Review by: Edward Okulicz

Fighters megamix is the latest offering from AM2, a company thats name seems to bring a greater prestige to its games than playability or lastability. With the exception of Virtua Fighter 2, I've found AM2's games have left a lot to be desired. Yes. That DOES include Fighting Vipers, a most irritating and sluggish game. A lot of people liked it, sure, but I found it very frustrating to play, and nowhere near as fun as VF2. And not a patch on Fighters Megamix.

This review is positive, but I feel it is a good idea to expose this games stumbling blocks.

As you would expect, the graphics are top-notch. I thought the lo-res would look bad on VF2 characters, but the lo-res is only noticeable on some levels where the colors contrast. This isn't really a problem. The characters still move well and the backgrounds are colorful. The rotation on the stages seems to be less buggy than in Vipers.

A first for an AM2 game, FMM has clear sound effects and (unlike everything they have done before) non-irritating music. At last, no more karaoke and elevator music.

The playability is a hard one to describe. Despite the graphics and all that, Fighting Vipers was no fun to play. It had horrible controls and was not very responsive. Virtua Fighter was a little sluggish itself, but it was a very enjoyable game to play. Fighters Megamix makes the mistake of using the Vipers engine, however they've tweaked it, and it seems they've got the controls fixed up. I still miss the massively high jumping though...

Lastability, so often the Achilles Heal of a game, turns out to be FMM's savior. I can see this one lasting a long long time, what with all the characters. Unfortunately, the secret characters are more of a distraction than real contenders.

GRAPHICS: 91%
SOUND: 76%
PLAYABILITY: 79%
LASTABILITY: 93%
OVERALL: 85%

A good fighting game. A definite improvement over its predecessors. If you have both games, then you may want to trade them in and buy this. Those without either FV or VF2 must drop everything and buy it.. now. If you have VF2, an upgrade may not be necessary. If you have FV, throw it away and buy this.

Any massive arguments would be appreciated at eokulicz@verbal.apana.org.au