Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance

A game that is certainly violent, absolutely profane, but also acceptably playable and filled with enough replay value and customization to warrant a purchase as opposed to a rental. But in terms of sheer polish and finesse, "Def Jam Fight for New York" is still the standard bearer against which these sorts of games should be judged.

Sadly, the open world and one-on-one fighting engine lack the proper execution, and the copious loading times just get in the way.

Beatdown is a solid fighting themed action role-playing game brought down a notch by too much area transition loading and some limited promised features (like the ability to interrogate every character in the game).

It's a beat-em-up. You beat people up. If nothing else, it offers the bare minimum of gameplay to meet the name, but all the other claims of deeper gameplay are half-assed.

It's an engaging scrap that just about manages to keep you hooked. Worth taking a chance on if you like fight-heavy action adventures with a seedy, skuzzy undercurrent and plenty of face-smashing. [PSW]

Ultimately, though, it’s all about how well you wield a crowbar.

Been there, done that.

Capcom did the right thing by allowing 2 player battles and extending the replay value with 5 characters but some gamers will have had enough of the load times and mind-numbing decisions by the end of the first story.

A game that feels half-baked and suffers from terrible pacing.

An intriguing idea, but it deserves a better game than this.

Fans of repetition or the beat-em-up genre may be interested, but the game is likely to disappoint—even as a rental. Avoid, if possible.

Building up a powerful gang from nothing under the watchful eye of the man sounds like fun, but the process in Beat Down is shallow and tiresome.

Great in concept but ends up being a slow-loading, profanity-laden action game with subpar graphics.

Beatdown is a choppy, shallow and tedious experience, despite a few cool features being thrown into the mix.

A dumb, forgettable game and nothing else. [Sept 2005, p.100]

Despite offering a laundry list of moves and button combinations, the game's complicated controls feel shallower than the three-buttoned Capcom arcade classics like "The Punisher" or "Alien vs. Predator." Group battles feel too constricted with the auto target locking mechanics, and the simplistic one-on-one fights are somewhere on the level of "Pit Fighter."

There's still just not enough incentive to repeatedly play through the game. [Oct 2005, p.90]

If you absolutely love pointless violence and cheesy, forced atmosphere, then by all means pick this title up. Otherwise, stay extremely far away. In fact, stick to "Streets of Rage 2," that game is way better.

It just doesn't gel, with misshapen models, repetitive, bland music and a watered-down story that struggles to maintain a "thug-like" quality through forced profanity. [Sept 2005, p.56]

Bland gameplay, however, stifles what inspiration there is. The fighting action is fundamentally underwhelming, and a poor camera and constant loading further handcuff things.

Looks like a great idea on paper, but it fails to be even mildly entertaining past the first hour of play. There’s no excuse for the game’s camera, and the long load times and slow pacing are just icing on the cake.

I find it very funny that the name of this game is entitled Beat Down, because this is exactly what the game is, it is a beat down to even attempt to play this game. Needless to say avoid this game like the plague.

The only redeeming factor to Beat Down is almost everything is underlined with extra options such as negotiating, robbing, recruiting and so on. Normally, this flexibility would be welcomed but in Beat Down's case, having these extra options is akin to a Steven Seagal DVD being packaged with two discs of extras. Who cares?

Yes, Beat Down revives the warped charisma of Capcom’s beat’em up heyday, but that’s the only area where it actually triumphs. [Oct 2005, p.90]

Beat Down makes us feel bad - we wanted it to be good, Cavia put in the ideas that could have made the game good, but failed to deliver on the execution - the despicable quality of voice acting just seals the deal.

The story is interesting, but many of the scenes seem forced. Controlling the different characters could have been cool, but their movesets are pathetically underdeveloped.

Old brawler mechanics, GTA elements don't mix in particularly well. [Oct 2005, p.107]

And for the beat-'em-up fans who want something new, just playing Beat Down feels enough like getting kicked down the stairs that you won't return to the genre any time soon.

Beat Down fails to inspire, excite and-most importantly of all - it fails to entertain.

True, Beat Down isn’t entirely without potential, but the execution is woeful. For your own sake, avoid it at all costs. [Nov 2005, p.104]

Perhaps it's because death is only a temporary setback that arbitrary cold-blooded massacres of innocents are met with a gaming blind eye.