Garou: Mark of the Wolves

"Reaching too far back..."

Note: The title, for those who don't know, would be ''Fatal Fury: MotW'' here in the US. While it only features one FF character, it's still a continuation of the series. The only non-standard conventions in this game are:

1.) No air blocking, except Just Defense.
2.) Just Defense, a system of blocking at the last second. It gives you back a few pixels of life (no block damage,) can block anything but throws, and doesn't reduce your Guard Meter.
3.) The ''Guard Meter,'' as I've heard it called, is simply a way of not letting you block forever. If you block too many times, such as blocking a combo, you will start to flash red. Eventually if you continue to sit and turtle then your block will be dropped and you'll get pummeled. See a FAQ for more info on this.

In a market as saturated as the 2d fighter genre, it's important to stand out. Marvel vs. Capcom and KOF 99 are great examples of 2d. The fast speeds and the flashy moves are what drive the games. Along comes Garou: MOTW. It's a game that stretches back to the world of the original SF2 and Mortal Kombat. A world where it was much more about timing and skill than 43-hit double-hyper-variable-turbo-assist combos. Some consider this to be a good thing. Unfortunately, that isn't what 2d fighting is about.

Graphics: 8/10
The animation is the best ever seen on the Neo. Everything is fluid as it can be on the aging hardware, and everything looks right. The problem lies in the characters themselves. None of them are in any way flashy. It's a human vs. a human and they all punch (well, some just kick) and kick. There's no outrageous mutant with four arms or walking tanks here. While extremely well animated, there's just no diversity. The other complaint is the supers. You certainly see very little of them, so they should be extremely flashy. As is, the best you're going to get is a semi-large explosion. None of them look BAD, but there's certainly no feeling that you're putting the hurt on someone when all you do is throw a double/triple-sized fireball.

Sound: 9/10
You've heard it all before. The sound effects are nicely done. I especially enjoy Hotaru's ''fireworks'' sound her projectile makes. You have to listen closely to hear some of the more subtle differences in sound, but they're all there. The music is nice as well, but tends to be at a rather high volume. The sounds are all uninspired, but how many different punching sounds can you think of?

Gameplay: 4/10
This is a tricky rating to give. If you think 2d fighting games should be more like 3d fighters, make it an 8. When I play a 2d fighting game I want to see massive combos and flashy explosions. Even if they block I still get the rush of throwing something huge at them. Speed is also very important to the adrenaline flow. It doesn't matter if the moves do a lot of damage or if they take a lot of skill to execute. Mark of the Wolves is seriously lacking in supers. Each character has two, and while they're better than normal moves, they certainly don't feel ''Super.'' Potential Powers (or Level 2 Supers to the SF crowd) are more powerful and sometimes more glitzy versions of the regular supers. Obviously there's two each of these as well. None of them are hard to pull off, you'll see what I mean. With Supers taking one bar of power and Potentials needing two, it is certainly upsetting that you can only hold two bars.

This game is almost completely based on speed and skill. Sure, some characters can combo off into a 20-hit Potential, but for the most part it's small combos and tactical blocks and counterstrikes. If you can Just Defense everything they throw then punish them when they screw up, you can sit back and watch the Perfects roll in. In short, if you are better, you ALWAYS win. Some like this style, I hate it. It's great for when you and a friend are an even match and want a strategic fight, but horrible when you want to make your opponent feel the impact of a big super. It's definitely a personal preference thing. I still like the game, it's just not my idea of what 2d should be.

Replayability: 9/10
While the characters are all fairly standard, it still takes a while to learn to Just Defense everything. The ''do this, hit AB to cancel out of it, then do this'' moves challenge some, but most 2d fighter veterans will pick up quickly. As with other fighters, don't even bother unless you have a friend who's really into the game to play with.

SNK made a great final hurrah for the FF series, but unfortunately they made it too plain by today's standards. At least they finally made a tight, responsive fighting system. Too bad we'll never see what they could have done with a sequel...

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/28/00, Updated 06/28/00