Volume 4

This is the game that launched the series. Nothing really Fancy here just beat the tar out of your opponent using all of your characters abilities....which just so happens to include shifting into a half man - half animal form. OK, so I guess that could be considered fancy. Plot line. Believe it or not the game has a pretty good one. Seems some evil cooperation by the name of Tylon has been doing ghastly experiments on the Zoanthrope population (Yeah yeah yeah, so some of the plots not really explained till Bloody Roar 2, but—Eh—not my fault). You take on the roll of one of the young Zoanthropes in the game and fight to the end ultimately destroying Tylon and setting up the plot of BR2.......sort of......but BR2 is another review so here goes.

Oh and those of you who have played the game and are still trying to figure it out.....Fox is a guy. Creepy huh...

Ever have one of those games where everything just falls into place and without really thinking about it your pulling out all sorts of combos within minutes of starting the game. My fist time playing this game was like that......unfortunately I was at a party at the time and have since been repeatedly been accused of Sharking them. I wasn't really....I just pick up on the controls of the game really quick. And Bloody Roar has, quite possibly, the easiest control scheme that can be imagined. The buttons consist of punch, kick, beast, and Rave (a feature that allows you to speed up your character but sucks away your Beast Ability like a 40 cylinder engine). The Games AI seems exceptionally stupid in the first match often times allowing a player to get a perfect while even an experienced player will have a hard time against the boss of the game, Uriko (Yes folks it's the same one that shows up in BR2, 3, and Primal Fury as a playable character). Truth be told, though, this game has elements not found in the other BR titles. The novelty of being able to hit a character just right and making them puke is one such example. To be honest I wouldn't like to see that in the new ones due to the detail some sick person would go through so you could tell what the characters ate in the last 24 hours, but it made the First one have that tiny thing that just made you think "that's odd and cool at the same time." and Trust me, it is both. Add to that the games got plenty of unlockables (only one of which I have yet to get) and you have a game with extremely good replay value.

Depending on the difficulty setting you put on this game it can range from "GOOD GOD THAT WAS EASY!" to "son of a... ::throws controller across the room::" ( translation: this game can get pretty damn hard.) Uriko......well......her first form is always a bit rough......just because she blocks just about everything you throw at her.

Blocky and a tad cartoonish in the colors. The Graphics are everything I have come to expect from the Playstation One. It was, however, the first game I saw where your character always looked at their opponent....even if they weren't facing them. The game itself runs smooth and the menus, while rather simplistic, are fluidly done and easy to navigate. However the game really shows off when in your beast form. From the overly large special effect of your beast change to the smaller details like a trail behind a claw attack or of lightning rippling along your characters fur.

Hmm....sound.....such an important thing in a fighter. I mean who would play a game where they couldn't hear their Fist hit their opponent. Well the Designers of Bloody Roar weren't fools and they made their game chock full of sounds that makes you think "that one hurt". Only one complaint about the sounds in the game......FOX. Ok we really could have done without that character. Why couldn't they have come up with Jenny earlier? The Character, a male, has no lines that don't sound.......well.......feminine. Add that to the Fact that the characters outfit could easily be mistaken for a flat chested females and well....you get the idea. Fox is the only character I don't want them to bring Back in a later BR installments.

Final Stats
System: PlayStation One
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: Hudson Soft
Game Style: 3D Fighter
Players: Two Player
Save Feature: Stats; 1 Block
Price: $17.99 Pre-Owned. IGN Gamestore.
Favorite Character: Alice / The Rabbit
Least Favorite: Fox / The Fox
Review Date: 06/20/2002

Well they've pretty much mastered it now. Only a few small things left till the series Drops the other fighters like it like a bad habit (no one will ever oust the Soul Calibur series as the greatest fighters of all time in my opinion though).

Keep Fox. Thats the worst thing you could do to the game.

One of the most original fighters on the Playstation One, Bloody Roar is a must play if you can find it. Even now it is hard to find a copy of the game gracing the shelves of the Rental places and finding a used copy in good shape is rare. I bought mine long ago and still love it. It's Probably one of my most cared for games.

An original fighter with original characters, Bloody Roar ranks right up there with the Best of fighting games.......I still don't like Fox though.

Draco's Game Reviews © Ben C. Broome 2002+