Bloody Roar 4

"A rushed, boctched sequel that proabably killed the series"

Bloody Roar was never a complicated game. In all four previous titles (Bloody Roar 1, 2, 3, and Primal Fury) the game was simple and easy to pick up, yet flashy and fun enough. In all the previous titles, there was some semblance of effort and time put into the game. Not so much this time.

Graphics(6/10):
Bloody Roar still has the flash. However, the fact that the game looks WORSE than BR3 is troublesome, and the flashes and transformations don't have the "WOW!" factor they once had. the first sign of how rushed this was.

Story (3/10):
Not much here. Dragon is released. Everyone somehow ends up having reasons to seal the dragon. This series' characters once had interesting personas, but this game ruined all the story that had been built up for them in the prequels. The new characters, Nagi,Ryoho and Cronos, add slight value to the story, but not enough to save it.

Sound (6/10):
I have always enjoyed the good old J-rock Bloody Roar's provided. The intro is my particular high note for this sountrack. However, it all goes to pieces when the characters open their mouths. the voice acting is downright TERRIBLE. It has no redeeming qualities or performances of any kind. Within the same intro I mentioned, you hear snippets of it that give you a good idea of what I'm saying here.

Gameplay (5/10):
The new life meter system inadvertently makes being in human mode almost useless. Any depleted life from your human gauge is gone forever, but your beast gauge keep charging as long as you're in human form. I don't like having to constantly go to beast mode to stay alive. I preferred the old system of the beast gauge being separate from the life gauge. Also, the life gauges go down too quickly for me as well. Throws do too much damage (about half a gauge, or more if done in beast mode). The stages are mostly smaller than before, making the fighting feel confined.

The characters have not really changed since the previous BR. As for the newbies, there's varying impact. Nagi is a bit bland, basically being a half-transformation of Xion's beast form, the Unborn. Cronos is interesting with his high-flying raven form, but the slow-down makes him annoying to have onscreen. Ryoho is unique in that Mana, his little assistant, is the one with the beast form, and she refills his life bar when he goes down. However, he's at an inherent disadvantage because he can't charge the beast gauge again.

Overall (4/10):
Bloody Roar is a dead series nowadays, and this game is probably a good reason why. Too bad, because it had potential if it was done better.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 06/29/09

Game Release: Bloody Roar 4 (US, 11/11/03)