Bloody Roar 3

"A great fighting game, with originality even!"

Before I start the review, I have to say that the person who gave this game a 3 must be someone who button mashes and loses, and felt bitter. Please PCoffman, don't be a sore loser.
Now, I bought this game thinking it would be good. It was. A must-buy for fans of the first 2 Bloody Roars for the Playstation. I wasn't disappointed, but more characters could be introduced.

Gameplay 8/10
Even though the characters are cheap, and you can win by just using the same move over and over again, and you can button mash for the first few rounds, and win, but in the later rounds, even if you are playing easy mode, it gets harder.
It's basically 2D fighting in a 3D arena, but you can sidestep, and morph into beasts any time during the match as long as the beast bar at the bottom of the screen is at a certain point. As a beast you can only stand so much punishment before you must transform back into a human. You can also hit opponents out of the arena at the end of the fight. But as I said before, it's cheap. The specials can take away a quarter to a half of the opponent's health when you use it. The score would have been a 9 or a 10, if it weren't so cheap.

Graphics 8/10
The character models are great. I take my hat off to the person who designed the characters, as they are original and cool. The morphed animals look great. Using some moves have special effects, which are great, but some backgrounds lack detail. Like at least have something in the background moving or whatever. Some are great, but others leave a lot to be desired.

Story
I'll leave this one untouched, you're welcome.

Audio 7/10
Mainly Japanese metal type music, but it's ok in Bloody Roar 3. The character sounds can be cheesy sometimes, but most are ok. The other sound effects are crisp and clear.

Control 9/10
The control is really great, square to punch, X to kick, O to morph into a beast and so on. When you press the buttons, the on screen character does the command almost immediately, and specials and moves are easy to do.

Originality 9/10
Unlike most fighting games, Bloody Roar 3 and its prequels allow your character to transform into an animal. It's really cool, but if the beast form had totally different moves than the human counterpart it would be better, as the human and beast form share about a half of the moves.
Also taking a part from other fighting games for the PS2, a sidestep feature has been introduced.

Overall Rent or Buy
Buy if you are a Bloody Roar fan. The characters are better designed than Tekken or Dead or Alive, but the lasting appeal is pretty low. There are only 2 characters to unlock, no stages to unlock ( that I know of ) but fortunately there are some new modes to unlock. If you aren't a Bloody Roar fan, think for a moment whether you like a solid fighting game, then go out and make your decision.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/07/01, Updated 10/14/02