Review
Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance Review (PS2)
Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance is a new game from Capcom that tries to bring the beat-em-up genre into the modern era. A noble quest, but one that may be ultimately doomed to fail. It’s commonly thought that the beat-em-up genre is just too simplistic to carry over well to the new generation of games that we have grown accustomed to. Beat Down tries to break past this gigantic hurdle, and regrettably doesn’t quite make it.
We all have fond memories of sliding what seemed to be a too-quickly ending stream of quarters into the arcade machines of our youth. For me, my choice of poison was beat-em-ups. I remember spending hours behind these machines mashing buttons in hopes of proceeding to the next devilishly powerful boss with generic evil attitude.
I vividly remember spending a bit too much time as Michaelangelo in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game. Or the X-Men game where I got to take control of my favorite character and wreak havoc. Final Fight was another one that occupied much of my early years. However, despite these pleasant memories of days long past, how well can the simplistic, repetitive, beat-em-ups fit in with current standards?
Enter Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance. Capcom are no strangers to this kind of game, so one would expect them to deliver their usual award-winning formula. Well, not this time.
The game starts off as a group of gang members arrive at a drug deal to find everyone dead. This puts them in danger from all directions – enemy gangs, treasonous friendly gang members, and the police. The five of them split up and each proceed on their own little journey. You’ll take control of all five eventually, trying to survive and get themselves out of this mess. There are multiple endings, which adds some replay value to the game.
The graphics in the game are admittedly not terrible, but certainly could be better. They all have a muddy, washed-out, look to them. Models are decent and animations are passable but nothing impressive. The environments are rather uninteresting. The visuals come across as average at best.
The audio in the game is average, as well. Speech is rare but decent. Sound effects are solid and are what you would expect from a game of this generation. The music is boring, generic, and not very memorable at all. The overall audio component comes together as a functional package, albeit not a very interesting one.
The main portion of the game involves you wandering around the city, interacting with various non-player characters. There are various types of these characters. Some will offer you information, some will join your gang, and others will engage you in combat. The later are the most annoying and seemingly most prevalent. There’s a ‘suspicion’ meter increases as you walk around enemy characters. You can lower this by changing your appearance at various shops strewn through the city. If the meter is full, you engage in combat.
Combat is fairly interesting at first, but starts to gets tedious as you drag on. The combat just isn’t deep enough to sustain your interest. It is, however, very violent and satisfying visually. However, .it really is just hollow button-mashing that doesn’t require any significant brain activity. In addition, the enemy AI is below average, which makes for some occasionally underwhelming fights. .
Overall, however, the gameplay comes together to form a decent package. Although the fights should’ve been better fleshed out some more, there is an RPG system that will be appealing to some. Namely, recruiting sidekicks and leveling up the abilities of your character. You can even learn new moves from various characters strewn about the game. Add to that a choice of five different characters with unique fighting styles and you have a game that could satisfy old fans wishing for a new take on the genre.
There is a VS mode available, but it’s more of a diversion than a real, fleshed-out mode. If you really are looking for some intense versus combat, you won’t find it here.
Top game moment: Activating the “Beat Down” option on an unsuspecting enemy just to see them violently and ruthlessly get beaten by a baseball bat.
The developers of Beat Down show some understanding of what would be needed to bring the beat-em-up genre into the next generation, but unfortunately seem to be unable to execute it completely. The game is entertaining, though not very moving and sometimes even irritating. If you’re looking for a 3D interpretation of your favorite 2D brawler, you may enjoy Beat Down. If you’re looking for a game with depth and an engaging storyline, you won’t find it here.
 |  | |
| The fighting is brutal, but not that complex. | Pools of blood are a common occurence. |
We all have fond memories of sliding what seemed to be a too-quickly ending stream of quarters into the arcade machines of our youth. For me, my choice of poison was beat-em-ups. I remember spending hours behind these machines mashing buttons in hopes of proceeding to the next devilishly powerful boss with generic evil attitude.
I vividly remember spending a bit too much time as Michaelangelo in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game. Or the X-Men game where I got to take control of my favorite character and wreak havoc. Final Fight was another one that occupied much of my early years. However, despite these pleasant memories of days long past, how well can the simplistic, repetitive, beat-em-ups fit in with current standards?
Enter Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance. Capcom are no strangers to this kind of game, so one would expect them to deliver their usual award-winning formula. Well, not this time.
The game starts off as a group of gang members arrive at a drug deal to find everyone dead. This puts them in danger from all directions – enemy gangs, treasonous friendly gang members, and the police. The five of them split up and each proceed on their own little journey. You’ll take control of all five eventually, trying to survive and get themselves out of this mess. There are multiple endings, which adds some replay value to the game.
 |  | |
| There are a variety of locations for you and your cronies to explore. | One of the "Beat Down" sequences, which are bloody and entertaining. |
The graphics in the game are admittedly not terrible, but certainly could be better. They all have a muddy, washed-out, look to them. Models are decent and animations are passable but nothing impressive. The environments are rather uninteresting. The visuals come across as average at best.
The audio in the game is average, as well. Speech is rare but decent. Sound effects are solid and are what you would expect from a game of this generation. The music is boring, generic, and not very memorable at all. The overall audio component comes together as a functional package, albeit not a very interesting one.
The main portion of the game involves you wandering around the city, interacting with various non-player characters. There are various types of these characters. Some will offer you information, some will join your gang, and others will engage you in combat. The later are the most annoying and seemingly most prevalent. There’s a ‘suspicion’ meter increases as you walk around enemy characters. You can lower this by changing your appearance at various shops strewn through the city. If the meter is full, you engage in combat.
 |  | |
| The characters are pretty well modeled, but... | The environments are rather bland and boring. |
Combat is fairly interesting at first, but starts to gets tedious as you drag on. The combat just isn’t deep enough to sustain your interest. It is, however, very violent and satisfying visually. However, .it really is just hollow button-mashing that doesn’t require any significant brain activity. In addition, the enemy AI is below average, which makes for some occasionally underwhelming fights. .
Overall, however, the gameplay comes together to form a decent package. Although the fights should’ve been better fleshed out some more, there is an RPG system that will be appealing to some. Namely, recruiting sidekicks and leveling up the abilities of your character. You can even learn new moves from various characters strewn about the game. Add to that a choice of five different characters with unique fighting styles and you have a game that could satisfy old fans wishing for a new take on the genre.
There is a VS mode available, but it’s more of a diversion than a real, fleshed-out mode. If you really are looking for some intense versus combat, you won’t find it here.
 |  | |
| There are some weapons you can use to wreak havoc efficently and quickly. | As the game progresses, you'll learn a variety of special attacks and moves. |
Top game moment: Activating the “Beat Down” option on an unsuspecting enemy just to see them violently and ruthlessly get beaten by a baseball bat.
The developers of Beat Down show some understanding of what would be needed to bring the beat-em-up genre into the next generation, but unfortunately seem to be unable to execute it completely. The game is entertaining, though not very moving and sometimes even irritating. If you’re looking for a 3D interpretation of your favorite 2D brawler, you may enjoy Beat Down. If you’re looking for a game with depth and an engaging storyline, you won’t find it here.
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