The "Spyborg" review!

Joined Feb 2007
2K Posts | 0+
Kentucky, US
Bluevoodu asked a question about "who had played this game" back in April 07, 2010, at 10:16:40 pm and no one answered that inquiry. And now after over 2 years, ....... a reply? Sorry for that awful timing. :)

I have only recently discovered this game and I am having the time of my life right now playing it. All of the reviews that I found on the net give a mixed feeling of the game. One of those hmmm.... might be worth the plunge feelings. And I am glad I did. This is CAPCOM and Spyborg is a very good take on a previous CAPCOM game, Final Fight. Meaning that it is "old School" arcade beat'em up with a good twist. And I know that some may feel that the game is repetitive. You know the retro drill, enter the stage, thugs come from everywhere, beat'em up, pick up things, advance, repeat and then the boss. That is just the way those old arcade games where and unless you like those sort of things you will probably get off the bus right here. I on the other hand love everything retro.

The new twist on this type of game is in the presentation.
Here you have three characters, a guy with a gun, a big hulking robot thing with brute strength, and a girl with a big knife. You pick two out of those three to begin a stage, one you control the other is your helper. And the nice thing is that you can switch between those two, or a friend can join making it a two player against those evil forces. I always have the hulking thing as one of my choices.
Controls are simple and easily learned, light and heavy attack, guard, jump, and a finishing move or a combo finishing move. The motion involvement is light with a swing on the finishing moves. There is that looking for invisible things during a stage by pointing then hitting a couple of buttons to make that object appear.
Power ups tend to be just that, health, points, or a build up for that finishing move. You are graded on your performance at the end of each stage something that offers that desire for replayability. There are those hidden items like the recorded tapes that relate to the story line. There are those power ups that give you points which are used in purchasing upgrades for the characters.
Story line? New type of line of defense is taking wounded soldiers and making them into Cyborgs, offering an elite fighting force. But now they are mysteriously disappearing. It is up to you to find out why, who, how? Simple, but effective if you need a reason.
Graphics are adequate for the situation, not highly detailed as I have seen other games on the Wii, but they get the job done. 3D Animation is very good with good sized characters at a 3/4 view playing field, not too far away and not too close. Cut scenes are of the Saturday morning cartoonish-voice-over variety using the same type computer graphics found in the game which gives that feeling of continuity. The boss battles? My first encounter was with this robot thing larger than the screen that had to walk up to the building I was standing on. Very well animated and very contra SNES "memories feel" at this point.
Difficulty? There are NOVICE, CASUAL, and ADRENALINE with a secret mode to be unlocked. There is that replayablity factor incentive again. Personally I do not need anything to provoke me into replaying a game like this. I love these type of time wasters. Game seems to be well balanced to me.
Finally overall I find this a good game giving me confidence that CAPCOM has not abandoned us gamers that are in the retro arcade genre crowd. Yes it is repetitive and if it had been a remake of Final Fight, being the same game with new graphics, I would have said why? Even tho it would have been accepted but not with as much enthusiasm. Here I have the feel of Final Fight, Streets of Rage, Contra sort-of game with a few twists which gives it a refreshing breath of air. If this sounds like your cup of tea then you are in for a nice ride. I give it a big thumbs up. Way to go CAPCOM.
My only last thoughts are, even though the 3DS capabilities are greater than this, Spyborgs would have been a great little game for the 3DS, or DS, for that arcade fighter on the go. Just saying. It might have been better received by gamers as a portable game. Retro games do seem to be more acceptable to portable gamers. There seems to be this hidden standard when it comes to that home console.
 
Very nice review, retro junkie! I enjoyed reading it.

:lol I'll have to look to see if I bought the game. I don't remember :( if I did... I didn't play it. Now I think I will give it a try either way.



BV :hat