Perfect Weapon

The Good
If you are a professional martial artist like me, Perfect Weapon has all the difficulty and challenge of real life kickboxing combat.

I have completely won this game on both Windows and PSX, so I am completely familiar with both games.

The action in this game is as completely natural and accurate to real life kickboxing up to against 4 opponents at a time. That means that action is sometimes clumsy and rough and severely damaging, just as a real kickboxing match would be. Gamers seeking a smoother easier combat experience would be better off staying away from this ultrarealistic (in both graphics and gameplay) game.

I have played both the Windows and PSX versions for hours with utter enjoyment. Getting used to the controls takes some practice, but an experienced player like me has total fluid control. On Windows, I'll set up my left hand keyboard controls for movement and the right hand for combat. Perfect Weapon definitely works better on keyboard than it does on the Playstation controller which is adequate but not ideal for its massive move repertoire.

Of all the combat games I have played, Perfect Weapon is my FAVORITE because of its realism and visual beauty. This masterpiece of a game can only be appreciated by hardcore enthusiasts of martial arts like myself.

The Bad
"Perfect Weapon" would be truly perfect if it had these things:

1. The game needs to be LONGER. 5 moons is child's play for a veteran game enthusiast like me who has easily defeated all 3 Colony Wars for PSX! The game needs 5 more moons, specifically a lava level, a burnt out battlefield, a boxing gym, an medieval castle setting, and a horror zombie level. Make the game two discs long!

2. The PS1 version is unbeatable in the jumping boot jewel level of Proteus Moon. The opponents are too aggressive, which is the case anytime in Proteus there's a wall mounted control panel staffed by humanoid aliens. I had to grudgingly set myself to Invincible Mode to beat that one stage, but I did not on Windows.

3. There are purportedly over 100 moves to master. Yet despite all my experience with this game, I have only discovered about 5 combos. This is compounded by the poor responsive of the PS1 controller which doesn't do most of the moves in the owner's manual. ASC games erred by not publishing those combos before they went out of business.

4. The combat system was revolutionary for its time, as Perfect Weapon was the first 360 fighter in gaming history. That said, there's no strafing ability or blocking mechanism. Making sharp turns against opponents requires expert use of the targeting buttons, but I never truly needed that skill.

5. It is too easy to pin an opponent against a boundary, crouch, and groin punch that opponent into defeat.
   
   The Bottom Line
   When I tell people about this game, I describe it as the ultimate kickboxing experience I've ever played in a video game.

I tell people that this game is not for impatient gamers who want to waltz into a fight, easily defeat all opponents, and blow the opposition away with powerups. The skill level of the martial artist is the prime factor, AS IT SHOULD BE.

Also, this game needs to be REMADE. It should be a multiperson adventure spanning hundreds of worlds and different alien species.