Bloody Roar 2 was released when consoles were overrun with fighting games and in order to succeed it had to stand out. While Soulcalibur and Toshinden had introduced weapons to keep gamers coming back for more, Bloody Roar had a somewhat different innovation; each character in the game has an alternate persona which takes on the form of an animal. When in their animal form the character has a new repertoire of moves, regains some of the health that had previously been lost, is faster and more powerful too. This feature was well recieved by fans and is why Bloody Roar garnered much of its success. It gave the player something different from the other fighting games on the market while still not over-complicating the gameplay. Plus, it was great fun testing out all the characters and their beast aliases, effectively doubling the games roster of playable characters. From Long, The Tiger, and Yugo, The Wolf, to Jenny, The Bat, Busuzima and The Lizard, there is an intriguing range on offer. Bloody Roar 2 is on this list because the graphics were truly exquisite at time of its release, distinguishing it from the many other beat em up alternatives. It also introduced new characters with new move sets and an assortment of varied game modes. To date there are five Bloody Roar games; another sequel was set to be released but after difficulties with the developer it had to be put on hold. Thankfully, 1999s Bloody Roar 2 with its rich, well-animated combos, provides enough kick-ass animal-on-animal violence to have kept us going all these years.
Hailing from South East London, Sam Heard is an aspiring writer and recent graduate from the University of Warwick. Sam's favourite things include energy drinks, late nights spent watching the UFC with his girlfriend and annihilating his friends at FIFA.
