Brutal: Above the Claw

Every problem the Sega 32x ever had can be found in Brutal. Now, perhaps it's not fair to compare this brawler with the downfall of the 32x, but it's a good analogy and it's just so darn fun.

Instead of Street Fighter II, the 32x was given Brutal. Originally a poorly playing Sega CD fighting game that was supposed to be the wild life parody of an era of brawlers. Problem was that from the beginning the characters lacked almost all play control, yet were packed full of character. With some of the coolest animal fighters ever one wants to love this game, but it's impossible to when it controls so poorly.

Even though this Brutal offers a number of new characters, including Chung Poe and Phycho Kitty, they seem like after thoughts and are extremely poorly balanced. It's certainly not just the characters, but a lot of Brutal just feels horribly rushed. For example, the backgrounds are nice looking, but are a long way away from the standards set by the other brawlers on the market.

There is also a brand new mode only found in this 32x version, Island Conquest Strategy Game. But like all the other features in this game, this strategy challenge comes up short. It still involves poorly controlled fighting, sub standard backgrounds, and unimpressive characters.

Perhaps the final nail in the coffin is just how out of date this cartridge is. Forget saving your stats, this game features a PASSWORD. Even though this game out in 1995, it features a password instead of a battery back up. And that's just the start. The whole game feels like that, like no care was actually put in the making of the game. But still, this is a better game than the Sega CD version, so I guess it deserves a better grade.