PlayStation

Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors

A good concept, strengthened by great graphics and good gameplay is what makes Darkstalkers one of the better fighting games on the Playstation. Not as deep as Street Fighter Alpha, but just as fun, Darkstalkers is a welcome addition to the Playstation library. File it after MK 3 and Alpha, but in front of everything else.

But as classic as the game may be, Dark Stalkers really is showing the age of its engine. Street Fighter (which is what Darkstalkers essentially is) was once the state of the art in fighting games. But in this era of Virtua Fighter 2 and Battle Arena Toshinden, Darkstalkers barely holds on. I eagerly wait the day that Capcom rises to the challenge and enters the next dimension.

Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors is one of Capcom's best Arcade to PlayStation conversions yet. Any fans of the original version or 2D fighting games in general would do well by picking up a copy of this beautiful game.

Unfortunately, Dark Stalkers pales in comparison to the bigger 3D monsters that have been released for the Playstation, namely Tekken and Toshinden. But as far as 2D fighters go, Dark Stalkers is still one of the best.

Darkstalkers is rather shallow, and the shape-shifting moves are hard to follow and encourage button mashing. The action gets particularly confusing with faster characters like the hyperactive werewolf. The load times are a bit extreme, and the title sequence is idiotic. Still, if 2D fighters are your thing, Darkstalkers should keep you entertained for a while. It's only an average fighter, but at least there's plenty of eye candy.