Fatal Fury Special

"Laggy on-line and a bad controller design hurt this game"

I'm not a fan of any of the SNK fighting games. But I do like a good 2d fighter. I vaguely remember this game being released and besides characters I remembered nothing else. I was excited for it when it came to the Live Arcade but is it worth your MS Points?

Graphically this game looks good. Everything seems to have been cleaned up a bit. Animations are pretty smooth. The backdrops look pretty good, some look better than others.

The sound in the game didn't do anything for me. The main menu has a hard rock sound and that fit but rest of the music in the game just didn't have the same energy. The announcer is pretty good, never grinded my nerves. Sound effects are decent but nothing special, just your typical fighter sounds.

Just like every other 2d fighter on the Live Arcade we have the same control issues. While they are responsive and easy to get the hang of, the d-pad itself is just not suited for pulling off any sort of moves. It's the down fall for this game as well as I found it difficult to get moves to register with my 360 controller.

This package might be cheap but there is a reason for it. The game only offers arcade mode which has you fighting one on one through random matches. There are 10 or so characters but to be honest they feel like clones of other fighters. We get a big guy, the cute girls, the strong guys. It even has them placed around the world, as in world fighters....

The moves are pretty basic combos but like I said before the control really hinders the game itself. Thankfully though the game does offer about 5 or 6 different difficulties. On the hardest setting it's almost impossible to beat the game. The AI will counter every single move you try to use.

That's one thing I must give this game props for The AI is pretty good and some time is required to play the game but it is also possible to win if you button mash but even that can be challenging.

The game also offers some multiplayer options. The normal one on one for a single console. There is also on-line but between the horrible lag at times and the lack of players that is on you may not find it to be a worth while experience.

Be what it may Fatal Fury Special is still a pretty good game for the MS Points. It's flawed and the 360 control hurts the game some but if you have an arcade stick or something or maybe something with a better d-pad then I do recommend this game. On the other hand though it is a pretty basic game all around and nothing much was added. Achievements are rather easy to get though.

Story - 0/10
Graphics - 7/10
Sound - 6/10
Control - 5/10
Game Play - 8/10
Replay Value - 3/10

Final Score - 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 09/20/07

Game Release: Fatal Fury Special (US, 09/05/07)