Sega Mega Drive: Primal Rage

Year: 1995
Genre: Beat 'em Up
Players: 1
Our Rating: 5/10

Mini Review

Primal Rage, it’s a game that exists on the basis that any game can exist. Fighting games were nothing new back in 1995, in fact they make up a significant proportion of retro games. We had already been introduced to some of the gaming worlds great successes including the Mortal Kombat, King of Fighters and the Street Fighter Series. The market was getting a little crowded for conventional arcade style fighting games. However, Primal Rage was one of the break out titles in the arcades. Primal Rage looked and sounded great there. However the game fared less successfully in the home market. Due to the technical limitations the overall result comes off as a little second class compared to it’s competitors of the time.

Primal rage is in essence a 2 player beat ‘em up frenzy of dinosaur action. For some reason there’s also two playable King Kong style characters (Chaos and Blizzard) and cavemanesque characters as background interest. It’s about as chronologically confused a game as you will find. In adition to the giant apes you have the choice of playing Sauron, Talon, Armadon, Vertigo, Diablo which represent the more traditional dinosaurs. The smart option seems to be Talon as his speed seems the greatest and also inflicts good amounts of damage if you can pull off the combos. Primal Rage isn’t a bad game, it’s simply a game that took a look at the animation and sound design of Mortal Kombat and said “We won’t get sued if we make the characters dinosaurs”. All children will have some memory of this game if the passed an arcade in the mid 90’s. It’s worth a look but greatly overshadowed by it’s retro competitors.

Sega Mega Drive: Streets of Rage 2

Year: 1992
Genre: Beat ‘em up
Players: 2
Our Rating: 9/10

Mini Review

To the streets! This popular sequel is without doubt one of the 16-bit eras best loved beat ‘em-up side scrollers. As always the reasons for the street fighting are paper thin. Adam from the original game has been captured by Mr X. Cue old friends Axel, Blaze, Skate and Max to the rescue. Each character has a mix between strength, speed and special move. Axel and Blaze provide the mid ground whilst Skate provides the speed and Max is the all out power option.

Along the way you will pick up apples, meat and roast chicken off of the floor and from trash cans for health. You will need it too as you face a pleasing variety of street gangs and boss fights. Each character has a variety of moves including combos, holds and throws. Each character is also gifted with special moves which are high powered but will sacrifice some of your own energy in the process. You will fight in numerous locations from video arcades to pirate ships, all of which are beautifully rendered. The final battle with Mr X. is a real treat and there’s a real sense of cinematic direction as he falls. This is a must own title and I can’t recommend it highly enough.