Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance
- August 22, 2005 13:14 PM PST
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This isn't the beatdown you're looking for.
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I'm Tough Because I Curse Like a Sailor
The latest craze in "M" rated games seems to compel developers to pander curse words as though they're the new Boy Scout badge of cool. Unfortunately, the frivolous cut scenes and B-movie flick dialogue show that they aren't. The world of Beat Down is uninspiring--real-life ghettos are lusher than the lifeless cookie-cutter drudgery of these metallic shacks. RPG elements add a layer of hassle rather than depth: the level segments feel too long and offer little to explore, and changing clothes/appearance is tedious due to the unwieldy interface and unnecessary threat level mechanics. Pacing is further bogged down by the transition to one-on-one battles and the pesky non-combat mode. Recruiting allies might have been cool if who you pick up made a difference ...but the wandering hobo seems just as adept as Britney Spears gangsters.
Barren Knuckle
For those who just want to shut their brains off and fight, the action is mildly entertaining at best. Like countless other third-person titles, the lazy camera forces you to constantly move the perspective yourself with the thumb stick. Despite offering a laundry list of moves and button combinations, the game's complicated controls feel shallower than the three-buttoned Capcom arcade classics like The Punisher or Alien vs. Predator. Group battles feel too constricted with the auto target locking mechanics, and the simplistic one-on-one fights are somewhere on the level of Pit Fighter.
You can tell Capcom tried to add a lot of frills and features to Beat Down, but most of them feel unnecessary--just like the game itself
Key moment: Getting stuck in the game ...because you didn't talk to a generic guy near the gas station.
