If you are like me, you will remember all the many beat 'em up games from the late 80's and early 90's. Games like Final Fight, Double Dragon, River City Ransom, the list goes on. So now it is 2005, and here we are with another take on this genre in Retro Fighter. Inspired by the Snes version of Double Dragon, this game is just what every other beat em up game promises. Kicking a** across different levels, advancing forward until you get to the end.  Simple premise to the game, and easy to get into.

There really is not much of a story line.  Apparently there is one, although you would never know this blurb was taken from the homepage on the story. "An inner-city narcotics investigator by the name of Maria, the girlfriend of a renowned martial arts teacher called Tommy was kidnapped by a street gang known as the Dark Syndicate.  The gang is lead by a deadly and ruthless drug lord by the name of Carlos.  Maria disappeared a couple of months after trying to infiltrate his criminal drug organization." Therefore, you go forth as Tommy to rescue your girlfriend from this drug lord, across four stages of butt kicking fury.

The game itself has impressive graphics.  Although you only play as one character, it is done in a 3-D style game play. So you can rotate your character and pick different angles to attack your enemies from - something that you did not see with the older beat em up titles. One of the more annoying things that was a little sad to see was that the game only has one generic enemy sprite. I mean yes, with this type of game, you will see the same rather 'hire a goon' enemies coming to stop you in your mission. However, to see only one enemy sprite in the entire game - that was sad to see.  At least put in one more different sprite to give it uniqueness.

The game borrows some of its music from past beat em up titles such as Double Dragon and Streets of Rage. I thought this was nifty, as the music really added to the game play and made it enjoyable to listen to. Although I would have preferred to hear original music for the game. Still nothing, wrong with paying tribute to past titles this way.

The only other gripe I had with this game was the use of weapons.  Normally with most games, you can use weapons only for a certain time, that's not really the main issue. The main issue is the gun weapon, which in my opinion is the cheapest weapon in the game. It never runs out of bullets, and it can be used to easily gun down the enemies and even the boss.  It appears in every level. Therefore, you will see it every time around - something that takes away the challenge I thought, as you can just gun down enemy is quickly.

Still, if you are looking for something to just pick up and play if you don't have much time, or you just want to vent out a little anger in this game. You can do it with Retro Fighter, check it out.