Bloody Roar 4 Review

6.0

Format PlayStation 2

Developer Hudson

Publisher Konami

Genre Beat 'em Up

Here at CVG we remember a time when you had to go to the fag-stinking local arcade armed with a pocket full a change for some quality beat 'em up action.

Once there you had to queue for ages just to get demolished by some kid everyone idolised at the time, but these days probably cleans chewing gum off the seats in a Happy Eater just past Junction 20 of the M1.

That's what playing Bloody Roar 4 reminds us of - our wasted youth spent in smelly, sticky-carpeted digital hell-holes. Which is sort of nice, simply because of the nostalgia, but at the same time it's a bit mince. It's 2K3, (almost 2k4 fergawd's sake) we want something
a bit more up to date and cutting edge, okay?

Hear It Roar
But this is such old-fashioned beat 'em up fare that it should be wearing tartan slippers and eating Pontefract cakes. Sure, you can save up energy and then turn into a bloody great beast, but it's just a gimmick really. Bloody Roar isn't original enough to innovate and isn't polished enough to epitomise the genre like Soulcalibur II does. But it's number four in the series so there must be plenty of you who love that authentic 1994 arcade feel, right? Right?

CVG Staff