Eragon (PSP)

Eragon GBA version is here

I saw that there's no game review that start with 'E' letter (and also 'X' letter etc). Therefore i review Amaze entertainment's Eragon (2006) on PSP. 

That's some nice blue title screen, so soothing and mystifying. To be honest, I don't know much about Eragon besides movie that's based on novel and involves dragon. I didn't watch the movie in cinema. Though i have vague memory about it when it's aired in some television channel. Also, i have no idea what's the game is all about. I remember watched a trailer of Slash Em Up-ish Eragon game with backbreaker move and i hope this is the one.

After some profile making and start new game, the game presents me with this map. By the looks of it, there's 15 levels in total, you should count the blue mark as it's level that got highlighted. Ok. Let's start the 1st level. 

 

Then there's this narration. So Dragon Riders are extinct now? As someone who once a dragon rider in quest to search for wish-granting star, i feel deep sorrow.

So we have to watch scene when Dragon Riders go extinct? I assume these villains burn this whole forest without concern of cute wildlife such as rabbits and squirrels. But i don't see the connection between this fiery deforestation with Dragon Rider's doom. Maybe i will see it if i either watch the movie or read the book. My bad.

 The villains surround this lone old lady. She seems protect some egg then makes it vanishes with magic, of course .

 

The egg is teleported to between that deer and the bloke who about to hunt it. He got denied from venison dinner but he got omelette. Nevermind. It hatches and reveals a baby dragon. Luckily, it's friendly to Eragon who's that lad with unlucky hunting time. He doesn't get food but draconic pet is good enough.

 

Time passes, the dragon grows larger. It seems Eragon goes to town for shopping. Maybe his stock for toilet paper is already depleted and he leaves me. Does that mean i'll be the dragon?    

 

Yes, i am! The game starts with decent tutorial level. 'Cross' button to accelerate, 'Square' button to break, move joystick to control facing direction, etc. I think the dragon is malnourished or sick as i can clearly see its wing bones. That can't be healthy.

 

The game gives me a lot of information but feel comprehensive and functional. Left-top bar is my health bar. Right-top is my mana bar which is decrease whenever i cast spell (that i haven't got it at all) or turbo speed (by pressing 'cross' button twice) but can be regenerated at quite speed rate. Purple icon on radar is waypoint. I'll go there, game.

Then the game told me to use my dragon's fire to burn some trees. I like where this is going. Tapping 'R' button for fireball and holding 'R' for continuous short-range fire breath. There's red curvy bar near circle target that tell you the "ammunition". If it's fully filling, you can no longer spew any fire.   

 

Next is burning some goats. I can tell that i love this game. Yellow icons on radar represent neutral unit like this goats. They will release flying orb that will replenish mana when collected.

 

The game told me to pick a goat then eat it. All with 'circle' button. Do you remember that scene in Jurassic Park where a goat is eaten off-screen by T-Rex then its leg dropped on the car? This could be more brutal/scary scene than that especially if you're goat lover.

 

Because i burn some trees, wolves attacking Eragon's farm that happen to have boar as livestock. Should goats be the livestock and boar be the wild animal, not the way around? Anyway i have to kill those wolves either by burning them or eating them. As this is tutorial mission, the boar is respawning, i think.      

 

Killing wolves isn't enough to secure Eragon's farm. I have to destroy their dens that are nigh-impervious to any draconic fire. So i resort to throw rocks at them. Pressing 'triangle' button will either enter bombing mode or lock on target if enemy is highlighted. While in bombing mode, there's bombing cursor that change depends on flying speed. The cursor is accurate but sadly i'm not. This one take long.

 

Eragon's farm is secured but the man himself is in danger now. Therefore i must fly to the village and destroy any archer and wagon along the way.

 

Pyro_laughevil02.wav

 

After burning/devouring every archers and wagons, Eragon comes out from whatever his hiding place (possibly in some large haystack). The game told me to snatch him and return to the farm as soon as possible. For some reason vulture attacking me while doing so. If i were sensible/normal vulture, i will just let a dragon flies near me fearing to be fried or eaten. But these gits are really out of mind. Probably they're trained vulture by the enemies and intense brainwashing is part of their "training".    

Alas! The enemies burned the farm before i do. Even though i have killed every King's soldier at sight before. There's possibility of a soldier got here while i try to grab Eragon but i suspect it's inside's job or remote satellite laser.

 

Next story mission is unlocked but i choose Arena Challenge because i like to push my luck recklessly. And because of curiosity too.

Another tutorial? Don't mind if i do. Pillage and Burn sounds interesting too. By the way, i apologize for my incompetence of setting the PSP emulator that you have to witness overlapping letters in so many cases in this article.

Before the mission, i can customize my loadout but there's not much that i have right now. I reckon i will put hide shirt on the rider, for now. Increase defense but at the cost of speed, sounds better than the effect of another armor that also increase defense but sacrifice maneuverability, i think.     

My first objective shoot the targets with my arrow. Holding 'L' button will draw an arrow, nice and simple but there's trick on the duration. While drawing your bow there's 2 half-circles near your target mark: one appear from above while the other from bottom, and they will moves close to each other. If you manage to release 'L' button while they form full red circle, your shoot will most likely hit the target and inflict most damage. This represent precision aiming and it's nice system to prevent shoot mindlessly.

 

There's also defensive magic: repulse that's useful to deny arrows and magic within short duration. Unfortunately, arrows and magic is within same pool. So you have to switch between them by pressing up or down button on d-pad. But that's me being finicky. The arsenal system works well enough in practice.

 

Repulse can also be used to rebuke enemy rider that manage to stows on dragon's back and try to hack the rider's back into bloody mess. But mashing 'R' button to punt the stowaway, works well so far.

Speaking of which, here i do the opposite on 1 on 1 deathmatch. It seems Kaullen (the A.I) doesn't have intention on elbow me. He resolves this situation mainly by using repulse magic. To hi-jack into enemy's dragon, i have to fly my dragon above enemy's until hi-jack icon appears then press 'circle' button. This is fun to do that i win the deathmatch mostly using this underhanded method and there's big gap between our score. This could be mean that the A.I is fits for beginner match.    

On to next mission named "Rescue the Maidens". It's like capture the flag but instead of banner with pole, it deploys damsel in distress. She's not really in danger, though. She stands peacefully on top tower where she's being held until some dragon rider blast the building and his dragon snatch her with its talon. That wasn't me though. I'm far too busy with current situation by reading the radar. Luckily for me my team (Shur'tugal) is 2 dragon riders while the enemy's (Forsworn) is only 1. But with my incompetence, the match goes fairer than you think. At least i manage to collect many magic and weapon that scatter around the map: ice bolt, fire arrow, disease, plaque, you name it. Also i kill Kaullen many many times. If you're curious enough, our princess is marked as purple icon on radar.

Now that finished all the challenge to get hide dragon armor and get it although i didn't check what's the armor does. I move on to main mission. I missed Pillage and Burn mission but Burning Bridge sounds good enough.

 

All of sudden, Urgals (which i assume some kind of orc-like humanoid) attack unmanned merchant wagons and it's up to me to take care of them. Although i'm not sure why these wagons are so important to us.

I saved the remaining wagons (which i'm sure it's only one). But Urgails attack village that's located some hundred meters from those wagons while Eragon is prancing around in panic in the middle of the bridge. Good job, lad. -_-# 

There's also Urgal on the boats. They're like the wagons except they're in water. The game suggests me to bombard them with rock. But my fire is enough to destroy them.

 

Part of village? I leveled out all of it. Or at least on this riverside. It can't be helped. Those Urgals have mind to hide between the houses. If this village have reliable security system rather than leave everything to me, the story will different.

Suddenly Eragon asks me to pick up spell that can help himself. Now i know that my name is Saphira and i occasionally talk in woman's voice. I had no idea about that. Well, unless i either watched the movie or read the book. Again.

 

Turns out the magic that Eragon implies is Brisingr which is high-explosive controllable fireball. Once i get it, Eragon immediately casts it and he burn Urgals along with the bridge (that's where the mission's title comes in) then he's knocked out. So i pick him to this safe camp. If i don't exist, he will die as soon as his recklessness get the best him. The miserable git. 

Later we know that Brom is once a dragon rider himself and he teaches Eragon how to be proper dragon rider. My first task is, eat 3 doves that Brom released. They flies fast but i can catch them up with boosting. Plus, they release blue orb periodically while flying. As if asking to catch themselves. Eating the preys while flying fast can't be healthy. Imagine if you chase after some running hot dog cart. You snatch some of hot dog then eat it while you're running. See, what i mean?  

After some re-training on archery with both target boards and vultures (serves them right!). An Urgal encampment come out of thin air and i have to destroy it. The guard tower is said to be impervious to draconic fire so i have to resort on fire arrows (that Brom keep providing within a period) or try to bombard it with rocks like in the beginning. I think i know how i keep missing with my bombardment. My mind insists on release the rock earlier on target mark accounting my speed, while the target mark is already calculating that and it's accurate. So i have to trust the marker more and less trust my stupid intuition.

That shining magic symbol that's obscured by game's text, is Brisingr pickup. Not only you can control said projectile magic's movement but also you can remote detonate it and it makes huge explosion. I use it to blow up a cliff with same symbol as it is that will bury another Urgal encampment if destroyed. It's the most powerful and valuable magic so far.

Then Ra'zac that i can't kill with any means except by throwing them to waterfall nearby, come to kill Brom. But i can't grab this foul sods even though i fly near them so many time that i can see "Made in China" on their hood. I though it's bug or something. Turns out i need to stun them with Brisingr before i can grab them. It will be nice if the game told me that at the beginning instead of the time when i pick up Brisingr!

 

Free faaaaaaall! XD

 

Eragon had a dream about Arya and she's still alive. He without hesitation will rescue her even though it's trap. Then he leaves me outside of the keep where she's held. Of course, he immediately get caught. Seriously, this lad is really hopeless without me around him.

 

So it's up to me alone to rescue Eragon and eventually Arya. Infiltrating this huge and spacious fortress is quite fun with some occasion of killing guards that attend crank wheels so the gate remain open. On later section there's replacement guard that will re-attend the crank wheels but that only provide me with more incineration/devour target than meaningful obstacle.

 

There's also siege machine. I appreciate their thought of using other mean besides with arrows to defeat me. But catapult here is really bad at doing its job as it can't hit me if i'm directly in front of it like this. Though, ballista is better on taking me as i can't just fly still in front of it without taking any damage. Maybe it can't shoot at me if i'm above it but i can't destroy it either. Unless if i have rock for bombing.    

 

Not vultures, again! They're Durza's (that red haired villain) spies and i have to kill them before they can inform my arrival. I take it, these villain don't deploy conventional alarm system like big horn or something instead of relying on this foul birds. As you can see that i can outrun them, so they're not good as alarming mean.

At the end of the map, i found tower where Eragon and Arya is held. The only solution to this situation is to break the building, hoping they will be save from my demolition act. To do so, i have to pluck those 3 wooden beams on the sides of the building then i have to lure a catapult (that keep respawning if it's destroyed) to throw rock at the ceiling. It works, thanks to the incompetence of the catapult operators there. Demoman_thanks02.wav

 

Eragon and Arya are saved but Durza doesn't take that. It's time to fight against the evil bastard himself! Or i'm forced to as this section is isolated by 2 closed gate until he's defeated that is. Durza conjures some protective barrier that can be banished by Disease spell for some reason. Once his barrier is out, i can damage him before he create new barrier. Sometime there's Brisingr symbol on top of his head, but i try using it to destroy his barrier but it didn't work. Of course, he doesn't stand there idly. He can shoot lightning ball that can conjure lightning strike on my head and as you can see he can also cast Disease himself. The lightning ball can be easily avoided by taking cover on giant rock formation on the other side of the tower. My gripe is it takes too long for Disease spell to respawn so i take cover in rock for quite long time while Durza keep talking "This is how real magic, boy", or "You won't be getting out of here!" over and over again. It gets old fast.    

 

But in the end, a stranger shoot arrow at Durza right in his forehead. Then he engulf in flame and vanish. In other word, he's dead without leaving any trace. Too bad! I was going to eat him. The gates are open so i can escape from here.

 

On my escape, i don't need to kill soldiers that man crank wheel. But i, i mean Eragon need to shoot arrow at paddle that can open the gates that close within certain duration. Last 2 gates close too fast so i need this Time Warp spell to slow them down but it's still tedious to race for the exit. I think i'm jabbering too much so i will end this now.

 

Amaze entertainment's Eragon (2006) is another movie tie-in game that's good if i may say so. It's like Ace Combat but with dragon instead of modern aircraft. Anything that relate to dragon, you can do it here: fire-breathing, eat hapless critters, and rock-bombing building. Plus there's magic and arrow mix in your method of mayhem. On some mission, the checkpoints are nicely placed. The control is responsive and the camera too. Sometime there's special close-up view when -for example- you grab human or shooting Brisingr, that may distract your view/focus from controlling your dragon. The music sometime is vague but sometime noticeable and overall it's quite fine. Besides the main mission, the game provide you with challenges that allow you to unlock equipment that you can use in multiplayer mode also with various game mode. So the game has quite adequate content. The graphic seems blocky especially in close-up but overall it's functional and fairly nice.

All in all, i can recommend you to play Eragon (2006). If you like Ace Combat or Tom Clancy's Hawx, i think you will like this too. Especially if you get bored on realistic airplane or what have you.

PS: i may not be able publish article once a week like in the old days. Therefore, i really appreciate your patience toward my incompetence. Also there will be another article about Eragon's game in near future so don't be surprised or confused later.

Mug Smasher (Arcade)

It's time for me to go back to my usual favorite: Fighting Action game or better known as Beat 'em Up game. So today's article is about Electronic Devices's Mug Smasher (1990). 

 

I say that's some fine wall graffiti. I mean look at those smooth end on every letter. I though the protagonists of this game are wild man that love to break every drinking cup that they see. Turns out 'mug' can be also translated as thug. So, yeah. It's another Beat 'em Up game about punching street ruffian, mainly in the face as mug can also be translated as someone's face. Kudos to Electronic Device for such brilliant title.      

The backstory begins with fat criminal mastermind who's certainly not resembling Kingpin from Marvel comic [Medium Sarcasm], talks alone about some police that's threat to his criminal activity and he has plan about that.    

 

As in every video game, the police who happen to be female, get kidnapped by the villain. I know that this supposed to happen in San Francisco, United States of America. But i don't think any American News will report temperature forecast in Celsius, as you can see in top corner of the newspaper. Or maybe the price for the newspaper is 30 cents? That sounds impossible too. The big news about a police being kidnapped supposed to net big bucks. No way, any American News can be generous by putting huge sale on their product like that. Things for sure is, the red head guy seems annoyed with this Mad Dog guy for abducting this particular police.

So that guy is Axel, an ex gangster and apparently fans of sunglasses or maybe he's hiding his iris that's in pink or other color that's considered embarrassing . Unlike Axel in Streets of Rage/Bare Knuckle, his hair is red and mess jumble. So the police who's kidnapped is his sister?

 

Yes, she is. I'm bit shocked about it. In other game, the kidnapped lady most likely is protag's crush/girlfriend/fiancé but sister is quite uncommon. Not that i complain though. Also unlike in other game, the villain wants her dead! Oh, no!

 

And here's Miles, Axel's friend. He prefer wearing suspender dungarees so he can shows his well-built muscles off. Anyone who laugh at his fashion will meet bad fate. Maybe, Axel once did that and he got permanent black eye. That's the real reason why he wearing sunglasses. And that's Miles's nicest way to punish someone questioning his macho attire. So be very aware!     

 

So Mad Dog is the not-Kingpin man, huh. I'm relieved that he isn't Mad Dog from The Raid. I reckon i can take some fat boss of mafia/gangster rather than some badblood who's rumored to teach martial art to President's bodyguard squad.     

The instruction is very detail to the point of showing player how to pick items (by pressing attack button near them, of course). It is very friendly assuming the player is complete beginner, is what i try to say. As you can see here there's 3 buttons: One for attack, another for jumping, and last one for heavy attack. To unleash the special life-draining move, press jump button and heavy attack button at the same time. That's quite unusual. The character is fixed to each player: Axel is the 1st player and Miles is the end player. There's not much difference between those two except for heavy attacks and running attack.

 

As soon as i start the game, this map appears. It tells us route of our hero's quest, kind of similar to Final Fight. What? You expect me not to relate this game with the Capcom's pioneer of Beat Em Up, don't you? Well, the game clearly wants to follow its footstep so how can i not do that? But clearly, Electronic Device put some quite detail map of -i reckon- real San Francisco here unlike Capcom who just made some compressed map of fictional city. For example: there's Golden Gate Park and Presidio which is fortified military settlement in case you don't what it is.

 

There's Sheila still in her cop uniform, being gagged and tied to helicopter. Oh, the humanity! I hope she has high air-sick resistance.

 

Then here i go to chase after her. Of course, thugs here don't like the idea of me doing so. So i "persuade" them with my fist. Some enemies is chilling for a bit before fighting me like that guy in bottom right corner. I reckon his sitting posture is uncomfortable. But you do you, dude!  

Remember the ninja turtles able to punt water hydrant in their game? In here, i can lift it and throw it to that smug guy who think that my sunglass is funny.

 

How can you tell someplace is a real slum? By looking at the proof that everyone love to drink booze like that stabber and that poor guy that only serves as decoration. But for some reason i found Oscar Award that certainly not belong in here. It serves as score-up item. Bless it!     

There happen to be a wall in the way and our hero just beat the hell out of it as if it's only oversized tough biscuit. But it doesn't stop there, he then carry the remaining then throw it to nearest thug. Demoman_positivevocalization01.wav

 

Shortly after that, first boss appears. As his name suggests, he's bigger than the average thugs by not much. He does nothing spectacular, except some nice looking flying kick. Also his fashion is ordinary: sleeveless leather jacket, spiky bangle, jeans, mullet hairstyle, and jeans. Take that aside, i want you to focus on mug that almost like Axel. He's wearing white shirt and brown hair not the one who get backstabbed. That's definitely Axel. This similar-to-Axel enemies are quite often appears so your eye can be fooled if you're not careful enough.

After beating 1st stage, i recover my health by using this "test your strength" game. Weird but it's okay if you can tolerate button mashing.

At the start of 2nd stage, we see Sheila is transported on the back of forklift. It's nice touch that she's being transported at every start of stage proofing that our hero is competent to make such intense pursuit. By the way, i never sit in the back of forklift. Looks nice and cozy.

Yep, it's factory stage already. But if i remember correctly there's no conveyor belt or foundry pit like in other beat 'em up. But there's spikes that periodically pop-up on the floor. Unsafety standard. Check!

 

What factory is this? Bomb factory will be good guess as there's bloke who throws bomb at you and then run away just like molotov-throwing guys in Final Fight but he's only alone. You can also guess blunderbuss factory as i pick one and use it to blast every villains here including that bloke with balaclava. It's kind of strange to see someone in 100% terrorist get-up that doesn't wield any firearm and rely on either his fists or jumping kick. But, whatever. It's your lose, man. 

 

There's also boomerang for your combat instrument but it's not worthy as it doesn't travel far and bit cumbersome to return to your hand. The bloke with sledgehammer and gymnastic suit on right corner, quite reminds me of The Bad Brothers in Golden Axe. Not so gigantic in size but still packs a punch.

 

Look at that! It's the obligatory elevator section and mandatory karate guy/martial artist. But it's strange that there's rubbish bin in elevator. No, you can't deceive me there, factory worker/mechanic! Your innocence look can't avert my eyes on that bin behinds you.

They must be in really deep meditation and the front one seems very focused to not use handgun right in front of him. But soon i will interrupt his focus with this garbage bin. :P

Then i pick stool and use it to clobber everyone. Heavy_positivevocalization01.wav

 

The boss this time is Redman because he's man in red gi. You can tell that he's the master of all the karateka because of: 1) His size, he's the biggest of all 2) Correct sitting posture 3) Lush chest hair. He's more challenging than Bigman because he like to dash or jump around so he's harder to hit. But you can eventually beat him.

Oh God, why? I have to punch all these arcade cabinet to restore my health? It's taboo just below " Kick kitties really hard" on my list though i have (reluctantly) shot cats before. Because my hesitant, i can't destroy all arcade machine thus my health isn't fully restored.  

3rd stage start with the same elevator but this time it goes down. Nevermind about stool and (another) garbage bin that aren't supposed to be in elevator, look the martial artist guy on the left that refuse to be bound by lift's spatial boundary. He's the true anomaly in this screen!

 

After the lift, i go down to the street. This time i decide to be Miles the 2nd player. If you think that you can pull jumping kick by pressing jump button and pulling direction stick then pressing attack button like usual, then you will be disappointed. If you execute forward jumping that way, your character will only do mid-air rolling and you can't follow it up with kick like what you expected. That aerial acrobatics move only good to leap over gap like this and rolling barrels.   

 

As you can expect from San Francisco as port city, you can beat many seamen as you pleased. I mentioned about your inability to jumping kick and i didn't lie about it. Here is Miles running attack # 2, executed by pressing jump button while running (double wiggle and hold direction stick). While his running attack # 1 (which is executed by pressing attack button instead of jump button) is clothesline move similar to Combattribe.

 

This boss stage is fireman because he's pyromaniac with flamethrower, you see. So far this boss is the most annoying one. No, he's the most annoying boss in this entire game. He's equivalent of Captain Commando's Shtrom Jr./Shtrom/Druk, harassing you with projectile weapon and diving kick. It's not as simple as approach him then unleash combo on him, he can simply bails you by either diving kick or smacking with his weapon. Moreover unlike the harpooning bastards, fireman projectile can't be deflected with your fist. But the method to defeat him is almost the same: repeated running attack will dishes his health quite well. 

 

Defeating the fireman, grants me free ride on trolley car that hopefully go to where Sheila being taken.

 

But before continuing the pursuit, i have to mash button to push this villain car like Hercules will do to charging bull/boar/any beast.

Now Sheila is taken with cargo net. The villains are really inhumane toward their hostage but that's reasonable as -you know- someone who are evil.

 

Because this is a harbor, it goes without saying that i confront with seamen, again. Sailor with white uniform or dark blue ones, you name it. Here's flaw on Mug Smasher: you can't see lesser villain's health bar or not even their names, making smashing these mugs feels tiring or tedious. But that just minor flaw in my perspective.

 

The seamen are tough but you know what's their weakness? That's right! Sea storm. I can turn into tornado of fury and that's close enough. While doing tornado move, you can move anywhere before the duration expires just like Taz, the Tasmanian Devil himself.

 

The boss stage is another man: Hazyman. This is almost like Megaman series. Perhaps Mad Dog's brain has same wavelength with Dr. Wily's. Why this burly man named Hazyman while he can't conjure haze or whatsoever? Maybe our fight isn't memorable or shall i say "hazy" thus what his name. Yup. I go with that.

 

This time, the bonus stage is breaking every giant ice cubes in this freezing room so the villain can't make any snow cone anymore. I manage to break all of them unlike previous bonus stage with arcade machine.

 

Sheila is taken via car that is bit undersized in my opinion. Maybe it's clown's car. Anyway keep your hope up, lass! I'm coming to save you.

 

But you have to wait longer as i have been stumbled by drum that's thrown out by some criminal inside a box truck. As far as i know Hamburger is originated from Hamburg city in German, but that doesn't mean hamburgers don't use ham patty. Hence that mascot suggests. It's like Colonel Sanders but discovered pork hamburger instead of fried chicken. Also it's pig not some old man.

 

There's big gap on the streets. Thus i have to go down into this dry sewer that's infested by terrorists and some bald midgets who can be walking totem pole.

 

This boss stage is Hatman he like to throw his hat like Kung Lao of Mortal Kombat or Spike McFang if you will. Every stage boss has limited supply of goons to assist him. Therefore Hatman ramps up his reinforcement by having 2 Bad Brothers from the start and i die noticeably a lot here from previous bosses because of them. Aside of that, he's not so hard to beat even though he wears same fashion of Raiden the Thunder God himself.

Do you not feel tired doing cross-leg sitting like that? Here, have a seat (on your head)! :P

For some reason i barge into some Chinese restaurant. There's 3 guys on the background enjoying their drinks except the ones in center as he's worried about brawl that happens in front of him, fearing that he will get hit. And also he pays the bill of this drink meeting. Another my complaint: the mug throwing move is the same as stuff throwing move. I know asking for Mayor Haggar's like wrestling move is too much but more variety will be nice.

 

Turns out, i can also defy spatial boundary by passing this wall. I think this is down to design's flaw rather than emulation problem. Nonetheless, this game runs well.    

 

Handman is the boss in this stage. He called that because he like to hit you with palm strike move or fireball coming from his hand. You know what's more dangerous than energy fireball of martial/magic art? That's right! This Beretta M12 that i just found. It's one of best firearm in the game besides AK-47 or M16, with its fast fire rate. Proofing that Electronic Devices have great pride on their fellow countryman's product. The submachine gun is made in Italy, you see. Surely Handman can't stand so much against said firearm even though he previously got help from (other) 2 Bad Brothers.    

 

Next stage is just the usual boss rush. You have to re-fight the bosses that you defeated but thankfully there's no minions helping them at all. Just you wait, you smug bastard! Once i hit continue, i will beat the hell out of you, again!

The final boss uses gun. As expected from boss of arm dealers. What i don't expect is why none of his thugs wield any firearm like at all, even the terrorists? Unlike Mr. X from Streets of Rage, Mad Dog doesn't have ability to do sweeping shoots. He can only do single shoot action. Maybe he's more like Belger from Final Fight, but fat thus he's slower and much easier to deal with.

 

So police take necessary action after all, huh? Can't you act faster before these vigilantes crush the criminal syndicate all by themselves? As if you takes their credit there, officer. By the way, why Sheila is still being tied? She's your sister not stuffed turkey, Axel! At least, release her gag! 

 

Electronic Devices's Mug Smasher (1990) is decent Beat Em Up game albeit its crayon-like tone. The gameplay is good even though there's flaws that i have mentioned and occasion of loose hit detection. The difference between the heroes aren't so many but quite significant: Axel's running attack #1 is just shorter jumping attack, Axel can do handstand kick by pressing forward and heavy attack button, and Miles can do low spinning sweep kick by pressing down and heavy attack button that can attack both sides. There's lots of weapon that you can use to bash to or throw at. Not to mention guns that you can use to blast enemies from distance. Collecting score or healing items is bit tricky, as you can found them on barrels/rocks/hydrants/etc you throw at their landing spot and you can't break them on the spot with your fist or kick. There's also big box that you can destroy on the spot but it's quite rare and often contain enemy. The bosses are quite often hard to hit or take way too many damage but overall they're fine. But not that pyromaniac, mind you! The decoration and background aspect is pretty good. The music is quite noticeable and fit to brawly nuance.

I definitely can recommend you to play Mug Smasher (1990) more than SNK's Burning Fight. Although both game implement heavy attack button and single type of throw. Burning Fight is way more tedious, trust me! My last word: Don't treat your sister like giant package that keeps tied and such! That's just wrong.