Bloody Roar: Primal Fury GCN

The Bloody Roar series screams into the Nintendo universe with Bloody Roar: Primal Fury, exclusively available on Nintendo GameCube. Bloody Roar is a tournament fighting game featuring 16 combatants who can instantly morph into hyper-beast life forms. The result? Visually stunning matches with satisfyingly brutal special moves.

Despite its name, though, Bloody Roar: Primal Fury is hemoglobin-free. Flashing light effects replace blood and gore, which only slightly lessens the impact of bone-breaking grab moves and vicious combos. As a result, Bloody Roar: Primal Fury has earn a T (Teen) rating by the Entertainment Software Rating Board.

An awesome animated intro introduces players to the Bloody Roar universe, and then the fun begins. There are seven modes of play to choose from, including Arcade, Time Attack, Survival, Team Battle and more. The Versus Mode allows two players to sound their Bloody Roars simultaneously, and a Training Mode attempts to teach novice players the Primal Fury fighting system. Unfortunately, this tutorial feature fails to accomplish its goal. It accurately displays the buttons you press, but provides no clues about how to perform special attacks and combos.

Even though you're on your own when it comes to figuring out special moves, they're pretty darn cool when you pull them off. Fast and fluid animation combined with great lighting effects makes for some seriously eye-popping action. There is something very appealing about watching a giant rabbit go head-to-head with massive mole.

The overall fighting system is solid, if not overwhelmingly innovative. The best thing about this game are the beast morphs, and interactive environments definitely add to the appeal. If you're fiending for a more traditional fighting system than the four-player free-for-all in Super Smash Bros. Melee, be sure to check out Bloody Roar: Primal Fury

Last updated on 10 December 2007