Product description
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Fighting Force delivers unparalleled action and tons of attack
moves in a fully progressive 3D environment. Smash through an
anti-tank barricade, pick up a rocket launcher and torch incoming
enemies or knock over a vending machine or fuel tanker to find
hidden weapons!
This item is complete and includes game, game case and manual.
There is minimal wear to the labels or manual. Bonus downloadable
content may have already been redeemed. Game carts and disc are
professionally cleaned or resurfaced. This item, while
pre-played, is an excellent addition to your game collection. It
will also be a good playable piece.
Review
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Fighting Force, from the same developers that brought us Tomb
Raider, looked very promising from the early reports. It looked
like it was going to be the ultimate beat-'em-up game, redefining
the genre for the 32-bit and up systems. Unfortunately, the game
starts strong, but becomes an exercise in futility on or around
the second level.
The game allows four character choices, each with its own
strengths. Actually, it doesn't really matter which character you
pick. They may have different attacks and throws, but they're all
pretty interchangeable. The typical array of punches, kicks, and
grabs are here. All the players also have a special attack that
clears out all the enemies around them at the cost of a little
bit of their life bar. Needless to say, originality is not one of
Fighting Force's strong points. The game is basically a 3D
version of Capcom's classic, Final Fight, except the characters
and enemies lack the personality that made Final Fight exciting.
Also, the use of a 3D environment causes a few problems. The most
notable of these is that armed enemies have the ability to shoot
you from off-screen.
Graphically, Fighting Force does the job. The characters move
well and look detailed, albeit a bit blocky. The backgrounds are
decent, but seem a little too static. Perhaps a little more
animation could have been used to spruce the game's atmosphere up
a bit. The sound doesn't help very much here either. It's
tolerable, but that's about it.
Playing the game is simple, although it could have been a little
simpler. Core chose to assign multiple tasks to a single button,
even though there are plenty of free buttons on the PlayStation
controller. As a result, trying to grab someone will sometimes
cause your player to execute a reverse attack, leaving him wide
open for punishment. This doesn't really matter, however, since
you only really need to use one button to play the game anyway.
In fact, you can even beat the game's final boss simply by
walking up to him and pounding on the X button until he is dead.
He will simply block your attacks, taking a small a of
damage each time you hit him. He won't be able to hit back, even
with the game set on hard. You don't even have to bother looking
at the screen. The rest of the game is pretty easy, although
you'll have to actually walk around a little bit. The only neat
thing about Fighting Force is that there are a few different
branches of levels depending on which way you go.
All in all, I can't recommend purchasing Fighting Force unless
you're prepared for an uninspired stab at making a 3D Final Fight
or Streets of Rage. If you are an absolute beat-'em-up fiend,
then check it out, but prepare yourself for an easy, flawed game.
--Jeff Gerstmann
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