Although
Bloody Roar 3 hasn't exactly been officially announced, I
guess we can just assume that the title will be making it's
way to our American PlayStation 2's sometime this year. After
all, both the previous Bloody Roar games reached critical
praise and above mild public success since the first one's
release on the PSone in early 1998. Despite what Namco and
Sega's AM2 division would have you otherwise believe, the
first two Bloody Roar games were some of the best fighters
seen in the 32-bit era. No, neither of them had the type of
depth found in Virtua Fighter or the polished, mainstream
appeal of the Tekken Franchise, but what Bloody Roar 1 and II
did have was some fantastic visuals and addictive, if not a
little over the top, gameplay. Hoping for the third time to be
yet again a charm, Hudson Soft is on the verge to do a three
peat of their critical series by releasing the third entrée
onto the PS2, aptly named Bloody Roar 3.
While all
the solid details about the game have not surfaced, as of yet,
the basic foundation of the game is already known. Ten
warriors will return (although there's not a single new
character in sight), each retaining the same animal mutation
as they had in the previous titles. The focus of BR3 - as was
in the others - will be the Best formations. Like past Bloody
Roars, characters can build up a certain power bar - by means
of attacking foes or receiving damage - until they are at full
height, and that's when the fighter can morph into their
selected animal. During this stage a character's arsenal of
moves is lengthened, added to by their increased animal powers
and individual moves. When mutated, a fighter may produce huge
combos of insane flash and moves - a feat that is fairly easy
to pull off and incredibly fun to watch. Combos don't require
much more skill other than simple patterns, but linking them
together and using them at the right time creates a sense of
strategy missing from the original Bloody Roar. At full
strength a mutated character may trip out and go on a
"Best Rave", in which each best can perform a
spectacular super combo full of flashes, pizzazz and a lot of
pain to your opponent.
Running
off Namco's arcade 246 board (the same circuitry used on the
upcoming Soul Calibur II), Bloody Roar 3 will no doubt be a
please to the eyes. Going under a consistent 60-FPS rate and
featuring smooth textured, polygon filled characters, BR3 is
unquestionably a visual thriller. Arenas will stay the same,
using caged-in areas, ala Fighting Vipers. If Hudson can live
up to the name of past Bloody Roars, animation should be
superb as well on top of it all.
With the
increasing amount of fighting games these days pushing the
"realism" factor to it's brink, it's refreshing to
see a new beat-'em-up that doesn't take itself too seriously.
Full of thrills, action and a whole lot of visual flash,
Bloody Roar 3 may finally earn the franchise that lucrative
spot next to the Tekken's, Soul Calibur's and Virtua Fighters
in even the most jaded of fighting game purist's libraries.
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