The Final Word game review

Eternal Champions -- Sega

This 24-meg side-view fighting game pits players as one of nine fierce--but dearly departed--warriors. Players must reign victorious to prove their strength to the Eternal Champion and regain their life. Each character has over 35 different moves and a unique fighting style. Players can even design their own battle room in this top-ranked title for the Sega Genesis.

Ferrari Man
Perhaps one of the best all time party games Sega has ever seen. The tournament mode is excellently designed, and extremely fun to play. The graphics in this game are large, and fairly easy to see--even with the limited colors. The sound is very complimentary, although simple. A six button controller is an absolute must. Playing this game without one is impossible, and unfair in a tournament. Happy hitting!

Dr. Otto
You can shelve all the others, kids... This is the only fighting game for me. An extraordinary amount of work went into this title. And it shows. Large, detailed characters as well as visually striking micro-environments (I refuse to call them just "backgrounds") are indicative of the care that was taken to make this game a must have. The special moves are very creative and the music, while not premier, ads significantly to the already considerable atmosphere. Throw in a truckload of options unavailable on any other cart and you have the most entertaining fighting package you can buy on any system. On the flipside, the computer can be ruthless in one-player mode. So two-player may be the way to go for some. At any rate, Sega has taken what might have been just another fighting game and made it the thinking man's beat em up. Who knew?

R.I.P.
Sega has really outdone themselves on this one. So far, I consider this one of the best fighting titles to date for the Genesis. Possibly one of best jobs Sega has done with a particular title since the Sonic series. While I liked the two-player mode and have spent countless hours at it (actually Dr. Otto and I spent many a night playing for hours at a shot), I really liked the one player mode more. Game control was great and I really liked the special moves, as well as the realistic difficulty of play. On another note, the sound was only somewhat above average; but this really didn't effect game play. The interaction with the backgrounds was a riot. Tons of fun for sure. Personally though I could have done without the excessive character bios that appeared just about everywhere I looked, from ads to the game itself. Oh well, that's promotion I guess.

Salamander
With the onslaught of generic fighting games on the market, Eternal Champions sets itself apart. It has unique character and atmosphere, and more than a healthy helping of special moves. While the set of characters, in general, fill the generic fighting game mold (beast-man, mega-babe, cyborg, alien creature, ethnic national), I believe that the characters are unique enough in appearance and abilities to stand alone. Responsive play control and jumbo-size characters complete the package.

>>>>> 90.0/100 <<<<<		Ferrari Man	Dr.Otto	R.I.P.	Salamander
Graphics		4.5	5.0	4.0	4.5
Sound		4.0	4.0	3.5	4.0
Gameplay/Control		4.5	5.0	4.5	5.0
Longevity/Playability		4.5	5.0	4.5	5.0
Overall		4.0	5.0	4.5	5.0
Total		21.5	24.0	21.0	23.5

Originally appeared Vol 2, Iss 5 (11-12/94)