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Way Of The Tiger |
Copyright/Publisher: Grelin Graphics, Release Year: 1986,
Genre: Fighting Sports, Number Of Players: 1 or 2
The mystical island of Tranquil Dreams is not the most obvious place to find a monastery where
monks devote themselves to their god, Kwon, the supreme master of unarmed combat. This is where
you were brought as an infant, and adopted by Naijishi, the most powerful of them all. Through
many years he trained you to become a Ninja of perfection, and now it is time to prove your
worth. To do this you are required to battle your way through three different combat routines,
each with a different weapon.
To start with a Master Program has to be loaded, and this initializes the routines used in the
other games. From here you can then load any of the fighting sequences in practise mode, or play
the whole game through from the beginning.
Gremlin have implemented a 'triple scroll' routine which makes the movement on the screen work
in parallax. On the unarmed combat scene the clouds drift slowly across the sky in the background,
and reeds and fountains are animated with accuracy in the foreground. All the biffing remains
in the 'middle' ground. The placing alters on the various stages but the effect still remains.
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UNARMED COMBAT |
The setting of the unarmed combat sequence is in the desert sands of Orb where you have to defeat
whatever the master chooses to send against you. These are not all humanoid, and spring out from
behind rocks and bushes with malicious intent. You must be ready at all times to do battle with
them, or else you will fail your quest. Luckily, you have several efficient forms of bashing, some
of the more intricate moves being the good old neck-chop, the back high kick, and the devious
low kick. In total, the apprentice Ninja has a variety of 16 different moves, accessed by the same
command system as Way of the Exploding Fist.
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POLE FIGHTING |
Abandoned on a slippery pole you have to protect Naijishi's mysterious lake, complete with
ducks and all. Again, you have access to sixteen battle moves, this time geared towards stick
bashing. Apprentice Ninjas need to plan their moves carefully, since the slippery pole has a
nasty tendency to leave you splashing about in the lake, and no matter how mystical it is, it's
still very wet!
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SAMURAI SWORD FIGHTING |
Off to the temple for the final piece of Ninja bashing, as you take on the greatest warriors
aremd with Samurai swords. The battle commences with the clanging of swords as you attempt to
battle through all of your challengers, until you finally reach the point where you have to
battle against the master himself. This part of the game poses a major new problem; previously
your opponents had the same capabilities as yourself, but now they are capable of more than the
standard sixteen moves to which you are restricted.
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Julian Rignall |
I thought that this might be quite good, but really it's just another in the long line of fighting
games. The game is quite slow, and although there are several different types of fighting events
there is no real difference in their playability. The graphics are quite nice and the Yellow
Magic Orchestra title screen music is jolly, but there's not a lot to keep a plater going.
If you're keen on fighting games then have a look and form your own opinion.
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Gary Penn |
There's only one thing I like about this game and that's the three speed parallax scrolling.
Oh, and the music, I quite like the oriental ditty played on the title screen. OK, that's two
things that I like. But that's it, there's nothing else about Way of the Tiger that appeals to me.
It doesn't play too well, and it's basically a fairly run-of-the-mill beat em up. Knight Games
is overall a better package - it's also cheaper.
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P.S. |
My overall opinion of this game was slightly marred by the awkward loading system. However, the
game substantially makes up for this problem. The triple scroll works to a good effect, and the
immense amount of moves, 16 on each of the three levels, makes fighting quite flexible. Although
this isn't at the top of my list of fighting faves, it's worth forking out for if you are in
need of a good bash em up.
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