Double Dragon

"It's...the FIGHTING game!"

There's a lot of incarnations fom the Double Dragon franchise, so many in fact, none of the videogame systems from the mid-80's to the mid-90s have been without at least one DD game on them. Just like there were exceptional translations of the arcade, there also has been horrid manifestations based on the series. This imcarnation seems to fall in between of the entire thing, at the same time, it raised eyebrows as to find out what to make of it all in all.

Neo-Geo brought us a game that was based on the movie which based on the game...in the form of a 2D fighting game. What compelled this to be done is beyond me, but the fighting engine on this incarnation doesn't seem too bad...at least, not as bad as other attempts of bringing the Lee brothers into something different from the arcade versions.

Mind you, there has been amny attempts of making a fighter out of any other movie based on videogames, but Double Dragon tries a bit too hard to m ake a statement. Wheter that is the case though, it would;ve been better if this fighter was called something else altohgeter. I guess I am just not too fond of this sort of making games based on movies, which in turn, are based on games to begin with, but whatever.


Gameplay - 6

Surprisingly enough, DD doesn't seem to be that much of a hassle to play with, unlike other fighters that spewed from Neo-Geo during the fighting game fad of the 90s. As with other fighters in the Neo-Geo, Double Dragon uses all 4 buttons with the same premise of light punch/hard punch motif, along with the cache move set of hadoken and dragonpunch rip offs. Some characters have unique moves to them, some even mimic moves from the arcade classics, such as Abobo's hammer smash, but most of them have the same tired technique plaguing many fighting games anyway.

Controls are responsive, never letting you fall cheap to a counter-crazy AI. Although making combos seems to be the tricky part, it is quite comfortable and an easy learning curve at that...but DD doesn't seem to bring anything else beside it, being that most of the stuff displayed in this fighter has been copied to death by many other fighting games already, making it a so-so attempt at another fighting game in terms of gameplay. You will still confront cheap characters who rely on the fireball/uppercut combo whenever you try to anything with them, so expect quite irritable battles here and there.


Story - 1

A story loosely based on a movie loosely based on a videogame. What's there to tell really, it seems DD ignored anything from the movie and just tossed a few references from it, as if to say that not many would care anyway, and you know, they might've been right at that.

To make the point that this game is based on the movie and not entirely on the classic arcade games, low-resolution clips have been added here and there about the movie, but that doesn't even mirrors what the game is all about regardless. It's more like milking every single bit of "fame" that the movie itself gained...if anything.

Most of the characters here don't seem to do anything with everything, and the ones that supposedly are based on the characters from the movie are not that intriguing. It seems not many of them bring anything new in terms of moves and personality either.

Graphics/Sound - 4

Pretty average, it seems that an entire stock of grunts and effects ave been tossed in with a more ho-hum approach to the finished product. The music is completely forgettable, most of it resembling elevator music even. I think the elevator music would be a lot more entertaining however.


Play Time/Replayability - 4

All I can say is that while this fighting game brings nothing new to the entire genre, it is a bit entertaining for 10 minutes or so, then you just don't want to bother with it at all. The fact that it is resembling anything from the movie or the games before it seems entirely irrevelant here, just out of curiosity would anyone want to try it out when it is spotted here and there at the arcades.


Final Recommendation - 5

Die hardcore fans of the series might just see this game as a piece of art, other game afficionatos might see it as a tried piece of crap. I simply see it as a necesary evil to see how bad games of this kind can be.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 11/27/07

Game Release: Double Dragon (US, 03/31/95)