First off, it’s important that the reader know that I have played Final Fight front to back in the arcade several times. I used to have a machine at work and after hours we were allowed to play the game with company quarters. Even more important, I have never heard of Magic Sword. These are the two games featured in Final Fight: Double Impact. After playing both, I was surprised to find that I kind of enjoyed playing through both games, particularly Magic Sword. However, the only reason to replay the game is for Final Fight, and I can’t help feeling that a few issues really hold the game back from being a great value.
The game’s menu is set up as if you were in an arcade with two cabinets and you can choose between Final Fight or Magic Sword. The game is setup to play in cabinet mode to look as if you are playing the game in an arcade. While this is cool and nostalgic at first, those of us with HDTVs will opt to go into full screen mode. There are several options on how you can play the game including the classic mode with the original graphics. The music was redone and sounds fantastic. You can even choose to play the game with the original soundtrack. My preference was to play the game in full screen mode with the remastered soundtrack.
I will start with Magic Sword. Since I never heard of the arcade game, I cannot judge the emulation except to say that it seems in line with the graphics of its time (1990). The game is 2D side-scrolling/platforming action game. In the single player mode, you play a Barbarian that can find a follower of various classes ranging from wizard to ninja. The follower literally follows you around and shoots along with you, kind of like an Option power-up in Gradius. In the two-player mode, the second player is a Cleric. He too can have a follower. You are tasked with climbing a 50-floor tower to topple the Dark Lord and destroy or take his Black Orb.
The game is not as daunting as it seems, as climbing to the top of the tower can be done in less than an hour. However, the climb is full of chaos, as you and your followers are attacked with wave after wave of strange creatures and mini-boss battles. Its pretty difficult to manage the platforms while dodging and slicing up your foes. Fortunately, there are no one-hit kills or cliffs to fall off. While I would find it really challenging to beat this game without dying a ton of times, you do have unlimited continues to ensure you make it to the top.
The game controls well and does not allow for friendly fire, so at least you have that on your side. The two-button scheme makes it easy to grasp the basic controls. You can change your follower by freeing them from cells as you progress or by possessing certain items, however this system was pretty confusing.
It was a fun play-through with a friend, although it wouldn’t be the first game I would think to play when a buddy came by. I won’t say the same thing about Final Fight, though. Defeating this game with a friend is a lot of fun, and I’m sure that those who remember the arcade game will be filled with fond memories of stuffing quarters into the game just to see the end.
The emulation is really good. I would like to have the option to turn off friendly fire, one of the annoyances of the original game. The game also features in-game challenges which unlock items in the Vault like concept art and comic book pages. While the challenges bring a new depth to the game, the in-game trophy alerts block the action during the game and there is no way to turn it off in the settings. This completely pulls you out of the arcade experience, which is a bummer because everything else works so well. Don’t be fooled by the pause button, because it doesn’t pause the action. I didn’t realize this for quite a while however there are infinite continues in both games so its not that big of an issue.
One other complaint is that there is no way for a player to join in the middle of a single-player game. In other words, you have to set up a 2-player game before starting the game to allow another player to join. For a game that is showing off two great multiplayer arcade classics, that seems like a bad decision. You should be able to start a single-player game that allows for a second player to join anytime.
Still, Final Fight is one of the great classics from the early 90′s, and if you enjoyed then, you will probably still enjoy it even with a few annoyances such as the trophy pop-ups and setting up 2-player games. I recommend this game to anyone that loved the arcade game, or to anyone that enjoyed similar arcade experiences such as River City Ransom, Double-Dragon, or even Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Final Fight Double Impact is rated T for Teen and is available now on the Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 MS points and the PlayStation Network for $9.99.
This review is based off of both the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. Review codes were provided and did not affect the outcome of this review.
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