26-Jul-2005 One wa or another, we're all trying to recapture our youth. We haven't hit mid-life crisis and bought a Porsche just yet, but playing videogames for a living? Guilty as charged. Playing the Xbox versions of coin-ops of yesteryear? Yep, that too.
Capcom Fighting Jam brings together five different groups of fighters from five very different Capcom coin-ops. Unlike a cringe-inducing family wedding however, these distant relations provide a much more appealing flock to get scrappy with.
Characters from Street Fighter II, III, Alpha, Darkstalkers and the weird creatures of Red Earth are on offer. Each group of fighters has their own array of special moves unique to their particular era, though this is a double-edged sword. The original SF II characters go without these generic match-winners, instead relying on their super combo moves, executable once their combo meter is full after landing a string of successful blows, or they themselves receive a battering. These obviously involve complex button sequences, though the devastating results, unique to each character, are well worth learning, although the huge downside is that fighters from the later titles have a discernible advantage over the (seemingly simpler and therefore weaker) SF II characters.
Arcade and Versus mode are where you'll be spending most of your time (well, all of it actually, seeing as these are the disappointingly scant game modes on offer), where players take part in two-vs-two matches against another player or CPU opponents. You select two different fighters, but you don't get to see the opposition beforehand. It pays to pick two contrasting styles to protect against any eventuality, encouraging players to experiment with the whole complement of fighters.
But although Capcom has provided a decent array of characters, the inherent imbalance of ability between them means you may well end up furiously learning up a couple of characters from Red Earth, and that's it. The pixellated sprite animations are pleasingly faithful, but look painfully out of place among today's games, as does the often frustratingly slow pace of the game.
Live is included as part of the deal, and further downloadable characters, stages and moves are promised. Which will make the purists squeal, though they may be the only parties really interested in this blast of rose-tinted nostalgia.
Official Xbox Magazine staff
// Overview
Verdict
An intriguing mix of characters from Capcom's back catalogue, but the 2D fighter has peaked for mainstream appeal.
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW England and Wales company registration number 2008885
