This feels like SNK just heard about Final Fight and wanted to see what they could do with the format. The game itself is competent and pretty, but extremely simple. The only memorable thing about the setting (which is, once again, a militaristic setting) is that the character you play as is called Snake. I don't think is that bad, but you won't remember much of it afterwards.

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Se siente como si SNK acabara de enterarse de Final Fight y quería ver si podía copiar el formato. El juego en sí es competente y se ve bonito, pero es muy simple. Lo único memorable del escenario (que es, una vez más, de corte militarista) es que el personaje que interpretas se llama Snake. No creo que sea tan malo, pero no recordarás mucho después.

Oh man, so boring! It's a pretty good-looking and competently-made brawler, but ... there is just n o t h i n g interesting or fun about the levels, enemies, or gameplay at all.

You're a guy (or a couple of guys) who break out of prison and then fight through a huge force of normal-ass enemy soldiers until a helicopter picks you up at the end. You have a punch, a kick, a jump kick, and maybe an elbow. Every single enemy is a soldier in a uniform. Some have knives, some have guns, some just try to punch you. A couple drive motorcycles and try to run you over once before going off screen. There is one SINGLE boss at the end - a guy with a handgun. That's it! That's the whole thing! And it's still like a half-hour long, which feels like an absolute eternity. I was begging for it to be over after like the second level.

Again, it looks nice -- maybe I'm imagining it, but I feel like I can see some DNA of METAL SLUG in here in some of the character designs (such as they are) and the art for the machines. But the focus is so rigorously realistic (as much as it can be, given the type of game this is) that there's no place for, you know, punching down a helicopter or having an eight-foot tall shirtless super-soldier kick through a brick wall at the end of a level and try to suplex you, or whatever. I mean, give me SOMETHING, it can't just be THREE HUNDRED GUYS IN FATIGUES standing in a straight line for me to punch through. Especially not when the combat feels a little gummy and unresponsive. Occasionally you do get to pick up a dropped rifle and start dumping on dudes (again, a little METAL SLUG-y) but those moments are, of course, fleeting.

I kind of don't know what they were thinking with this. Did they sit around and say, hey, what if we made DOUBLE DRAGON but with no characters? It's like if 1942 was a beat-'em-up - although that feels kind of unfair to 1942, which is actually a good game.

Little boring, but okay side-scrolling beat-em-up. Based on the SNK arcade game, with a few typical NES flourishes. Lacking the two-player mode that could have made it special though? No excuses for that. A couple of weapons to pick up, some easy bosses. Your only real trouble with this game is sustaining your interest long enough through the stages to reach the end.

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There is now a 2-player hack available that will inject a little more life into the game, so look into getting that and a friend if you decide to dip your toes into this one.