I've played through 5 of these since its release last week! Here are some thoughts on each:
FINAL FIGHT: Solid for what it is. It's got a decent amount of variety and some surprisingly good visuals for the time with its giant sprites. It feels a bit too arcade-hard when you get surrounded, but like all other beat-em-ups in this bundle, playing with a friend makes for good fun.
THE KING OF DRAGONS: The combat feels almost more like an action game (on a plane) than a beat-em-up, due to the single attack each character has, but the game has some nice variety and a large number of bosses. The basic leveling system keeps things interesting too, which is good since the visuals are on the simple side.
CAPTAIN COMMANDO: One of only two 4P games in the bundle, Captain Commando gets big points for me for having a humorous sense of weirdness about it. Case in point, one of the playable characters is a baby piloting a mech, and you can find a BIGGER mech for that mech to jump into! It's inspired lunacy, and the 50's-vision-of-the-future setting adds to the fun. Good character design and some welcome gameplay additions (like a dash!) make for one of the better games on the disc.
KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND: A more technically proficient game than its pseudo-predecessor King of Dragons, but a bit on the forgettable side since it lacks the sorcery and fantasy of that game. This is more of a straightforward humans vs humans medieval war, although the horses really add to the fun.
BATTLE CIRCUIT: The other 4P game in the set turned out to be one of the better beat-em-ups I've played. Not only is it continuously bizarre and funny (an underrated aspect of the genre), but the gameplay is really clever. You start off with a number of moves at your disposal and can continuously purchase more throughout the game, giving a nice learning curve to everything. The character designs are nutty as heck and worth the price of admission alone, but you'll stick around for the strong gameplay and variety. |