Shaq-Fu

"This game isn't so bad!"

Well, you have probably all heard of Shaq Fu on the Genesis. It is a fighting game with Shaquille O'Neal in it.
Everyone in the reviews section keeps on saying that the game is crap. Yet in the Boards section, everyone says its good! Well, I had to try out the game for my self to see which is right and it falls somewhere between there. Shaq Fu is not perfect, but it is a pretty good game.

GAMEPLAY: Not so bad. This is a fighting game where you play as Shaq or any of the other fighters designed for the game. It plays similar to all fighting games. The Story Mode is unique though. You play as Shaq and you walk around going to stages and fighting people. The story mode is probably the best mode to play in. You can play againest another player which is good. But there aren't a huge range of attacks available. Just throw, punch and kick, but still it is bearable. 7/10

STORY:The story is okay, if a little unoriginal. It shows Shaq walking around in New York, thinking about his next basketball game when he sees a small Kung Fu dojo. He walks in, and this old dude says to go in the portal to the outer world to rescue his son, Nezu. I told you it was unoriginal, but hey, it's good. The developers could have put in the tired ''Who's the strongest fighter?'' and I'm glad that they didn't do that. 5/10

AUDIO:It's got some good music, mostly rapping done by Shaq but the sound effects are good, and the opening music is allright, honestly. 8/10

GRAPHICS:On the cover, Shaq Fu claims to have ''Amazing 32-bit graphics''. The graphics are not quite 32-bit, but they are still very nice. The characters are drawn very well, but the best part is the way the characters move, it moves really fluid, even more fluid than your average N64 game! So the graphics are really good. 9/10

REPLAYABILITY: There is a reasonable amount of replayability here. The story mode is challenging, and there is a tournament mode which let's you put 8 players in a fighting tournament. There is some replayability in here. 7/10

OVERALL: 7/10. Shaq Fu is not awesome, but it is still fun to play. It is very enjoyable and if you are a Shaquille O'Neal fan, you will love it. And that is what really counts.

PROS
*Nice graphics
*A good amount of characters to choose from.
*Good gameplay and good replay value

CONS
*Story is unoriginal
*Not a huge amount of fighting moves available.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/09/01, Updated 09/29/01