Video Game Reviews
Title: Black and Bruised
Review rating: **
Platform/console: GameCube, Playstation2
Release date: November 2002
Genre: Fighting
Players allowed: 1 to 2
ESRB rating: T (mild language, suggestive themes, violence)
Production company: Majesco Sales, Inc.
The cartoon like characters, damage features and excellent
graphics put a fresh spin on this fighting genre offering.
Not much blood and gore, just lots of batters and bruises,
like the title states.
In the boxer’s life mode, you can build a career that
connects your character’s storyline to the actual gameplay.
You must deal with several handicap situations explained at
the beginning of each segment. When you win that hard earned
fight, don’t hit your buttons too fast because the game
repeats statistics and brings closure to the opponent in a
funny way then another news flash that tells you what loser
did after the match in his/her losing frustration. That’s
right, both genres get representation though the females are
objectified in the storylines as the males tend to fight over
them. There are lots of other aggressive clich⁄s and
ethnic stereotypes as well. Characters include Matador, Old
Master and King Kahn.
The graphics have great 3D backgrounds and cartoony colors
which mixes with more mature subject matter, dialogue and
taunts from the characters into a unique fighting forum. The
sound effects of characters’ falling after a KO or knockdown
and moving crowd in the background would’ve been nice
additions.
You must learn to train well in this game because button mashing
will only take you so far. The game voice in training mode
gets irritating quickly especially when every other phrase
is “again” and “one more time.” Once
you begin your fighting, there is a small complimentary advantage
that might help a bit - move towards opponent as you hit him/her,
then they have no room to attack you. You also have a special
barrage of moves available to you, even when your energy is
low which is great when you’re in a jam, but you won’t
appreciate so much when you’re on the other end of a
seemingly impossible multiple attack when your opponent’s
health is hanging by a thread. The survival mode offers different
venues such as Beat Street, Gear Grind, Boot Camp, The Cage
and Irish Clober.
The difficulty ranges from “pillowfight” to “teethbuster”,
but there’s not much of a difference during gameplay
especially when fighting the computer. A decent title overall
Play against the CPU is very challenging. The repetitive cycle
of back and forth knockdowns wears a bit thin sometimes, but
there’s plenty of different modes, characters and storylines
to keep some gamers happy.
Review by Michael Siebenaler
© Majesco
®
