SENGOKU

Review Introduction:

Sengoku is another dated side-scrolling beat 'em up, except that this one at least tries to add a couple of new features to the genre.

Gameplay: 🕹️

The main thing that makes it stand out is that you can actually gain extra characters as you go through the game. Occasionally, after beating a bad guy, you get given an extra character that you can change into by pressing the C button. This opens up a menu where you can cycle through the collected fighters and choose the one for the section you are on. You can only use these people for a limited time though. Every so often you also get sucked upwards into what I guess is another dimension or something where you get to fight different bad guys.

Graphics: 👾

The graphics in Sengoku are really dated but I suppose not too bad for its time. Even Burning Fight has more detailed graphics. In truth, they are not really all that bad at all, just fairly bland apart from a couple of nice effects, like when you get sucked upwards into the other dimension. The animation is pretty poor though and the characters just seem to shuffle along the floor as if they are on skates. Sengoku is definitely a game that will remind you of the early 16-bit Megadrive/Genesis/SNES days. It is an old game though, so we can forgive it for this.

Sound effects & Music: 🔊

The sound in this game is OK. It's not really that great in the way of special effects, but the music is passable for this era. Some sections have fairly standard music for this type of game, but others have more atmospheric music. It isn't amazing, but generally OK.

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Overall: 📊

This game is not what I would call terrible, but it isn't all that good either. It is much more enjoyable than a lot of the other side scrolling beat 'em ups on the Neo Geo. It is worth trying if you are a die hard fan of this sort of game, although it can be frustratingly hard at times. The sequel is a little better though...

I keep saying this over and over, but why is it that SNK and everyone else found it impossible to make a Neo Geo game that came anywhere close to matching Capcom's side scrolling beat 'em ups? They have made some of the best one on one fighters, so why couldn't they get the side scrollers right? Oh well, us Neo Geo fans can stick to the other good stuff ;)