Future Gamer Issue 50

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Previews
Reviews
Mini-Reviews
• Emergency: Fighters for Life [PC]
• Pandora's Box [PC]
• King of Fighters R2 [NG]
• Neo Cup 98 Plus [NG]
• Suzuki Alstare Extreme Racing [GBC]
• Space Invaders [GBC]

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Issue 50 - October 21, 1999

Mini-Review
King of Fighters R2
NeoGeo Pocket Color	From: SNK

As long as the idea of playing a blatant Street Fighter Alpha clone doesn't turn you off, this 2D fighter is pretty good. The graphics are very crisp and the 14 fighters have good weight and feel. Also, the moves are easily executed with the NeoGeo's excellent mini-joystick. The lack of buttons is bypassed by having you press for longer if you want a strong kick/punch. This works surprisingly well and soon becomes intuitive. There's also the inevitable power bar that allows you to pull off bonkers special moves. The only criticism is that sometimes you have two fighters with similar coloured costumes and it becomes disorientating in a ruck.

Two-player action comes courtesy of a link up cable and one-player fun is extended by the excellent Making mode, available once you've completed the game, that allows you to make your own custom fighter. You can even link up to the Dreamcast and trade characters back and forth.

FG verdict

88%

Mini-Review

Neo Cup 98 Plus

NeoGeo Pocket Color From: SNK

Imagine, if you will, a footy game where you can manage and play for an international team. Then cross it with a bonkers, Japanese RPG. You see, the management side of the game involves you buying bits of kit like shorts, but with player-enhancing properties. Mad things keep happening between games and this keeps you coming back for more, with the sort of horrid fascination normally reserved for road accidents.

At least it would, were it not for the gameplay, which sucks like a Dyson. It's akin to Sensible Soccer but, alas, the players are all ten feet tall, which means you can see a piece of pitch the size of a postage stamp. The AI seems totally unhampered by this and passes with pinpoint precision. Beautifully animated, to be sure, but you never feel in control. Couple that with a scream-worthy tendency of the player you're just about to tackle with to suddenly bugger off, leaving you in control of a player you can't even see, and you're quickly in danger of chucking your lovely NeoGeo out of the window. A waste of some smart graphics. Avoid.

FG verdict

40%

Suzuki Alstare Extreme Racing / Space Invaders