The Fighting genre usually involves two characters set facing each other on opposite sides of the screen, who then proceed to beat each other to a pulp by pulling off various punches, kicks, and complex combo moves. A pretty mindless genre, and not one of my favorites, but they do make for some good relaxing fun once in a while.

 

Dead or Alive 4
Version(s) I own:	Rating:
Short Review: Normally, I would never have purchased an entry in the Dead or Alive series. I don't like anime (and this game is definitely anime-styled), and I don't much care for the way the game sells itself based almost entirely on half-dressed females with er... bounce factor, as Ryan and I have called it since we first saw a game that featured it (guess what game? Dead or Alive 3). Personally, I've always been of the opinion that anime girls look more like aliens than human beings, so they don't really do much for me, if you get my meaning. However, with DOA4 they did something very smart: they included a Halo SPARTAN as an unlockable character to suck in Halo fanboys. For me, it worked. Anyway, about the game: the gameplay of DOA4 is lively and animated, with varied arenas, tons of moves, unlockable outfits, etc. My biggest gripe is that it's too dang hard to block enemy blows and pull off the coolest moves: the throws. Blocking an enemy attack can only be performed if you manage to pull it off in a very short window of opportunity, and only then if you magically predict what kind of attack it is (high kick, low kick, high punch, low punch, etc. - they all have their own block combinations!). And pulling off a throw move is nearly impossible except by pure luck or on the easiest stages. Eventually I realized the best way to win was just to keep using punch and kick combos. Perhaps the worst part of the game to me were the cutscenes and ending movies related to each playable character. These were atrociously stupid and so completely ridiculous that they weren't even funny so much as sad. I soon learned to mute my TV and cover up the horrid, unskippable videos by hitting the Xbox 360 button to bring up the account menu. Other than that, however, the anime influence of the game didn't bother me as much as I'd expected. All in all, the game is pretty fun. In fact, it was the most fun of the first three Xbox 360 games I bought for the console. By the way, I'd have to say my favorite "DoA girl" is probably Kasumi. Just thought I'd throw that out there, in case you wondered. However, none of the silly ninjas and skinny anime kids can beat Bass Armstrong in his Viking outfit. Or the SPARTAN of course. IF you manage to keep your unlocked outfits without your save game mysteriously getting deleted by a glitch in the game. GAAAHHH!!! And they won't even let you back it up to a memory card, as far as I can tell. I had to drop my rating of DOA4 when I found out I had to play through the whole game again to get the SPARTAN thanks to the save-game glitch and lack of cheat codes.
Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi
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Short Review: I bought this game because it was Star Wars. In fact, I'm reasonably certain that is the only reason anyone in the world purchased this game. From what I can tell, the game is almost universally shunned by both critics and "fans," for lack of a better term. Personally, I disagree at least a little bit. Granted, I know little to nothing about Fighting games, as it is one of my least favorite genres... but from what I do know, Teras Kasi seemed to be a decent entry in the genre. It had a lot of characters, reasonably varied arenas, lots of special moves, and a few unlockables. What else is needed? The storyline was nothing noteworthy, but at least it was present, and it did introduce a new character - Arden Lyn, an assassin woman with a cyborg arm, who is now a generally accepted Star Wars EU character. As far as actually playing the game, it could be fun provided the player learned a lot of combos, such as how to shoot the blaster rifles or pull off devastating special attacks (like Hoar's whirlwind gaffi stick attack, which my sister could always somehow use to completely destroy me). Some characters are lacking in decent attacks and can be killed pretty easily by stronger ones, but they all have their advantages really. All in all, back when I bought the game, I did have a blast playing it. So what can I say? If you're a Star Wars fan, I can't see any reason not to get it, especially for multiplayer (although your enemy might have trouble if they don't know any combos and you do). My favorite characters were Boba Fett, Mara Jade, and Hoar (the tusken raider).
Beast Wars: Transmetals
Version(s) I own:	Rating:
Short Review: I bought this game because it was Beast Wars... my favorite cartoon (is a CGI cartoon still called a "cartoon"?) as a kid. Previously, I had also purchased the original Beast Wars PSX game, merely called "Beast Wars." Compared to that absolute atrocity (possibly the worst game I have ever played), Transmetals is like a gaming masterpiece. Compared to almost any other decent game in the universe, however, Transmetals is actually pretty lousy. Although it plays like a fighting game (at least in the respect that it consists of one-on-one battles), the viewpoint is more overhead, making the gameplay actually less fun, plus making it hard to see your character. The moves are extremely simplistic and involve no real combos, just running around and building up some power meters if I remember correctly. Only a kid would enjoy playing this game, and then perhaps only a kid who loved Beast Wars to boot (since unlike in the original Beast Wars game, the characters here actually look like and sound like the ones in the TV show). Needless to say, I enjoyed it for a while way back then, but I wouldn't really pick it up again now for any reason. Pretty much crap. Since I seem to always name my favorite characters in fighting game reviews, I might as well say that Tarantulas (my favorite character in the TV show, along with Dinobot) was probably my favorite here. However, probably the best character was Silverbolt, who had this devastating move my sister could always pull off that was basically impossible to block or avoid.  Which reminds me, the game was also rather unbalanced in that respect.