Review: Final Fight: Double Impact (Xbox 360, PS3)
April 14th, 2010 | Written by Filippo Dinolfo | Topic: PlayStation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360
Capcom is on a bit of a retro kick lately. First they gave us new 8-bit MegaMan games, then they gave us a retro style prequel to Dark Void. They’ve also released several other remakes and downloadable classics over the years. Final Fight: Double Impact is their latest retro release which brings together two very different yet excellent arcade games: Final Fight and Magic Sword.
Final Fight is widely regarded as one of the best side scrolling beat-em-up games ever. While Double Dragon may have been a pioneer in the genre, Capcom’s Final Fight was the game that perfected it. Magic Sword on the other hand is a side scrolling fantasy action game where you work your way through of 50 levels of demons, skeletons, traps, and other hazards. Both games support cooperative play, but that is as far as the similarities between the two games go. Had Capcom wanted to put together two thematically similar games, they might have looked at Knights of the Round as the second game for this package. We really hope that game does make it into a future “Double Impact” style package.
The first thing that you’re greeted with when you load up the game is the 3D model of the arcade cabinets. A menu would have easily sufficed, so it’s nice to see that a little extra time and care went into making the presentation feel more authentic. Arcade cabinets in an arcade compilation do go a long way, even if they are only 3D representations of them.
Much like Capcom’s other retro releases, Final Fight: Double Impact goes out of its way to preserve the feel of the original arcade games. The devil is in the details here, and this package is full of tiny little details that really augment the arcade experience. Oddly, the games start by default with a remixed soundtrack, though you can switch to the original arcade music at any time. This feels a little bit strange given that by default the two games play in Cabinet mode with the Arcade Monitor filter. New remixed music seems a little out of place when you’re looking at a rounded and fuzzy arcade monitor. If you don’t like the way the games look you have a multitude of options to choose from. So you can in fact make the games look as fuzzy or as crisp as you’d like.
The two games in this compilation are running under emulation. Both games run as smoothly as their arcade counterparts. As a side benefit, the games also support saving the game state at any time. If you’re running through the 50 levels of Magic Sword, you’ll very much appreciate having this feature on tap if you need to stop to go have dinner or do something more constructive, like going to work for example. When you come back, you can just pick up right where you left off.
The games both feature online cooperative as well as local multiplayer. The online performance was fairly good by default. The games allow you to tune the input delay to get smoother play session. This is a nice feature to have since it helped to make some marginal connections more playable. There is no substitute for upstream bandwidth though, so you’ll want to be playing this game with a decently quick internet connection.
Two games for $10 is a good price on its own, but the package doesn’t stop there. While playing you are able to unlock concept art by completing various challenges scattered throughout the games. That’s a nice touch, but it would have been great to have the challenge’s dialog box not stay on the screen so long. It takes up quite a bit of screen real estate, and in the case of Magic Sword, covers up parts of the UI. It’s a small gripe, but worth pointing out nonetheless.
Final Fight: Double Impact is a great little package. Both of the games play as you would expect them to. It’s clear that Capcom is testing the water with this game, and we hope that we will see more of these in the future.
Final Score: 9 | Recommendation: Download it Now!
Comment by Andrew_G on the April 14th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
I like the idea of a 3D arcade cabinet. Gives it a real nostalgia boost in my opinion. And for those that aren't a fan, you can always mess with the video settings.
Comment by chess box on the April 23rd, 2010 at 4:30 pm
I've played with the different types of video settings. The first run through I actually made it as much of an arcade feel as I could with the cabinet screen as well as the interlaced arcade video. Awesome game and port overall. It was the first time I played Magic Sword, after about 20 levels I quit. I didn't realize that there's like a hundred levels.
Comment by Sin on the June 1st, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Am I the only one who doesn't see how to get to Magic Sword on this shit?! All I can play/see is final fight – what's up w/that??!
Comment by Quest on the January 24th, 2011 at 8:46 pm
@Sin You are probably not the only one who doesn't see the 'swap game' button at the start-up menu. Off course it's quite difficult. I totally understand that.
When you see the first picture above this comment section, the 'swap game' button is shown at the upper left side of the screen and now it's getting worse! It's a blue X ? What's up w/that??! When i started the game, the 'swap game' button at the upper left side of my screen; was A SORT OF PINK SQUARE!!!? What's up w/that??! i hear you think.
Eventually i decided to push the 'swap game' button, although it wasn't a blue X, as shown above this comment section at the pictures, but a pink square. It took me almost 33 weeks before i understood that i was playing the Ps3 version of the game. I really think god helped me deciding to push the 'swap game' button with the square on it! Imagine, a totally different button as shown at the pictures above this comment section. How bold!!
I hope this was helpful for you and for all the other people struggling to find the 'swap game' button, even when different consoles are involved.
Kind Regards,
Mark from the Netherlands (i hope you can understand my bad English)