Luigi Mario

Shaq-Fu

Developer: Delphine Softwear

Publisher: Electronic Arts

System: SNES

Introduction:

The first time I saw time I saw this game on TV Commercials, I thought......."What the hell???"

The first time I PLAYED this game, however, I thought............"What. The. F***!!!!!!!!"

I seriously couldn't figure out, for the life of me, what the game was all about, or even WHERE they got the storyline from.

Which....I'm not even sure......is worth mentioning....but I gotta fill some space somehow, so....

Apparently, the plot goes like this, Shaq is going to an All-Star charity game, when, suddenly, he stumbles into a small dojo, for some akward reason......

The old man inside tells Shaq that his grandson was abducted by some Mummy guy named Set-Ra. In the confusion, Shaq is mistaken to be the "Magic One" and is sent to another world through a portal to save the old man's grandson and defeat Set-Ra. Of course, almost everyone he comes across has been brainwashed by Set, and now are out looking for a fight, which Shaq.....somehow....is ready for.

I'm going to try my DAMNEDEST to make this game look good. Well, here we go......

Reviewed by: MattDDR

Graphics: A  

I actually have to admit, the graphic quality of this game is quite impressive. Every character has incredibly fluent movements to them, some of the backgrounds will change if you have to use a credit to continue, and even the changing facial expresions in the upper corners when the characters loses certain amounts of energy, or even when they win, Looks really good. If it were any point I'd have to give this game, it would definetly have to be graphics.

One dissapointing feature to this, however, the game isn't as colorful as I expected it to be, especially seeing as this is a SNES cart. I would've like to see a tad more color into the characters, that, and they were really, REALLY, small. The scrolling when you beat the other character into the middle of next week is also kind of a dissapointment. But nevertheless, the graphics are really good, and probably one of the things that saved this game.

Sound: B-  

The sound was.......ok.......That's all I can say. The punch and kick impact kinda sound a bit dull, and when certain people fire projectiles, you hear the same voice from all of them. The music you can either take or leave. I, personally, am neutral to the Music, but you may disagree, you MAY agree. It all depends, really.

Control: D  

Now it's time to start on the negatives of the game.......negative Number 1? The CONTROL. Simply put: I don't think they've HEARD of control.Seriously. I couldn't figure out how to do ANY of the moves without the instruction booklet...And you'll need SOME kind of movelist to be able to do ANYTHING. Of course, if you lose, and you don't continue, they'll tell you how to do.....ONE.....move. JUST one. Yeah....thanks guys.....

As for the control during gameplay.....It BITES harder than a shark after meat. The movements when you walk forward or backward are WAY TOO SLOW, And if you get caught in a corner, it's pretty much over. Another thing, knowing how to do the moves are one thing, pulling them off will actually take a miracle of nature. I could barely do Shaq's Shaq-uriken move half the time I was trying to input the move. Dissapointing like nothing else. They REALLY should've tweeked it a bit more. That, or take a class on how to make a worthy Street fighter clone move correctly.

Gameplay: F  

*Facepalms* What in everything unatural were they THINKING!?!?!? Oh, I know They WEREN'T!!!!!!!!!!

The gameplay gets an automatic THUMBS DOWN!!!!!! The graphics are REALLY good to look at, but the game just sucks. Like I said, it's hard to pull of the controls, meaning, no button mashing allowed. Sorry, kids. Also, that little red meter under your energy, it's called a FURY meter. But, I was expecting it to let you pull off a super special move, or something. But OH NO! It just makes you punch and kick faster and lets you pull off your specials quicker.....as if you could in the FIRST place.....Oh yeah...and the characters look like they were thrown out of a low-budget comic book, and they all have WAY more moves than Shaq does....

I also don't like the fact that the SNES version only has like......7 characters at the start, and I don't even know if you can earn the others through gameplay......BECAUSE THE GAME IS SO FRIGGIN' CHEAP, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even playing on easy mode'll get you in a rut. The characters throw EVERYTHING at you from the very first round, and most of the time, I had to take the cheap way out. All I could do, most of the time, was jumpkick and leg sweep. Cheap, yet effective.....miraculously.....Oh, and BTW, you can't just simply block projectiles, you have to put a barrier up....somehow.....yet ANOTHER thing the game DOESN'T tell you how to do, or even about. Bad move......I actually like the Genesis version BETTER than the SNES version....but.....it ain't much better....trust me. I recommend looking for an online instruction boolket FIRST before even THINKING about trying this game.

Overall: D                                                     

Electronic Atrs should've just stuck to what it does best.....SPORTS GAMES. I mean, COME ON! Did they REALLY think this was gonna be a good game, JUST BECAUSE they threw out a bunch of money, endorsed Shaq, gave him a bunch of moves, and threw him into a game that was just about graphics, and not much else? I think NOT! If you wanna experiment with it, just out of sheer boredom, then be my guest. It all it's good for anyway. But if you're looking for a spectacular Fighting game....LOOK ELSEWHERE, for the sake of your sanity.

So, in the end....."CAAAN YOOOUUU DIG IT!?"....Hell no. Shaq would be better off in a free throw contest than a fighting game, and if you play, you'll see why. I'll leave it at that...