun, and stays fun, the graphics are OK, but they don't suck. And the sound effects are nicely done. The only flaw is that one person might hate the game and the other love it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/18/05