The
game went under the radar for a lot of reason and one being it was released the
same year Resident Evil 4, Shadow of the Colossus, Soul Caliber III and God of
War was released for the playstation2 console. I for one haven't even known the
game existed myself until recently.
Beat
Down Fists of Vengeance has the players taking control of one of five
characters who were all betrayed by a mafia group led by Zanetti. With no other
option but revenge you seek to recruit the local gangs and mobs throughout the
city. if the local gangs won't get you the corrupt police of the city of Las
Sombras will. But it won't be easy as these people are stubborn that you often have
to recruit, interrogate, rob them to get what you want.
Sure
the game story is pretty much the typical gangster game you would expect in a
GTA game but with a lot less stealing cars and more punching the lights out of
everyone. In fact a lot of the things you do either by mugging people in the
streets to recruiting them in your own mafia gang requires you to beat them
into a bloody mess.
This
is like Streets of Rage with some RPG. The areas in the city of Las Sombras
like the gasoline station is just named The gasoline station like most beatemup
games. Each of the five characters you can choose from has their own fighting
style with their own strength and weaknesses. You level up the more enemies you
fight and you can upgrade your character Stamina, Attack and Technique.
Your
Criminal level will determine which characters you can recruit and what perks
and hidden characters you get when you finish a story mode. There are like 100+
characters you can recruit in this game and you won't get them all in one go
and wouldn't need to play this game multiple times to get them all. There are
even characters that you can only recruit when you play as either a male or
female character. Getting Godfather title will unlock you a special ending and
an additional boss fight.
Repetitious?
Yes. Fun? Heck yes! there's pretty much a lot to do in this game that you might
find yourselves spending hours in the game hunting down every character like
they are some rare Pokemons. There's also 50 missions to do in the game and
collecting everyone and completing all the missions unlock special items. So
you are not really doing it all for nothing.
The
game is also rated mature since folks get bloody and bruised in these game a
lot you would think this is an RE game but with no zombies. Aside from first
there are also weapons and guns you can use to really lay it all out on the
enemy. Its definitely not for the faint of heart and certainly not for little
kids.
Sadly
as great as the game is this is not without it's bad sides. For one being a PS2
game the graphics are somewhat PS1-ish but with much smoother movement. The
load time between areas is tedious specially when it doesn't have fast travel
option. You most likely need a guide to recruit every character just to save
time. Also there are no female characters that you can recruit that has
lockpick and car thief ability, I mean seriously guys you think girls can't do
that stuff too?
Overall
Beat Down Fists of Vengeance is a criminally (<--- see what I did there)
underrated game for the PS2. Sure it's not the groundbreaking or game of the
year quality in terms of graphics and plot but it was clearly ahead of its time
on how much it tried to do. If you like beatemup games with a little RPG
element and a little pokemon style collect-athon then this is the perfect game
for you.
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