Destrega strikes me as very ambitious, especially for its time.
To start with: some people say that fighting game story modes make no sense and are just an excuse to get people to beat each other up. This is not something that can be applied to Destrega. The story mode is quite well-done, with a tropey but effective premise that feels more like it belongs in a JRPG. While it's pretty entertaining watching the characters ham it up in early-voice-acting-era glory, I have some issues with the story mode. There are way too many 'filler' fights against generic enemies at the beginning, something like 80% of it is taken up by cutscenes with very long load times, and there are strange 'scripted' fights where you are supposed to lose.
The meat of the gameplay is also ambitious, taking place in large 3D arenas with both short and long-distance fighting (projectiles featuring a rock-paper-scissors system). Close combat isn't very deep, but the long-range fights are quite interesting - every projectile has a split-second charge time, and characters call out the name of their attack (speed, power or spread) while charging, which means experienced players can respond to audio cues and counter with moves of their own that are effective against the incoming attack. The mechanics are solid enough, though the characters end up feeling rather samey and it's often possible to beat all but the best opponents with button mashing.
Criticisms aside, I largely had fun playing the game. It did a lot of things differently from other games of its time and deserves credit for it, even if the execution wasn't always the best.
To start with: some people say that fighting game story modes make no sense and are just an excuse to get people to beat each other up. This is not something that can be applied to Destrega. The story mode is quite well-done, with a tropey but effective premise that feels more like it belongs in a JRPG. While it's pretty entertaining watching the characters ham it up in early-voice-acting-era glory, I have some issues with the story mode. There are way too many 'filler' fights against generic enemies at the beginning, something like 80% of it is taken up by cutscenes with very long load times, and there are strange 'scripted' fights where you are supposed to lose.
The meat of the gameplay is also ambitious, taking place in large 3D arenas with both short and long-distance fighting (projectiles featuring a rock-paper-scissors system). Close combat isn't very deep, but the long-range fights are quite interesting - every projectile has a split-second charge time, and characters call out the name of their attack (speed, power or spread) while charging, which means experienced players can respond to audio cues and counter with moves of their own that are effective against the incoming attack. The mechanics are solid enough, though the characters end up feeling rather samey and it's often possible to beat all but the best opponents with button mashing.
Criticisms aside, I largely had fun playing the game. It did a lot of things differently from other games of its time and deserves credit for it, even if the execution wasn't always the best.