When it comes to beat-em' ups, there are much better options.

User Rating: 6 | Fighting Force 64 N64
By gamefreak197 | Review Date:
When it ever comes to fighting games, I usually go under the beat-em' up category like from the old days back in the arcades. Fighters and beat-em' ups made a vast majority of that market. However, when it came to successfully emulating the feel of some of these great arcade hits it became rather hit and miss. There are games like Crazy Taxi that made their way to the consoles and enjoyed success there, but then there are games like Fighting Force, which is influenced by games like Final Fight and Streets of Rage, that don't quite got it down. Essentially it's your classic beat-em' up. You control one of four characters and go through level after level beating the crap out of bad guys. There are a total of 25 levels, though you won't be going through all of them at once. You also get a few weapons to choose from and environmental objects to use to your advantage. That's fine and dandy, but this game has one big disadvantage: It get's dull quickly. The action can be decent for a little while, but the appeal certainly won't last very long.

Even though the scenery changes through each level, there's never really any unique twist them, like environmental hazards or background animations. It's just going from one part of the area to the next fighting a bunch of dudes with the occasional car coming by. The enemies only come in a few flavors. It's just your average musclebound men. There also isn't much in weapon variety either. All you'll really have are guns, knives, bats, and axes. You can have an extra player along side you which makes the game slightly less boring, but the appeal won't last long. The controls in this game feel pretty sluggish. Often the attacks often either don't seem to register or they take some time to react and you'll be losing chunks of your health because of this.

Graphically it's not too bad. The character models look pretty good and have some good animations to them. The environments are okay, but have some rather washed out textures to them. But I guess it suits the game pretty well. Musically it's, well, boring. The soundtrack loops every 20 seconds and it seems generic and lacks personality. The sound is decent, though reused from a lot of other sources.

To sum things up:

PROS:
-Decent graphics and sound effects
-Two player makes it slightly better
-Fun beating things up for a little while

CONS:
-Generic music
-Repetitive enemies and weapons
-Sluggish control
-Gets boring quickly

Overall there really isn't a whole lot to talk about Fighting Force. But this is mainly because there really isn't a whole lot to the game. So if you want to play a beat-em' up, this is one. If you want a good beat-em' up, look elsewhere.

Other Helpful Reviews for Fighting Force 64

  • Rating:7

    An OK fighting game

    By gamecubedave000 | Review Date: Feb 27, 2006 | N64

    well this is definatly a fighting game that is pretty fun but extremly easy. You can choose from 4 characters and they have specials and stuff. Well i say i wish this game was 4 players because it will be more enjoyabl... Read Full Review

    2 of 2 users found the following review helpful
  • Rating:3.5

    Street of Rage Wanna Be Real Score: 3.4

    By scarface46 | Review Date: Feb 21, 2008 | N64

    Gameplay: 3 Graphics: 4 Sound: 3 Value: 2 Tilt: 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fighting Force 64 is nothing close to a good game. Ther... Read Full Review

    1 of 3 users found the following review helpful
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