Bad Street Brawler

"Yellow spandex and mundane gameplay. Yay."

There are very few games that make me physically ill. Well... ok... there's only one... and this is it. Then again, Mattel makes TOYS, not games, and this shows why.

Gameplay:3/10

Interesting at first, but the novelty wears off fast. At the beginning it seems like your basic kick and punch to victory game, but the further in you get, the weirder this game gets.

Each level your attack changes somewhat, granted, this sounds cool, but it's not. In one level it looks like you tickle the enemy or something. I'm not too keen on tickling my foes, especially when they are a bunch of circus freaks, then again, I would expect no less from a game with a guy in yellow spandex as the hero.

Also, this game gives you dang near NO time to finish the level. Heck, if you top to fight more than 3-4 enemies other than the boss, you'll more than likely run out of time and die. Combined with having to restart the level on death, this game is horribly frustrating.

However, the gameplay is slightly interesting, and it's really the only thing that kept me from turning this thing off immediately after turning it on.

Controls:4/10

The majority of all moves are awkward and nearly impossible to land properly. The only reason this got a 4 is because jumping and moving is relatively smooth.

Story:1/10

Story? There's a story? As far as I can tell, there are a bunch of circus freaks in town, and somehow someone equally freakish is supposed to take them out. And I thought Double Dragon had a lack of storyline...

Graphics:1/10

Pathetic no matter what time period you look at them in. Not only are the backgrounds wretchedly drawn, generic, and ugly, but they change by about 2 pixels each level.

The characters are absolutely horrid. Not only are they uninspired (they're all circus related pretty much) but the way they are done is just outright terrible. Monkeys look like blobs, the circus freaks look bad, even for being freaks.

Music:1/10

I don't even think calling the strange sounds this game makes constantly music does the word ''Music'' any justice. It all sounds like carnival music, very, very BAD carnival music. Mute it quickly before you get the motivation to smash your TV and or NES.

Sounds:1/10

Thud. Clunk. Beep. That's it. On top of that they aren't even very good thuds, clunks, or beeps.

Play Time:1/10

If you manage to get beyond the horrid controls, cheap bad guys, and severe drought of any useable fighting moves in each level, this game lasts about 15 minutes.

Replayability:1/10

I didn't think it was worth playing one time, much less any more than that. There are about 100 other titles in this genre that do the gameplay, graphics, and dang near EVERYTHING else a lot better.

Reviewer's Score: 1/10, Originally Posted: 07/29/03, Updated 07/29/03