Primal Rage

"At least you get to slap a monkey."

While fighting games certainly haven't been one of the prevalent genres in the video game industry, they've definitely been one of the more interesting ones. Most of these button-mashing titles feature amazing moves, intense combos, and a thrill only attained by beating the mash out of your opponents. At the same time, head-to-head fighting games have become somewhat repetitive. Primal Rage is another example of a violent fighting game that fails in key gameplay elements. Much like any one-on-one fighting game, Primal Rage let's you select from one of seven different ''Dinosaur'' gods on the planet Urth (how original). Each dino-god represents key traits we see in popular characters (honor, pure evil, greed), and the idea is to defeat the other gods so that you can become the sole ruler of planet Urth. After you conquer the 7 different continents, you'll own the entire world of Urth and its worshippers. At a first glance, Primal Rage sounds like a decent fighting game with a feudalistic background, however, PR is far from the perfect game.

Graphics [7/10]
Originally, when Primal Rage came out in 1996, the game had fairly good graphics for its time. The idea of linear based one-on-one fighters, combined with polygon-like sprites made games have a surreal 3D experience. Primal Rage was designed the same way, and appears with somewhat similar visuals on the ported version of the SNES. Basically, your entire view of the game takes place from a flat side scrolling portion. Fighters can move left or right, with the ability to jump into thin air. Your actual competitors look like fierce dinosaurs back in prehistoric times. You'll notice some of the fighters resemble real dinosaurs such as the rhinoceros, and raptor. Thanks to the new technology in graphical designs, many of the gods appear pseudo-3Dish like. The actual sprites give the appearance of a 3D character, while being able to maintain that side scrolling appeal. A sense of depth immediately sticks in your mind when you play Primal Rage. Unfortunately, most of your dinosaurs resemble each other in numerous ways. Some appear to only be changed with minute details, such as a color switch, or bigger/smaller scale size.

Backgrounds actually provide plenty of color based on the surrounding battlefield. If you're fighting in an enclosed cavern, you'll notice plenty of stalagmites in the distance. Volcanic eruptions will occur on certain stages, showing off some moderate special effects. There are even little human worshippers who run around in the background, and get flung during the chaotic battles (they can also be eaten). Primal Rage manages to provide a good switch of interactivity with your actual surroundings, while being able to present the feeling of a fighting arena. Despite these decent features, PR comes up fairly short from being great on the SNES. The biggest flaw is that of the actual framerate. Numerous battles feel ''sluggish'' in a sense, almost as if the actual gameplay is slowed down because of hardware limitations. Regardless of whether you're performing a special move, or simple combo, it always seems like Primal Rage is purposely slowed down. Besides that, while animations are good, it feels like frames get skipped during actual attacks. Performing a quick claw stab feels more like the flick of a wrist, than an actual stab of the limb. Even the menus are dismal without any fluctuating appeal to really catch the user's eyes. Primal Rage does an above average job of presenting itself graphically.

Sound/Music [6/10]
From title to title, background music is probably the most influential piece in the audio department of a game. What the player listens to usually affects their mood of the actual game, and the overall feeling they get from the playing experience. Primal Rage does just enough to make it appealing, rather than completely boring. First off, PR includes some decent background music. Most of your tunes are hard rock mixes with prehistoric beats, or the sound of an African drum. From a player's sense, you really do feel like you're engaging in a ''battle for your tribe'' (or in this case, a battle for your continent). Tunes will change pace, ranging from the fiery depths of hell, to the more wintry mix of a blizzard. Most of your music plays with enough clarity to sound pleasing, rather than speckled in certain spots. In the other instance, the sound effects are just disappointing. Most of your growls, typical screams, and prehistoric roars are just flat out grainy. The quality is like a dirty muffler, just pouring out with unfiltered smoke. Rarely will you be able to tell the difference between one roar from another, and that occasional lizard's lisp makes it way during gameplay. Matches also are missing voice effects, like ''Fight!'' of the Mortal Kombat series, or some type of initiation sound. The overall presentation of Primal Rage is decently good, but not enough to warrant any kind of T-bone.

Gameplay [2/10]
''Hear me roar'', said the monkey. Then, he eventually got beaten to a pulp by the giant Rhinoceros. This is how most of the gameplay executes throughout Primal Rage. While most fighting games contain that certain addictive feeling, or strategic element in the background, Primal Rage does none of this. First off, in case you haven't gotten the overall idea, PR is a head-to-head fighting game that has two dinosaur gods fight to the death in time/life based rounds. The idea is to eliminate your opponent's life bar so that you earn a victory for that round, and win 2 out of 3 matches from your opponent. After you defeat the ''god'' of a continent, you conquer his territory and add the spoils to your conquest. In theory, yes, Primal Rage sounds interesting. In execution, it's purely a joke. Controls are actually quite simple. The SNES control pad allows you to move your character either left or right, with the ability to jump. Pressing the opposite direction of your opponent will let your dinosaur block, which is a definite plus considering most games force you to press ''blocking'' buttons. Unfortunately, most of the actual gameplay in Primal Rage involves button mashing.

Buttons are arranged with strong, weak, and light stabs/claws/attacks. When you actually try to perform the moves, the layout is quite awkward. Most combos are really just being able to press the buttons as fast as you can. This takes away from strategic elements of the game since you're not learning in the process. Special moves are quite rare and overrated. Projectile attacks, while adding a certain different angle to the game, don't provide enough impact to be a character-stopping power. However, the biggest flaw of Primal Rage's gameplay system is imbalance. Quite frankly, too many characters are powerful, while others simply suck. It seems as if any fighter with a long normal attack is too dominant. For example, one dinosaur in the game called Vertigo has default moves that have insane range. Many players can simply retreat, and keep attacking with long-ranged attacks. Primal Rage also features poor collision detection; many times your attack will show damage even though it never hit the enemy! Fights simply seem like munching brawls, rather than fun-filled suspenseful battles.

Fun [3/10]
When I first picked up Primal Rage at a flea market, I was expecting a decent fighting game. My predictions were too exceeding as PR turned out to be nothing more than an overflawed game. First off, Primal Rage has some annoying intricacies that repeat quite frequently throughout gameplay. The biggest complaint is a simple lack of any strategy or complexity in the battle system. Most fights are simple button mash clinics where you find out who can lay down the cheesiest moves. Of course, the biggest downright mistake in the ported version of Primal Rage was censorship. The key factor that made the original Arcade version such a success was the overwhelming amounts of guts, gibs, body parts, blood, and gross things that occurred during gameplay. Your dinosaurs would fart, burp, hiccup, and even chew human worshippers in cut scenes and/or during the battle sequence. Unfortunately, Nintendo couldn't have such images on a young-orientated system, and censorship took place. Some of the most humorous scenes you could remember distinctly from the arcade version are now gone, incinerated, and sent down the chute.

Replayability [4/10]
Many engaging fighting games usually provide the player with plenty of moves, combos, and ways of finishing opponents. Primal Rage does provide a different arsenal of moves, specials, and finishing moves. However, in most cases, due to censorship issues and what not, the ''special'' attacks just don't feel the same. Primal Rage is limited to mainly two different modes (single/two players), and offers truly nothing else. The player can set options ranging from match time, difficulty, control layouts, but most of these features are cancelled out with a horrible gameplay system. Finishing moves do not show the gross details that made the arcade version so popular. There are truly only seven different fighters, and seven different continents you'll fight on. There aren't any ''secret'' characters, or extra mini-games that you get to play (unless you count the final graveyard boss). Even the endings are very depressing, usually showing still-shot screens of your dinosaur god frozen. There's nothing that truly stands out to make Primal Rage different or even replayable in a similar respect. The motivation factor we see in RPGs, or even simple action games just doesn't push the player onward.

Difficulty [6/10]
For all the different types of battle systems and engaging sequences, Primal Rage just suffers from a horrible gameplay system. The noticeable imbalances between characters, ranging from super long attacks to horrible collision detection affect your ability to fight a fair match. Combos have no rhythm at all, and even the higher ones are difficult to attain. The actual computer AI is highly aggressive at times, perhaps too good for its setting. One of the big flaws with the game is that of a ''Vengeance Match.'' If you happen to win the first round of a match, the following match seems to give a momentum shift to the opponent. It's almost as if the computer gets a boost in challenge by 10 points, and completely dominates your booty. This becomes a big factor late in the game when you're striving for every single block, combo, and projectile attack. While you can set the difficulty from 1-15, it just seems like there isn't enough variation in the AI patterns. Two player is a complete joke as your friend can simply use cheesy moves, or repetitive attacks. Primal Rage is definitely a difficult fighting game, but for the wrong reasons.

Final Factor [3/10]
Morphing into some dinosaur ''god'' has probably been the dream of a selected few at a younger age. Primal Rage sounds like a truly great game, letting dinosaurs duel it out in the ultimate goal of controlling a sole planet. Despite a decent storyline, Primal Rage just doesn't have enough positive aspects to make it worthy of being owned. First off, the Arcade version is highly superior to the ported SNES version in every department. The SNES version offers sluggish graphics, depreciating sound, horrible gameplay, and just overcensored violence. Nothing makes it stand out, since there are no real ''extra'' features, or outstanding modes of play. In the end, Primal Rage is just another overhyped port of a popular arcade game. The game is not rare, and you shouldn't even make the notion to buy it. There are plenty of better head-to-head fighting games out there, such as the Street Fighter II series. Just remember, you can slap a monkey if that appeals to you.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 09/22/03