Released in 1995

Available in

Genre: Fighting

Also known as: Brutal Unleashed: Above the Claw

This game is an updated version of Brutal: Paws of Fury, a fighting game which had been originally released for the Genesis and Super Nintendo in 1994. The 32X version features re-done music, new backgrounds, a new game mode and some new characters.

Unfortunately a new feature that wasn't added was one to make the game good. Whilst the backgrounds look decent, and some of the characters animate well, most of them don't and things end up getting very choppy as a result due to a lack of animation frames. The music isn't very good -do you really want to be listening to this kind of thing whilst fighting? I don't. The sound effects are also poor, with scratchy and repetitive samples. Then there's the gameplay. The single player is still dumb, since you have to learn moves as you go, whilst the CPU will have full access to everything, and certain characters can wipe the floor with you. But then sometimes just holding down and doing sweep kicks over and over can get a few wins for you. The hit detection is still off, leading to sloppy combat that won't keep two players entertained for long.

Fighting game fans would be much better off with Virtua Fighter or Mortal Kombat II.

When the game starts you'll be able to enter a password, if you want to. As you progress through the single player mode and earn new moves for your character, you will be given a password. You can also start over without a password, and whichever character you've chosen will have no special moves. Fights are one on one battles, using the best two of three rounds system. Win a round by reducing your opponent's life gauge to nothing. All characters start with punches and kicks of different strength -a six button controller is recommended, as it has enough buttons to give you access to all of the normal moves at once.

When you beat a certain number of opponents, you will be given a new move. You'll be shown how to do the move and can then practice it before moving onto the next fight. As well as the single player mode, there is also a two player vs mode, where the characters have all of their moves unlocked already. There is also a practice mode along with a new "battle" mode. This mode has you and the CPU select several characters each, and then have to choose points on the map. As you move characters from place to place you'll encounter members of the opponent's team, and have to fight them. Battle mode is somewhat like a team battle mode, as characters do not regain health between fights.

Between fights in the single player mode you will get to see stats of what you did, such as the number of punches, kicks and throws used along with an opinion on how quickly you won or lost. The game also has a replay feature -after each round you have the chance to re-watch the combat.

-A PC version of this game was also released, which has the extra content the 32X version features.

-Several cheat sides list codes to play as Dali Llama and Croc, but these seem to be codes for the Genesis and SEGA CD versions of the game, as they were hidden on those. The 32X version has them unlocked by default.

-The Genesis version of Brutal was also released in Europe, but the 32X version was only released in America.