Bruce Lee: Return of the Legend

"One-Inch-Bruce is seriously good fun, esp. for kung-fu fans!"

Firstly, sorry for the one inch punch joke in the tag line there, i bet no one even got it :(

Introduction - This game was sitting on the bottom shelf at my local EB and it had a sticker saying sale, down to $39.95. (Australian Dollars, usual games are about $70AU) i went to buy it and the guy said it was only 29.95, and i was a bit worried about the game i was about to buy. i opened the box, found a mini poster(an extra review point right there!), and stuck the game in.

Story - This game pretends it is a new movie, with Bruce Lee starring as Hai Feng, a guy whose Master is killed. He sets out to get revenge on his Master's Death, and he gets help (sorta, play the game and you'll get what i mean!) by a CIA man called booth.

Rating - 8

Gameplay - This game is pretty much a side scroller, similar in ways to Double Dragon and things like that. you punch kick, jump, roll and combo your way through henchmen, get keys to run through mazes, and fight with weapons such as nunchukas, a staff and poison darts. The Enemies are pretty easy to beat, esp. on the easier difficulties. But, where the really interesting part of this game comes in, is the stealth missions. These involve you hiding in niches in walls, flip-jumping around, trying to hide from enemies. another thing this game is good for, is that when you run out of life (a ying-yang pretty slowly drains away), you pop back to the start of the level or the last check point you punched. There are no lives, continues, or anything like this to slow you down. The levels (the stealth ones in particular) are benefited by this style of saving (which is on cart, btw) because many times, you die or get caught, and you have to try tiny sections of the level again and again to get past, to the next checkpoint. Sometimes, checkpoints are really close, but you have to pull off some jumps in perfect time to be able to get to it. There are the regular bosses, and they offer a good range of difficulty. there are 4 slots for games, one for each difficulty, or however you choose. Directors cut and time trial are the hardest two difficulties, with Director's Cut being a pretty much new run through the same levels, but these are pretty varied, i didn't remember most of the puzzles from the easier difficulties. Time Challenge is good because each little step has a timer at the bottom to beat. This often involves running through the level as fast as possible, frantically trying to get to the end.

The learning curve is about 5-10 mins, perhaps longer if you want to try combos (which you should!)

Rating - 10

Graphics - The graphics are nice and bright, which cut-scenes and the menu looking really nice, and kinda 3D( the menu at least). Bruce Lee has 4 uniforms he can wear for each save,( just shirt pants colour combos) and they make a nice difference, and brighten the game up a bit. The textures are nice and varied, and the animation is really neat(the have some frames in the manual), esp. for rolling and flip jumps and things. the camera zooms in and out to help with gameplay (not player controllable tho) and even when zoomed right out, the graphics are still pretty clear, but i found my self wanting to zoom in more. Every now and then.
Looks good on GB Player.

Rating - 9

Sound - This is cool. the music ranges from fast 70's sounding chase music, with wah-wah guitar, and things like this, to slow, suspenseful ''oriental'' sounding music for stealth parts. it sounds really good, i've pretty much permanently has this full volume, and plugged into my stereo and headphones, its pretty neat. The SFX are spot on, with some pretty typical Bruce Lee fighting sounds. he hi-yahs, squeals, and ki-yahs, just like any movie. these sound really sweet, it was a pleasant surprise to hear these done so well. the rest of the sound is movie-esque dub sounding kicks and punches, these also sound really neat.

Rating - 10

Play Time - There is a display for hours played in each slot, i think i played for about 20 odd hours before getting a little tired of it, and probably about 10 of those hours to finish it( on all difficulties). you could finish it in two days if you really wanted to, but those bosses should get pretty tough if you don't cheat.

Rating - 10

Replayability - I dunno about this one, I personally played the whole thing through (on all difficulties) twice back to back, it was that much fun. i probably wont pick it up for a while, but i know its the type of game that would get repeat playings (probably all 4 difficulties, too!)in a couple months, then prob a year after that.

Rating - 8 (but dont give up after you finish it quickly on easy, It gets so much better!)

Final Recommendation - This is a simple old-school style platformer, it will bring back fond memories, and make you go watch kung fu and it even made me play the NES game ''Kung-Fu'' again. Its that good. this game seems to be attracting a bit of a cult following, so make sure you track it down and buy it. There's no way you'd be disapointed with it. Its a classic, there needs to be more like this, and so cheap too! If you like fighting platformers, you'll love it even more.

Final Rating (not an average) 10 / 10

Go Buy it Now!!!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/01/04