Bloody Roar: Primal Fury

"****T03's thorough review****"

This is a fighting game with a twist. Every character can transform into a beast druring battle, this game has an anime style to it and boasts many features to unlock.

---Presentation--- 14/20

:::Interface 4/5
Well, the basic setup of this game (screen menu's and such) is simple. Nothing complicated, its quick and easy, and loads quick so there isn't any waiting while selecting things. Only real flaw is the lack of a ''deselect character'' button, if you picked the wrong character you will have to go back to the root menu to select the right one.

:::Story 2/5
Well, this is a tough one for a fighter, like all games, you need to feel like there is a purpose to you playing, and story is the way to go. There is conflict between humans and the Zonethropes and...well you'd think the fightings between them, but the Zonethropes kick the crap outta eachother. Everyone's reasoning is poorly explained in their end sequence.

:::Cinema 3/5
Anime movies, a solid look. Theres a decent intro, and the character endings, and the credits. My favorite of these is the ending when they play a very enjoyable song to a well mixed clipping of the other anime sequences. Shame that the ones that have story share the same music and don't have diolauge.

:::Originality 5/5
Its a sequel so I judge it by it's 1st appearance. Fighters...are hard to separate, but since this one has a beast change (which is much more than a gimmick) adds so much to the game and separates it from others, being clever helps.

---Graphics--- 19/25

:::Textures 4/5
Some nice textures on the characters, the hair looks great (on the people) and looks amazing on the animals. Some of the costumes sport a pastey look. Some backrounds still reek of Playstation 2's Bloody Roar 3, I wish they gave this game higher rezolution textures to utilize what GameCube can do.

:::Frame rate 5/5
60 frames a second and consistant, this is a PS2 port, so theres not much going on for what the GameCube can handle.

:::Models 4/5
The characters look great, solid, but the backrounds seem plain, nothing going on. The characters have 2 costumes, niether extremly detailed, but look damn good for what they are.

:::Animation 3/5
Bland and slightly robotic. They are lacking but good none the less. The characters seem to lack follow-thru, making you feel like every move they make stops early, but every character does have jiggling, unlike other fighter, this game's bouncing is consitant, muscle and flesh react to movement. It doesn't quite cover the gap but its a nice touch all developers should use.

:::Potential 3/5
With all the quiet backrounds and only 2 characters on screen at once, I feel like my GameCube is falling alseep. The characters look good, and the backrounds look nice, but this game could have been much better looking.

---Sound--- 17/25

:::Music 3/5
Well done, a lot of 80/90's rock stuff, the tracks sound similar but a good number stand out from eachother. Since not everyone loves rock, I have to dock some points, some may love it, others will surely hate it.

:::Effects 3/5
You have a few hit noises (5 at the most) and a lot of the same bash sounds. But the voices sound decent, not too good. Where this shines is when you transform, they blend the character's voice with the beast's scream/roar. Also every sound your beast makes sounds near perfect.

:::Repetition 2/5
Like I said before, not many hit and attack sounds, and there are only a few (well done) animal sounds, it doesn't get annoying, you just end up tuning the game out.

:::Fitting 4/5
The music and sounds fit thier environments and characters perfectly. Shame is that not every (most do though) music track fits a fighting game, you feel that it doesn't pump you up as much as it should, but thats only a few levels.

:::Quality 5/5
Each sound and all the music sounds crisp and are well composed and perfectly edited, no problems here.

---Game Play 22/30

:::Layout 4/5
The GameCube controller may be a bit to funky for most fighters, but since this game has 3 simple attacks, a block and hyper button, it doesn't hinder the game. The Z button is perfect for this game, since its the hardest button to access, its perfect for the last resort button its used for. The side stepping, and punches and kicks work fine, the layout for this game is very forgiving compare to Capcom vs SNK 2.

:::Controls 5/5
Simple, very simple, not always a good thing, but at least anyone can pick up and play. You fighter responds quickly and moves well to what you command, the collision detection is dead on. You never fight and feel (hey that shouldn't have happened).

:::Fun 3/5
Beast mode adds tons to your fight, you also regain health, gain moves, supers, and take less damage. You will be suprised how much more interesting the fights get, along with how much longer they last (which is awsome). Only flaw is that its kind of a button masher, if you actually learn the moves you'll be better than a novice, but you might get you butt kicked while trying to do the supers because they can just push ''A'' faster than you can complete your move.

:::Camera 4/5
Stable, never gets in the way, never distracts form gameplay. A little stale, barlely ever moves for a more cinimatic fight, but you can relplay the end of the match as much as you want (a huge plus).

:::Replay 2/5
Once you get all the cheats and all the characters theres not much worth playing again. you have survival and time attack. A tag team mode would have changed this score to a 4 or 5.

:::Length 4/5
For fighter standards, very good, many things to unlock, worth watching every characters ending. I think theres not much more to do in a fighter. This score will only get a 5 on a fighter if you can play it forever, but this game gets boaring, even with friends.

***OVERALL*** 72/100 just above average

Good game, you should definatly rent it if you have interest, if you love fighters and want one for your cube, this is a must have.

|additional comments| If you happen to be an anime lover, or just like cat girls, you really may want to look into this.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/08/02, Updated 10/08/02