I own the original Bloody Roar. Nase_2K and I used to spend 4 hours playing on it before we went to the pub. It was great. Quite simply, it was a 3D beat-em-up. It had great graphics and sound, a good selection of characters, but, with so many 3D beat-em-ups on the market, games need a twist to stand out. Bloody Roar's was this. If you pressed the O button, you turned into an animal. Humanoid lions and tigers, a gorilla, rabbit, mole, wolves, foxes and even a pig. When your were in "Beast Mode" you could use more attacks, you were stronger, heavier, and you could use "Rave" mode, which made you very fast, but ate up you beast power quickly. You also lost beast power when you got hit, and once it's all gone you change back into a human, and have to wait for it to recharge. So Nase_2K and I were absolutely salivating when the release of the sequel drew close.

Not that I could afford it, I ran out and put it onto the magical piece of plastic called "Visa" and Nase_2K and I drove at top speed to my house. Wahoo! Bloody Roar 2! Into the Playstation it went. First impressions? Well, the front end was very similar. And, after the originals 8 characters, the new and improved Bloody Roar had 9. Oh, wow, thanks, guys. So Nase_2K and I picked up our controllers. I picked Long, who had remained from the original, and Nase_2K picked Shina. We were highly impressed when an unseen announcer reported "Long… The tiger, versus Shina… The leopard." We looked at each other and nodded approvingly. Then the game started, and the characters were smaller. Although the game was in Hi-Res., and the characters and backgrounds were lovely, we were a bit surprised that they were not as big.

"Fight!" Off I went, and, knowing all the moves, I battered Nase_2K's ass ( as always, ) and the first round was over. The game is so fast. It's like watching Sonic the Hedgehog on Speed. And Steroids. With his arse on fire. 20+ hit combos are the order of the day, and sweet sound effects, truly incredible blood effects and some really cool "Hyper Beast Drives" ( Special moves which turn you back into a human, ) we were well happy. Then we found a couple of bonus characters, Shen Long ( Evil Long - I was in heaven, ) and Gado ( Hurrah! - Nase_2K ) making to total 11, and we found out how to change the character size on the option screen. Anything missing? Well, yes. In the original, every time you batted a character into a wall, it shook, and eventually, it would smash. Once it had gone, if you could knock a character out of the ring, you won that round. It was a great idea, and it suddenly turned an all out fighting game into a game of tactics and thinking. Also, Rave mode has disappeared, and the practice mode isn't as good. But, hey. Bloody Roar 2 is more of a game than Tekken 3, without a doubt. But, without the breaking walls thing, I don't know… I really, really hope they put it back in for Bloody Roar 3.

Bloody Roar II

+ Very fast

+ Hyper Beast Drives

+ Easy to get into, but a bitch to master

+ Jenny's Breasts

- The walls don't break

- Practice mode is crap

- Characters don't throw up when you lamp the in the stomach like the used to

  DJ Ess

This is a review