Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side

The Good
First things first: Mortal Kombat, Fatal Fury Special & Samurai Shodown pretty much played the same (I won't even qualify Paws of Fury as a fighting game!!!): VERY difficult to connect combos but VERY nice to look at (graphic wise... Well, Mortal Kombat not so much). Eternal Champions, on the other hand, completely improved on the presentation from the first game in groves. From the extended move set, to the 256-color palette on screen, to the (kinda) rave soundtrack, this is where it's at for a gory fighting game. Along with the 13 un-lockable characters, there's quite a bit of technique to learn here.

The Bad
Sooooo, unfortunately, while I LOVE this game, I loathe the sluggishness of the fighting engine. This game's fighting engine TRULY needs an enema. That's not to say that you can't work around it. But, I think part of the reason why many people hated EC:CFTDS is because of the way it played - for that matter DOUBLE time for Eternal Champions (cart) for the Genesis (don't get me started on the AI from the cart build - VERY cheap!!!).

Yes, the special attack meter adds a dimension of strategy; but I kinda think it gets in the way of actual combat. I guess a counterpoint would be: some characters would be WAY too powerful spamming moves.

The inclusion of sudden death, overkill, vendetta AND cinekills should more than fulfill a warrior's lust for blood (depending on who you talk to - they are QUITE disturbing!!!).

The Bottom Line
All in all, quite a lop-sided fighting game that does A LOT right; but other aspects, not so much. A gory 1-on-1 where, while the learning curve is VERY high, the satisfaction payoff more than justifies the commitment.

It has its flaws, but to me there is A LOT to like here...

The Good
The fighting engine is deeper than most fighting games, although I still prefer Street Fighter, and the graphics are really nice(the fighters are HUGE!!!) Also, Sega put some neat fatalities in CFTDS, and Mortal Kombat look tame in the process. The storyline is as well-written as Mortal Kombat, and the "Cine-Kills" are high-quality for the time. The music as also pretty decent.

The Bad
This game is way too HARD! I, as a hardcore classic gamer, cannot BELIEVE the cheapness of this game! The original is hard enough as it is! And the new fighters they included are WORTHLESS. At least they added the original fighters or this game would COMPLETELY suck. The final boss is just crap. first you fight him in 8 FRICKEN FORMS, and then you have to fight him again in 5 other forms! WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!

The Bottom Line
Don't buy it, don't borrow it, don't even download it. Just pretend it never existed. This is one of the worst fighting games I have ever played.

Overall: 4 out of 10. >=[ Graphics-8/10 Gameplay-3/10 Sound-6/10