Gaming Target - Xbox: Bloody Roar Extreme

Written by Alex Fitzgerald on April 23, 2003

First Impressions: It's always been my life's dream to play as a cockroach.

The first Bloody Roar game for the PSX couldn't of come out at a better time. Gamers, having learned the joys of 3D fighting gamers from titles such as Tekken and Virtua Fighter, wanted to play more 3D fighters. PSX gamers were out of luck in this department though, as the only 3D fighter at their disposal was Tekken. Tekken, although being an awesome game, could only please for so long, so when the first Bloody Roar, a 3D fighting title that gave fighters the ability to morph into different types of animals, came out gamers were more than happy to try this well-timed alternative to Tekken.

When the second game came out though it faced stiff competition from Tekken sequels and the message-from-god we've all come to know as Soul Calibur. As such, the second Bloody Roar couldn't compete really and didn't make as big of a splash as the first game.

Now Xbox gamers will finally get to play Bloody Roar 3, the third installment in the Bloody Roar series which has already made an appearance on the PS2 and the Gamecube. The game, going under the name Bloody Roar Extreme, will contain all the features and options found in other versions of the game fitted to work on the Xbox hardware.

Anyone who's played a Bloody Roar game in the past will know what to expect here. The game features 3D fighting that is more reminiscent to 2D fighters than it is to the newer breed of free-roaming 3D fighters. How is this is so? The answer lies within the game's controls, where the only time your fighter moves a direction besides backwards or forwards is when you click a shoulder button, as opposed to just moving the joystick to sidestep.

Because of this the game functions more like an old-school 2D fighter, but that isn't where the similarities end. For example, there is a greater emphasis on special attacks than in most 3D fighting games. The game offers you a wide variety of special attacks that you can use, including the famous ability of being able to turn into a beast. While you're playing as a beast you can also activate the "hyper" option that will make an even greater fighter.

On the graphics front the game isn't too stunning. Though it does offer some very good-looking character models and some really bad ass looking transformation animations, the game looks noticeably dated in almost all other areas.