Bloody Roar: Primal Fury (GameCube) Reader Review

Back in the days of Playstation 1, Nintendo 64 and Sega Saturn, few fighting games raised an ear so much as Namco's Tekken series. There were alternatives, of course, on other consoles, like Fighter's Destiny, Virtua Fighter, and even to an extent, Super Smash Bros.
One unique series that garnered not-so-much attention, but was still a worthy Brawler, is the Bloody Roar series. First starting off in Japanese arcades under the name Beastorizer, before hopping onto Sony's consoles for its next three titles, Bloody Roar involved combatants that could morph into powerful fighting animals.
Bloody Roar: Primal Fury (a boosted port of the third game in the series), was the first proper fighting game to be released in Europe on the Nintendo Gamecube, and was advertised as such. Fortunate as it was, the game was an effective showcase for the machine...

Primal Fury doesn't have a story, or an intelligible one, at least. There are Anime Cutscenes, for the Intro to the game, and for each Character's Arcade Mode Ending, but chances are, you won't really understand much of it unless you've played the previous games.

The battle system for Primal Fury works in a similar way to the Dead or Alive games, thankfully minus any over-active juggle physics.
The A button on the GC pad handles Kicks, Punches are mapped to B,and Y initiates Throws. Simple, you may be thinking. Not so. X is the difference-maker.
Near your character's health bar, is another meter, the rage meter. This one ranges from Level 0, up to Level 3, and begins at L 1 at the start of every fight. This meter fills up gradually, more from dealing damage, and less for receiving it. When it is above Level 1 at any time, pressing X transforms your character into their specific beast (or Zoanthrope, as they are referred to in-game). In this mode, your attacks are stronger, and you are able to do spectacular special moves. Your character reverts back into a human when enough damage has been accumulated, or when you have used a special move.
There's more too. If you transform when the rage meter is at Maximum (Level 3), or if you hit the Z button (sacrificing health in the process) you'll enter Hyper Rage. Same benefits as a regular transform, but in this mode, you take less damage, suffer no knockback from enemy attacks, and as long as you are quick enough, can use as many Specials as you like.
Another area that this game borrows from Dead or Alive, is the interactive environments. In DoA, whacking someone through a wall usually opens another area to continue scrapping in. In this game, repeated assaults on a part of the environment open up a Ring-Out opportunity, so it's a little different, but the premise is the same.
So, as you can imagine, altogether there is quite a lot of tactical possibility with this one.

Right from the get-go, gamers criticized the Gamecube Pad's button layout as being unsuitable for fighting titles. Perhaps this perception deterred publishers from releasing future Fighters on the system, who can say. Bit in this game, the controls work great, never a frustrating moment.

There are a wide, varied range of Characters to choose from, including a Wolf, a Rabbit, a Tiger, and even a Phoenix (), 22 in all. Ranging from the Big and Slow, but Strong, to the Small and Weak, but Fast, Primal Fury has all the hallmarks of a great fighting game.

Considering its source material, Primal Fury looks solid and functional for an early Gamecube title. The graphical effects surrounding the Beast Transformation sequences will impress, and the Anime cutscenes (although not voiced) are a nice little extra.

There is a decent selection of Music tracks in the game, and the Voice acting, or what there is of it, works fine, although the Lip-syncing is out of place.

Alongside Arcade Mode, there is also Vs Mode for Multiplayer sessions, Survival Mode for the daring, and Time Attack, so this game should last you a little while. Not to mention having all the character endings to unlock.

(The intro scene; )