"A mediocre Beat-'em-up by CAPCOM."

Avengers is an old top-down beat-'em-up from CAPCOM in 1987. It shows some signs of age, but it's still something you can play on your CAPCOM Classics Vol. 2. So, lets go on, shall we?

Story: 5/10
The story is a little lackluster, but I GUESS it makes sense. Maybe. "Geshita" took some girls from Paradise City (Which isn't really much of a paradise), and Ryu or Ko have to go rescue the girls. That's it.

Presentation: 7/10
Yes, there's a classic CAPCOM character laugh in the beginning, but it at least tells you what's going on, then you bust through the gates to South Paradise. plus, the intro song is cool. Otherwise, you just have a little sidebar to tell you what's up.

Graphics: 7/10
Although the game is top-down, only the backgrounds have any perspective to them, and your character looks like a stiff cardboard cut-out. The backgrounds are good, though, and you can tell what your locale is, and the objects (buildings, mountains, etc.) look very convincing. But, the animation sucks. For everything.

Sound: 9/10
The music in this game is great, especially the first and third themes. The first theme gives you a great feeling as you bust through the gates and bust some heads, and it seems like you're sort-of infiltrating the city. Some of the music seems slightly out of place, like the third theme, but it'll keep your foot tapping while you fight, at least. Sound effects are standard fare, although done nicely. The groan as your guy falls to the ground, the laugh in the beginning, and all the effects in between are high-quality for the time period.

Gameplay: 4/10
This is where the game falls flat on its face. You only have 3 moves, and you only need 2. You get a punch, which sucks, a kick, which is your best move for half the game, and a roundhouse, which is slow and awkward looking, but the most useful later on. There are power-ups like weapons, speed boosts, power boosts, and the like, but you'll find yourself holding on to these for about 2 seconds. There are SO many freaking enemies in this game, you'll have to rely on your roundhouse and wiggling the controller to survive. Honestly, the amount of head-butting thugs in the game is wild, but it's nice that they can fit so many guys on the screen at once. Plus, as an addition to the thugs, you have guys throwing things at you, environmental hazards, and the slight headache building up from your deaths and lack of speed. Also, "Geshita" is friggen' difficult, so don't expect to beat him on your first try. You WILL need the hints on the Classics Collection to even GET to him.

Replay: 7/10
If you're like me and don't think to go places that the game doesn't give you a hint to go to, you'll probably end up going back and playing again to use the nunchaku. The game lets you go into buildings and pick up EXTREMELY useful weapons, but it doesn't implore you to go in. The doors aren't even open. But, the weapons will save lives. Also, you might want to see if you can beat a boss quicker or something, I don't know.

Overall: 6/10
This game IS a classic, if not only to see CAPCOM's progress in gaming. It's worth beating for the music, but only on the Classics Collection. Otherwise, don't expect to spend too much time with this one.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/26/07