One Tall Brawl- Spyborgs Review

During the early 1990’s a steady flow of cooperative beat ‘em-ups was released by Capcom. Titles like Final Fight, Aliens vs. Predator, and The Knights of the Round challenged players to punch and kick an inexhaustible amount of foes, and created some of the strongest joystick-abetted camaraderie arcades have ever seen. Over the succeeding years, the popularity of competitive fighting games like Street Fighter II would prevail, relegating side-scrolling beat ‘em ups into relative obscurity.

Capcom’s recent Wii release Spyborgs hopes to reinvigorate the sullied genre. The title uses a familiar template- three fighters of varying speed and strength battle a boundless set of foes in over thirty-five side-scrolling levels. While Spyborgs‘ characters are built out of polygon instead of 2D bitmaps, and the bosses are exponentially bigger, the game feels like a spiritual successor to the 90’s brawler.

Players use the Wiimote and nunchuck to control one of the title’s three protagonists. Stinger is the game’s requisite grunt with one twist: he has a cybernetic arm teeming with ballistic weapons.  Clandestine is the obligatory nimble fighter who sacrifices resilience for a deadly repertoire of lightning-fast ninjutsu, while Bouncer is the title’s brawny, unrestrained enforcer. Like the brawlers of old, two players can play cooperatively, and solo gamers get an A.I. assistant for the scrapping.

Spyborgs controls are typically spot-on, although Stinger’s weapons have the tendency to miss nearby targets a bit too frequently. The game’s inclusion of waggle control is skillfull- mainly players will be thrusting their Wiimotes through the air during the game’s finishing moves, and to uncover cleverly hidden crates throughout each playfield. Fortunately, Spyborgs doesn’t skimp on game options- players have the option to turn off a majority of the waggle, and select from one of five difficulty levels. The title’s default setting is likely to challenge most players; Spyborgs one disparity in formula is the title’s instance on defense. Fighters who don’t use the block button abundantly, will be quickly ushered to the Game Over screen.

The game’s other transgressions are minor, and characteristic of the genre. Like most brawlers, Spyborg’s enemies offer modest variations in both type and fighting style, meaning some gamers may find the game teeters on monotony. Also, playing the game with a CPU-controller partner isn’t as enjoyable as having another human by your side; at times the computer showed signs of pacifism when confined to the screen’s borders.

Some might take issue with Spyborg’s Saturday morning inspired visual design, carelessly correlating the game to a more youthful demographic.  In actuality, Bionic Games decision for a cartoonish aesthetic was a skillful one. The title’s vibrant colors and well animated combatants mask most of the graphical limitations of the Wii and evoke the art design of Capcom’s brawling game legacy. Stinger’s muscular physique wouldn’t seem out of place along the treacherous streets of Final Fight’s Metro City, while Bouncer is recalls the mechanized warriors of Tech Romancer. The game’s framerate only shows hitches in the last quarter of the game, and is otherwise solid.