Primal Rage

"One of the hottest of its time,the fighting game craze of the early 90's"

If anyone remembers this game from when it was first was released,fighting games were in thier prime and everyone who played video games was either street fighting,vying to become the king of fghters or engaged in mortal kombat somewhere.

Out of all of the imitations of the street fighter and KOF series,something happened...a truly unique and most importantly,engaging and fun fighter crawled above the imitations and made a name for iself among gamers and captured the hearts of the masses of fighting gamers for almost an entire year to come,with its unique combo system,expert grapihcs,and colorful cast of fighters,it sets itself apart from the pack in all respects.

Now it seems though,when you ask even hardcore gamers about PR,they will only vaguely remember it,and many label it as another rip-off game,even though that is far from true.Even so,in 1994,it was the #1 fighting game of the year,which is good in itself even though it never saw a sequel.Anyway,lets
get on to the review.

Graphics~10/10-Im giving it this score because at the time these semi-3d realistic sprite like-graphics were all the rage (forgive me i couldnt help myself)and at the time were indeed state of the art.

Gamplay~7/10-Indeed the heart of any fighting game has to be the gameplay,which I have to admit is a little lacking.It just doesnt have the flair and originality of street fighter,or the speed and intensity of mortal kombat,which make the fighting grow a bit cumbersome after plying it for long periods of time.But the combo system cant be beat in terms of juggling techniques that were far ahead of its time,and special moves for each charachter each had thier own unique attributes such as Vertgoes laser eyes,or Blizzards fart attack...

Sound~5/10-The sound leaves something to be disired even for the SNES,the sound is pretty bland.Bakground music is almost nonexistent and the grunts and random squeals that the fighters emit can get tiring after awhile.

AI~10/10-There is one word for the AI in this game.TOUGH.
These guys will do everything this in thier power to humiliate you,destroy you, get a perfect game over you in 5 seconds flat,and basiclly tromp you to no specific end.The AI should definatly be turned down if you are a fighting game newbie.

Overall score~8/10 This game was one of the best of arcade fighters bakc in te day,but in terms of stacking up to any of the new fighters of today it just doesnt hold its own.If you find it a Babbages or somewhere ued,or for cheap price dont hesitate to pick it up,as it makes for a good few days play if youe bored,but it has no extra modes or anyting like that,so dont expect replay wonders.Well thats my review did you like it?

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/06/02, Updated 02/06/03