Bloody Roar 3
PlayStation 2 £34.99 Hudson/Virgin ***
It's beat 'em up time again with yet another fighting release for the PlayStation 2. But while the core elements are included - special moves, cliched characters, grating rawk music, risible attempts at plot - Bloody Roar 3 at least offers a small slice of originality.
Rather than pummelling your opponents with weapons, BR3 lets you transform yourself into a wild beast, allowing for enjoyably visceral combat. The list ranges from armoured moles and rabbits to oversized lions and leopards, with each creature having its own unique style.
This innovation aside, BR3 is decidedly average. Despite some effective animation, the graphics are disappointing and struggle to reach the heights set by the two-year-old Dreamcast classic, Soul Calibur. Also the one-player action soon becomes tedious, with only the multiplayer mode lasting the distance. Even the initially impressive transformations lose their appeal; the difference between human and animal alter ego having more to do with aesthetics than action. Yes, the beasts cause more damage to your opponent but, while the moves look different on screen, the pad controls are the same.
Of course, unless you are a veteran of fighting games, it's likely that Bloody Roar 3 will be played when bloody drunk, with players manically bashing the buttons. While there is something to be said for this, it doesn't bode well for longer-term play. After all, why bother learning special moves when your opponent can have as much success hitting the pad randomly? Thankfully, while there is little innovation here, there are some defensive moves and counter-parries included to satisfy more tactical combatants. Just don't expect to be loading this up a month after you buy it, as this Roar rapidly reduces to a purr. (GH)
Ski-doo X-Team Racing
PC £19.99 Mindscape/Daydream Software ***
Probably the first ever snowmobile racing game, following trend-hoppingly closely in the slipstream of the various snowboarding/skateboarding/go-karting/milkfloating titles that have trundled out these past few years.
The standard controls (accelerate, brake, left, right) will get you through a basic race, but you can also lean back or forward in the seat and pull off a few stunts.
One of the drawbacks of racing on the white stuff, of course, is that all the tracks look pretty much the same. But on the plus side, the homogeneity of the backgrounds has freed the designers to pay more attention to more important matters: the trees, billboards and the snowmobiles themselves are all rendered in loving detail.
This is just as well, since you will be seeing a fair bit of those trees. The blasted arboreal obstacles are ubiquitous, and with the ill-defined track and blind hills, winning early races is like banging your head against a wooden wall. To make matters worse, whenever you crash into a tree (or other object), the game restarts you_ right in front of the tree. So half the time you crash into it again.
As if that weren't enough, every tree-precipitated fall is accompanied by some wise-guy commentator bleating, "Ow!" or "Now you'll never have kids."
The solution, of course, is to avoid the trees in the first place, a skill that comes after slightly too much practice. At this point the racing actually becomes enjoyable. Not quite enjoyable enough, however, to quash my new-found ambition to become a lumberjack. (AB)
