"Lots of bad, lots of good - fairly fun for awhile."

I really dreaded playing Cosmic Carnage for the most part, so it may be that I'm more impressed with the game than I should be since my expectations were quite low. I recall during the 32X's heyday (if it really ever had one...) that the reviews just ripped this game to bits, so I was prepared for the worst.

And yes, there's lots to dislike here. Cosmic Carnage is crude - music is so-so, control is an issue, there aren't many characters to choose from, often characters are fairly stiffly animated.

But there's more to the story, and lots of positives that shouldn't be overlooked.

CC actually has a pretty good plot line, for a fighter. Basically, a Prison Ship of some kind has had its criminal inhabitants take over and kill the guards. A Police group of enforcers are aboard the ship, and the whole thing's gonna explode. There's one escape pod, with room for one person on it, so everyone has to fight it out, winner gets to escape and live. Not the most riveting piece of writing ever, but not half bad compared to all the ''And so....there was a uh....tournament! And everyone wanted to win real bad! So they fought! And....uh...''

And the game itself really isn't that bad at all.


Graphics are quite a bit more colorful and crisper than 75% of the fighters for the Genesis or Super Nes. While sometimes the animations aren't so hot, most of the time they're a cut above the median game of this kind. Backgrounds aren't half bad either, if not incredibly creative or at all interactive.

Music and sounds are pretty mediocre, but I've heard far worse to be certain.

Control is very solid for everything, except for special moves. These are actually a pretty awful pain in the butt to pull off, but it can be done. And to its credit, the game is quite playable without having to continually pull off specials, so it gets by.

The game design also incorporates a pretty well-implemented and fairly innovative Armor system for some characters (some have natural Armor that isn't customizeable or destroyable). For some characters, you can choose from several sets of armor, and what you're wearing will determine what moves you can perform. During the battle, if one part of your character gets hit too hard too many times, the armor will break off (in a well-animated scene) and you'll have different moves out of your suit.

But don't get too excited - CC is kinda fun, but kinda lame also. There somehow isn't much feeling of involvement with the game, though I found myself playing more than I thought I would. The control / special moves issue gets annoying, and there aren't many stages.

I still recommend giving it a whirl, and it can be found _quite_ inexpensively these days. I have trouble defending it holistically, but actually enjoy playing it a fair bit and feel like there was a decent amount of effort spent in putting the title together.

As a funny little situation that kinda sums up the game for me, I'll mention the ''ending'' that I've seen many times. No matter how fast I beat the game (no losses during rounds, timer never getting below half, whatever) I get a screen telling me that I ''didn't finish them off fast enough'' or some such nonsense, and there's an animated bit showing the escape pod getting blown up with the ship. And to my great and repeated amusement, there's a tiny little portrait of your character in the corner as the explosion is about to begin (no matter which character you play, bug-headed, human-headed, Alien/ Predator-headed, whatever) who invairably goes from a normal looking face to an expression of fear in which their mouth becomes a terrified ''O'' shape. And maybe it's just me, but I find this to be HILARIOUS, each and every time. Easily amused I may be, but Cosmic Carnage has managed to do the trick just enough to get a 7 of 10 outta me. Maybe you'll have the same luck.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/25/02, Updated 04/25/02