Next week, the Capcom remake of Final Fight and Magic Sword will be released in the form of Final Fight: Double Impact. It’s a nice little throwback to the good days of side-scrolling beat-em-ups and hack and slash games. They show that even old arcade style games can be given a fresh breath of life and brought into the public while maintaining a fun and addicting play style. Definitely a welcome thing for gamers today who miss the old SEGA and NES titles. And with the time I spent playing both of these games, I can only hope there’s more to them than meets the eye.
Starting with Final Fight, its a good reminder of the Streets of Rage days on the SEGA Genesis. Its a classic side-scrolling brawler that has a basic and easy to learn control layout. With two attack and two jump buttons its easy to pick up and play for anyone. After playing through a few levels with one of the three playable characters,( I played as Cody who specialized in boxing-type moves) I noticed a few things that struck me as odd. First was the fact that one of the enemy types could block, yet, you can not. Second was the overwhelming number of times you will die in a 5 minute period. I can understand that these games were designed to eat up your quarters back on the arcade machine, but man this game can get brutal. Thankfully you are gifted with unlimited continues so you don’t have to start all the way from the beginning again. Another nice feature is the ability to utilize the GGPO which is a networking library that essentially eliminates lag.
Second is Magic Sword which is a side-scrolling hack and slash game. Its very reminiscent to me of Golden Axe which is what i used to play as a kid so it really grew on me. It also includes easy to pick up controls and can be very addicting. after about 5 minutes with it I was hooked on it’s old arcade feel. Both of these games are a good way to remember gaming’s past and bring out your younger gamer who enjoyed playing these classic titles way back in the day. Both of these title will be included in the same package for 800 Microsoft Points, or $9.99. Look forward to our review in the coming days for a full list of features and our final verdict.
