ClayFighter 63 1/3

"Why did they take out High Five?"

Calyfighters. You may remember the masterpieces that were Clayfighter and Clayfighter 2: Judgement Clay. Or maybe you just don't care. That's how you know you're human!

Anyway, Clayfighter 63 1/3 (the third game in the series) was released by Interplay as one of the first Nintendo 64 games. Since this game, I don't think there was another 3rd party game for N64 (unless you consider Quest and Ridge Racer to be games). The idea behind Clayfighter is that inanely stupid clay figures modeled by the evil Dr. Kiln must fight each other. The characters include such classic characters as Ickybod Clay, the Rambo Bunny guy, and a very angry Santa Claus. And of course, everyone's favorite bad guy-gone-good-gone-bad-gone-good-again, Bad Mr. Frosty (as seen on the cartridge).

Now, let's talk about the game. Straight-up, this game is all fighting. There are no minigames, and the only unlockables are new characters. Just thought that you should know ahead of time. Okay.

Graphics: Not too shabby considering that around the time this game was released the PlayStation was offering Alone in the Dark: One-Eyed Jack's Revenge (and FF7, but we'll ignore that for now.). The characters look choppy, but move with substance. Backgrounds aren't that flattering. It isn't that they look bad, but that there really are no backgrounds. There is very little detail in levels such as the Snow Castle and the Sewers. The Village and Secret Lair have good design though.
Score: 7

Sound: I rather get hit by a Disneyworld monorail than play this game with mute off. The sound is nothing but PUNCH! UGH! ''BAD MR. FROSTY!'' That's right, he yelled his name. And he's not even a Pokemon. Tsk tsk.
The character sayings do get more involving than that. Like when Taffy says, ''Get over here!'' and grabs people with his taff. Where I have seen that before? Was it a parody? Not sure...
Score: 1

Controls: The N64 was not made for fighters. Case and point, it's never had a good one (aside from the highly unorthodox Smash Bros.). The C Buttions made combos unworkable. This is a problem you see. It's a problem because it's not fun to tap A again and again for two hours.
Score: 3

Gamplay: Why do I generally review bad games? Because it's more fun! And this is a shining example of a bad game. First off, you fight. If you bump into a certain section of a wall, you end up in a different level. If you preform a combo, you do more damage. Kill or get killed...under a 90 second time-limit. Sounds a lot like some other games I know, and they all have good controls.
Score: 6

So, should ya get Clayfighter? Perhaps, especially since you really can't get ahold of Sculptor's Cut anymore. After all, it's still better than Mortal Kombat: Sub-Zero. And Santa is really angry. That's cool.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 12/24/02, Updated 12/24/02