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17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Oh great...another insanely cheap side-scrolling fighter., December 6, 2003
The first Double Dragon really took on in the arcades because of unique moves, great character designs, the weapons, and the ability of the two players to beat on each other if they so desire. I was an absolute fanatic, playing for hours on end on my PC. However, subsequent excursions including an SNES version never grabbed me. It's as if the game programmers felt that the Lee brothers were too powerful and just kept chipping away at their moves until they are almost entirely impotent, far less powerful than each member of the legions of enemies they face.Double Dragon Advance, unfortunately, continues the trend. It's not that you can't perform their moves. I find it surprisingly easy to perform classic Double Dragon moves such as the headbutt, back jumpkick, and the famous elbow. And a large commendation goes out to the new weapons system; so many side-scrolling fighting games get it wrong, but this game allows you to accurately pick up and retain weapons you like, with complete control. Very good system. The larger array of weapons is also great, with the kali sticks, nunchaku, and ball and chain being especially fun to use. But the game remains insanely difficult. I started playing on the Easy mode, and though I was able to finish, there were times when I just wanted to flush the game down a toilet. Your elbow is now shorter than the average punch; this used to be the life-saving weapon to use when you're being swarmed, but now it's less than useless. The game pits you against three times as many enemies as in Double Dragon classic (and this is in Easy mode, mind you), with eight or nine enemies onscreen at any given time. Given this number of enemies, the lack of temporary invincibility after knockdown (a staple of 2nd-generation side-scrollers like Final Fight) is a killer. I've found my character entirely unable to move, fight back, or even escape when swarmed by eight or nine enemies, all doing punches that are impossible to stop after the first hit, or jump-kicking with the range of half a screen, continuing to knock me down until my entire life bar is gone. Two or three of the enemies can toss dynamite sticks that explode on impact (!), nearly impossible to dodge, and take out 2/3 of your life. One samurai enemy has a long sword move which is instant death on contact and reaches twice the distance of your kick. The classic character Abobo can now overlap your character after you've been knocked down and perform an unblockable throw move over and over...and it goes on and on. Seems like the programmers forgot fairness and gameplay. The Survival mode is an insult -- pit you against four enemies at the same time, who can keep hitting you without the possibility of recovery. Against odds like this, who can survive? I managed to beat 11 enemies before going down, and I get a "Class E" grade. Insulting. Maybe you're thinking, "This guy's just a 4th-rate gamer complaining about the game when he should just brush up on his skills". That might be true. But isn't that the point of having an "Easy" mode, to allow the player to build up to harder gameplay? I think this game is just poorly balanced. Which is too bad, because the controls are responsive, the weapons are great, and the look of the game retains the classic Double Dragon feel for a sense of nostalgia. I just wish they'd considered the player more. Frustration is one thing; player abuse is another.
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