Final Fight CD
Sega CD
Nostalgia Factor:
Having played and reviewed the arcade version of Final Fight a little over a year ago, I had little reason to come back and play another version of the game quite so soon.
As luck would have it, I found myself with a little time to myself recently, and I was looking for something quick and easy to play through. I've always been curious to see how the Sega CD version of Final Fight stacked up against the arcade version, so I figured I'd pop this in and try to power my way through the game.
How would it stack up against the arcade classic? Read on and find out!
Story:
This game's story is exactly the same as it was before, but this time there are some added cutscenes and some added voice acting to help flesh things out. This is about the only thing I prefer about this version of the game when you put it next to the arcade version.
Gameplay:
I always feel like such a lazy reviewer when I do this, but this game plays nearly identical to the arcade version of the game. So I'm just going to copy and past some snippets from my last review here, rather than have to explain everything all over again. Enjoy!
"You should know how this type of game works, but I’ll explain it if you don’t. Each level starts with you in control of whichever of the three characters you’ve selected. It is your goal to make it through each stage while punching, jump kicking, and throwing your enemies into oblivion. You walk on a 3D plane, meaning you can go up and down in addition to left and right. Occasionally you’ll find things like telephone booths and barrels that you can break to get special items. These items include health upgrades, shiny collectibles that add to your point total, and weapons you can use to bash your enemies, such as a pipe or a sword."
All of this holds true for the Sega CD version of the game. At its core, the gameplay is vastly unchanged. I'm going to tell you why I didn't like this version of the game, however. And it starts with the difficulty.
This has never been a game known for its steep difficulty. In the arcade, you just keep plugging quarters in and you can beat the game pretty easily, as long as you have more quarters. This version of the game limits the number of lives and continues you have at your disposal, and this in turn completely affects the way you have to play the game. You can't just recklessly charge forward into dangerous situations. You have to be cautious. You have to proceed slowly. You have to play defensively. If you run out of lives or continues, you have to start the entire game over again from the beginning.
I did not have fun with this. Even using save states, I found myself in a situation where I was down to my last life with still an entire complete stage to finish. No matter how slowly I moved forward, no matter how cautiously I played, I was still taking a lot of damage from enemies and I was still finding myself dying quite often. Like I said, in the arcade this is not an issue. Just plug in another quarter and keep playing. But at home? When you're done, you're done. And you have to play the entire game over again from the beginning.
This is a game with a lot of button mashing and a lot of nonstop action. I really did not have it in me to play "fairly" (in other words: not using save states) and attempt to beat the game the natural way. It would have taken me days, maybe even weeks to make my way through this game. You have to basically be perfect, or you will never make it. And I don't have time for that.
I can imagine this game would have frustrated me to no end if I had played it when it first came out. As it is, it was only a minor irritation because I abused the save state feature to get me to the end of the game with minimal damage taken. But where is the fun in that?
Graphics:
Something felt a tiny little bit "off" to me the entire time I was playing. This is almost an arcade perfect port. It's lacking something that I can't quite put my finger on. It's less vibrant, or something.
But overall it still looks good.
Sound:
The game sounds just as good as ever, I guess. I've never been a massive fan of Final Fight's soundtrack. It's in one ear and out the other.
I liked the voice acting during the cutscenes.
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Overall:
If given the choice between this version and the arcade version, I'd take the arcade version any day of the week. I hate that you have to be near-perfect to beat this game with the amount of lives you are given. Even using save states and turning the number of live and continues to maximum, I still struggled to be able to beat this game. I can't imagine the dedication it would take to be able to do it without "cheating". You have to be perfect. I ain't got time for that. Just let me play the arcade version and pump in a bunch of quarters until I beat it. Please and thank you.
The only thing this game has going for it lies within its cutscenes. It gave some life to the characters and the story of the game. I'm a fan. If you could merge this game's cutscenes with the gameplay of the arcade title, you'd have a near perfect beat 'em up. Instead, this version stands as far inferior in every other category. I see no reason to come back to it when the arcade version is out there beckoning to be played.
I might get some hate for talking smack about Final Fight. I just did not have much fun with this specific version of the game.
THE GRADE:
C-
If you liked this review, please check out some of my other game reviews:
I'll have to give this one a try. I owned a Sega CD back in the day but don't remember this. I've played through the SNES version many times but the lack of 2-player really sucked for me.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably the best home console version of Final Fight out there. I have not played the SNES version, but I have heard that this is better. I still much prefer the arcade version.
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