Bloody Roar 3

"Pretty much the like the prequels but with tweaked up graphics"

Being a huge Bloody Roar fan, I rented this game and played against the computer as well as my friends. Great game, but I liked the original better. As for 2, I enjoyed 3 more. A few weeks later I bought the game and I loved it.

Graphics-9
Bloody Roar 3 takes advantage of the PS2's power by adding a little more detail to the backgrounds as well as better lighting effects. Character models are well done while the clothing and fur of the characters move when they do attack, and combos and Beast Drives perform smoothly. While pretty much everything has been spruced up, one thing in the game seems to have tuned down a bit:Blood. For better or worse, punching, kicking, slashing, stabbing, and biting doesn't make the blood gush out like it used too. Overall though, this is definitely the games strong point.

Sound-8
With voices like ''Kuyah!'' and ''Huy huy!'', the characters sound wonderful, and listening to Busuzima's voice is always amusing. But when some of them are K.O'd, they sound so annoying you could just mute them. Battle cries are above average with a few annoying ones, like Long,Alice, and Jenny. Since when did Uriko start saying ''Don't tell my mommy,okay?'' As for the music, it is pretty catchy but can loop too much.

Story-6
Stick to 1 and 2, there's pretty much no story here.

Fighting control-7
One of the biggest disappointments in the game, novices can just button mash and almost always win. Combos aren't that hard to perform, but Beast Drives are perfect. Yet there is still some strategy involved, such as transforming and blocking. The defense is what hurts the score most. You can sidestep and the blocking is like a random event. Button mashing can bring up many combos, but you'd be better off if you actually knew how to pull them off. If you are a fighting master, you should be satisfied with the control.

Gameplay-7
Sometimes frustrating computer opponents. Hudson seems to have tweaked the A.I. up a little too much. But there are lots of opponents you can K.O. with a perfect score. If you are a Bloody Roar master, you should have no problem except for listening to some of the death cries.

Replayability-8
Got friends? Good. You can beat the crap out of them(or vice versa)and have more victims challenge you. Fighting is always fun with a friend or relative and never gets boring. The story mode however is not worth playing through more than three times. Don't have friends? You'd better make some quick.

Buy/Rent
Like Soul Blade/Caliber? Must buy. More into Dead or Alive or Tekken? Try renting first, then decide. Either way you'll be satisfied.

Overall-8
A very unique game that doesn't require much strategy with amazing graphics and sound as well as it's share of flaws.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/08/02, Updated 03/08/02