Critical Blow
In Banpresto's Critical Blow, gamers take on the persona of one of the given selectable fighters. The game offers several different modes of play. There is the tournament mode, which mimics most other fighters on the market today. Next is the Theatre mode, which provides gamers with a main character named Rickey in which they must battle through different stages in order to complete the quest. Lastly, there is a feature called the Trading Mode. In the Trading Mode, players are able to select any character and battle your opponents for cards. These "cards" each represent a certain attribute. Power up your characters and then take them into one of the other two modes for beefed-up game play. Critical Blow is for up to two-players. ~ Joshua Romero, All Game Guide
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Product Details
| UPC: | |
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| Release Date: | 1998 |
| Platform: | PlayStation |
| Genre: | Fighting |
| Style: | 2D Fighting |
Review
Probably aside from sports, if there is one genre the videogame industry has enough of, it's fighting games. From the mega popular Tekken and Street Fighter series, both PC and console gaming have their fair share of fighting titles. However, the amount of above average titles that make their way to the market is another story. Banpresto's Critical Blow happens to be one of these titles.In Critical Blow, gamers are presented with the usual interface for a fighting game. You have several different modes to select from, such as Tournament, Theatre, and Trading Mode. Presented are a variety of different characters at your disposal. The gameplay is broken down to only two buttons, a punch and a kick button. Special and super moves are all performed a`la Street Fighter style.
The Tournament mode follows the formula set by previous companies by giving gamers an option of various characters to fight through. Nothing new there. Theatre mode takes a note off of Square's Tobal 2 by allowing players to control one main character, Rickey, through a set storyline. Animated sequences and an ending make up this mode. Where the game gets interesting is in the innovative Trading Mode. In the Trading mode, all the characters in the game are selectable, and gamers must fight other opponents in order to attain 'cards.' These 'cards' hold certain attributes that positively affect the player. If you win, you get a card from your opponent. If you lose, you lose a card from you stack. Once you've souped up your fighter, you can save it and take your character into one of the other two modes and fight, this time more powerful. It really adds a nice spin on the genre and allows gamers to customize their fighters, in a sense.
All the bells and whistles for the game are pretty standard. Nothing groundbreaking or even above average. Although there are few instances where the sound does impress. Music is ditto.
Graphically, the game is pretty sweet. It's a 2D game, which is another comparison to the Street Fighter series. However, the game animates very well and provides nice visuals to fight to. Each character is detailed as are the backgrounds, which include a nicely done moving train background.
Overall, this title is an above average fighter. Although the title will most likely never see the light of day stateside, Critical Blow is still an exceptional import, with most of the text in the game being in English. Definitely a good import. ~ Joshua Romero, All Game Guide
Credits
| Name | Role |
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| Racdym | Developer |
| Banpresto | Manufacturer/Publisher |
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