Clayfighter 63 1/3

Summary

Genre: Fighter
Number of players: 1-2
Rumble Pak: No
Controller Pak: No
Expansion Pak: Not used

Review

Clayfighter 63 1/3 was released a fair while ago, and at the time didn't really have many competitors in the beat-em-up genre on the N64. At the time, there was KI Gold, Dark Rift, Mortal Kombat, and not much else. None were very good. Surely then, Clayfighter would be in the running for the best beat-em-up on the N64...


Gameplay: Clayfighter (I'm not even going to bother with the stupid 63 1/3 business) features a couple of modes of gameplay: 1 vs 1 against a human player, or the mission-type-thing, which involves you and your clay character fighting loads of people in the hope of reaching the evil Doctor Kiln. That's about how the story goes. Not exactly gripping.

But you don't play beat-em-ups for the story, do you?

The gameplay is very, very simplistic, and not very good. There's nothing addictive about it, nor is there anything particularly fun either. The characters all have three types of punches, three types of kicks, and a couple of other moves, as well as having three special moves which can only be used when you've completed a power bar. And that's about it. As a result, fights are very, very repetitive. Of course, you won't find yourself playing it that much, so this shouldn't be a problem.

The game is not very fast, and it's possible for one player to just keep retreating and firing long range bullets and other missiles at their opponents, instead of going up close for battle. Even when you do fight close up, the graphics are so bad that you often can't make out what's happening. The animation isn't too good either. Random button pushing usually wins in the end, which makes play rather pointless, and not at all satisfying.


Challenge: Admittedly, playing on the hardest skill setting can take a while to beat, but you won't want to play it long enough to get that good. There's no lastability about the game, and within a day you'll be sick of it.


Graphics: Absolutely terrible. Everything's so blurred it's difficult to make out what's going on at times, which is rather annoying, to say the least. The backgrounds, while slightly better, still aren't anything to shout about, either. But what's truly annoying is the fact that during a fight, it's possible for your view to be impaired by the scenery, so you can't see what you're doing! Stupid.


Sounds: Just when you thought you'd seen the worst in the graphics, wait 'till you turn up the sound. Each character has an extremely limited range of phrases they shout at their opponents during the course of the battle. As such, pulling off one move will make a noise (such as "Taste it!") and then pulling off the same move will always result in exactly the same sound. And they really grate after a couple of hearings. Apparantly, they're supposed to be funny sounds, but they're just not. The music isn't much better either.


Multiplayer: Not fun at all. Just as bad as the single player. Buy WCW vs NWO instead, even if you hate wrestling. Only 2 can play.


Summing up: An absolutely appalling game that's probably the worst I've played on the N64. Don't waste your time or money on it - not even to rent.


Gamesmark: 10%


Reviewer: Tangycheese