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Rage of Magic II

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Developer: Gamebrew Inc. Publisher: Gamebrew Inc. Genre: Action > Fighting Released: Jul 14, 2006 Players: 2 Website Download Purchase

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Do you remember those fantastic side scrolling fighting games of old? I'm talking about Final Fight, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe and don't get me started on River City Ransom and Double Dragon. Gorgeously drawn 2d graphics and a seemingly simple and fun button bashing control system that had you kicking and punching your way to victory within minutes of picking up the game. Those fiendish game designers, lulling you into a false sense of security, soon you were struggling with extraordinarily difficult opponents that forced you to dig deeper into each different fighter, their special moves and combo attacks. These seemingly mindless fighting games had real depth and I'd spend hours mastering the skills and tactics of each character. Do you remember when games were genuinely hard, not just mind numbing repetition, but honest, well-designed, difficult challenges. When at the end of a particularly tough boss, you'd wipe the sweat from your brow, sit back and bask in the warmth of real achievement. At one time there were hundreds of these type of games, but in recent years almost nothing.

ROM2's developer certainly remembers those games and ROM2 almost makes it into that same pantheon of classics. In arcade mode you play a number of fantasy characters as they fight their way through 35 chapters of side scrolling battles. It mixes martial arts combat with magical attacks and a lot of work has gone into the game to ensure both styles are balanced. This is the game's strong point, no one character seems better than another, each feels different and no one move can bring victory. Exploitative moves that always succeed or specific characters that always win spoil many fighting games. ROM2 has got the balance just right.

Once you've mastered arcade mode you'll want to test your skills in the arena. A gladiatorial style set of single screen battles where each new opponent is more challenging than the last. Alone and with ever diminishing health your fighter would not last long, luckily opponents drop potions, food and coin. The latter can be used between fights at the shop where you can buy, food, potions and reinforcements to fight with you. The allure of the arena ladder will keep you coming back again and again to see if you can get a little bit further.

The obvious competitor for ROM2 is developer Behemoth, to a lesser extent the games Alien Hominid and soon to be released Castle Crashers, but specifically Dad n' me, which still rates as my #1 side scrolling indie beat-em-up and its free! Like Dad n' me ROM2 is available in a web browser, though only in demo mode. It would seem its browser-based roots have limited the PC game somewhat as the version you download has the same resolution and sound restrictions.

Unlike the classic titles mentioned earlier ROM2 doesn't really draw you in with easy button mashing in the initial stages, instead it ramps up the difficulty early and it just keeps on getting harder. Side scrolling fight fans like me will no doubt love it, but I think it might put off more casual players, which is a shame, as this game deserves a wider audience.

Now, on to the story. Oh dear. The game is heavily story driven with flash style animations between every chapter. If the developer had just included a brief introduction to the game setting and then left you to get on with the fighting it would have been easy to overlook. Most of the classic fighting games of old had little in the way of story. However, there is so much here it becomes a bigger issue. There are a lot of characters, some of which you control, some who become enemies and some that just seem bystanders. Far too many to really follow what is going on. Add to that a lack of pacing within the text, constant switching of focus and some basic grammatical errors. I wonder if perhaps things were explained in the first game and maybe if you had already played that it might have made more sense. As the story changes from one character to another so you are forced to change from one fighter to another. I would have rather played with each character for longer in sequence.

One thing that really helped me nurture a wholesome hatred for the enemy is seeing a defeated opponent drop some much-needed food and then just before I can grab it another foe dives in and steals it away. It would have been nice if defeating the thief recovered the item, but alas the developer thought otherwise. As the red mist descends it is a little frustrating to find there are no moves to hurt a stunned opponent lying on the floor. Many times I've sorely wanted to stick the boot in. It's situations like these when your comrades can be annoying as they often get in the way, if only I could give them the occasional boot up the behind too! Eventually you'll be able to keep an opponent in the air, taking damage, on the tip of your sword, very satisfying.

Graphics:
There are a lot of characters, all animated and all very well done. A lot of work has gone into hand drawing everything in this game and putting all the cut scenes together. Sadly, low-resolution sprites with a fairly limited set of animation frames, presumably resulting from its java browser-based roots, hold it back.

Sound:
The game music uses very short loops, is heavily compressed and I soon turned it off. The sound effects are also very heavily compressed making them sound a little rough and hissy. It makes sense in a web browser game, but not with a native PC title.

Game play:
The balance of characters and moves is just right. You'll spend many hours working out all the combos and developing tactics for each boss encounter. There are very few titles, indie or mainstream that get fighting games right. On PC that number shrinks even further. I just wish it wasn't so damn hard! My advice is to start on easy. In fact the difficulty levels should be renamed hard, very hard and insane.

Value:
If you let this game hook you in you'll get many hours of entertainment, especially once you unlock new fighters in arena mode. The two-player option is a welcome addition. The game was stable and didn't crash. Added kudos points for working correctly with my game pad. Beware, there is no mouse support here and the game pad is definitely the controller of choice. Now how do I unlock all those pictures in the gallery?

Concept:
Side scrolling fighting games are certainly a niche genre, but it's a niche that needs to grow wide once again. It isn't a particularly original idea, but there are very few other examples on PC so it is very welcome.

Fun:
If you can handle the difficulty level and see past the story then this game has fun in spades. Defeating bosses and mastering each fighter is very rewarding.

Overall:
This is the most fun I've had with an indie game in quite a while. If it wasn't so hard I'd say buy, but you must at least give this game a try and also, please persevere with it until you get the hang of fighting. Once you get into your groove you won't be able to put it down.