Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style

"Kung fu....Gore galore....and to top it off....WU-TANG! What more could you ask for?"

How could anybody but down this game? I have seen reviews for this game on nearly 10 other sites, all of them but 4 were bad!! Its a shame that some of those so called "video game experts" are so simple minded, that they would give WT:SS a bad reveiw, they must of not even played the game! Well it turns out the WT:SS is much more than I expected it to be, all I wanted was Thrill Kill{The games ill fated father}, but instead I got something nearly 3 times as good! Add a pretty good stroy, more finsihing moves, a slightly updated Thrill kill engine, and the WU-TANG CLAN....and you've got one hell of a game. From the looks of the other reviews on this site, I'm happy to see somebody agrees with me!

Graphics:9 Pretty damn good...nothing that would blow your mind and leave you begging for more but still pretty good. As a matter of fact, if the graphics were any better I bet that the game would've been plauged by some horrible load times! The blood a gore effects in the game look awesome, and are well detailed, enough to make any gore fiend like myself drool. The Backgrounds look good, but could've used a little more work, like maybe a few boxes in the arena, trash cans etc. But who cares about that, I'm trying to rip off Rza's head, I think I'll let the view pass me by before he does the same to me! The only real problem I see with the graphics is that, up close characters become glitchy {Just like all 3-D fighters, even their percious Tekken2, which I may add I absolutely HATE!}and some what blocky. I mean I heard people complaining about the fact that everybodies eyes are just plain white....I don't see a problem here. I like the eyes in my opinion, It gives all of the characters a eerie look to them, almost sends chills up my spine.....well almost.

Story:10 What surprised me is that WT:SS actually has a great deal of story! I for one know that a great story can make up for graphics , sound, and even some gamplay problems. Well any way, Somebody has kidnapped the your Master "Masta Xin" its your job as one of the nine Wu-Tang members to find and save your Master, before Lie-gong learns the secret of the 36 chambers of death. Ok its alot more detailed than than that....but I'm not writting a novel here. I like the story for many reasons, mostly because most other fighting games want you to just runs into fight after fight, punching and kicking each other to death for no apparent reason. Only one other fighting games story can match WT:SS's story {Even though its story is much better} Soul Blade. {Yeah I know its getting old, but I still love that game}

Sound:9 At first I thought that the exclusive Wu-Tang tracks would not fit in well with the game...boy was I wrong. The music really helps you keep your mommentum going, especially when your taking on 2 ta 3 head at once. The sounds are you regular groans, slashs, and screams... they all sound pretty good. The only reason I didn't give the sound a 10, is that some of the voice overs in the finishing moves, sound strange.

Control:9 Anybody that can write can pick on the controls for this game, the attack buttons are set up in a Tekken like format punch1, punch2, Kick1, kick2, crouch, block. And for a four palyer fighting game, the controls are about as good as they could possiblly get.

Gameplay:9 Sense this game came out I actaully heard of people calling a Thrill Kill a bad game. This is a party game if I ever played one, Story mode is very fun, and will keep you entertained for a week or two, but the multiplayer will blow you away! Wu-Tang is not for a button masher to tamper with, as alot of skill is required to play the game effetcively. Maybe thats what some of the reviewers on those other sites did, they just tried mashing the buttons...and they thought the had so much skill because they could mash the buttons like they were going out of style...so they got pissed when it didn't work...so they gave it a bad rating, to bad they must not have any skill.

Replay value:10 The 36 chambers really add to the replay value of the game. In order to find all the secrets you must unlock all 36 chambers of death, thus forcing you to play through the game with all nine of the Wu-Tang members. The secrets scan from hidden fighters, new finishing moves, to hidden arenas, all of them well worth obtaining.

Buy or rent?: If you are any of the following things... A gore feind who drools at the sight of graphic violence... A Wu-Tang clan or Hip/Hop music fan... Like old kung fu movies... or have more than 6 people living in you house with you...GO AND BUY THIS GAME NOW!

Just a plain old fighting game fan may want to rent the game first, but if they actually play the game for all its worth...than they'll wide up buying it. Once more anybody that thinks this game sux, I think they should really try it again....and this time do something else besides just pressing buttons!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/03/99, Updated 12/03/99