| ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. | |
| PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. | |
| OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. | |
| NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Parents need to know that in this fighting game, players will use punches, kicks, grabs, throws, some swipes with weapons, and energy blasts in an attempt to bludgeon opponents into submission. All of the violence is cartoonish, and there is no blood or gore. The characters have superhero-style, impossibly proportioned bodies -- some scantily clad -- but there is no nudity. Parents should also be aware that the game has an online mode and that Common Sense does not recommend online play for anyone under 12.
CAPCOM FIGHTING EVOLUTION takes five 2-D fighting titles from the 1990s and allows the characters to leap out of their original games and fight one another. Unencumbered by a story, players face a computer challenger, a friend, or someone online in a one-on-one brawl.
The characters mix basic punches, kicks, and grabs with some charged-up special moves. Many fighting matches involve two-character teams, although switching characters is only possible between rounds. Players must use some strategy in selecting a team before a fight, attempting to match character skills against the opponent's team. Yet the surest path to victory comes from spending time with a few characters and mastering their moves.
For players who spent time in arcades in the 1990s, this sort of action may bring back fond memories. Fighting Evolution looks a lot like the games it draws from. But Fighting Evolution doesn't offer much to please gamers who don't already have a fondness for 2-D arcade-style fighting. This is a pretty bare-bones game with limited appeal. The number of fighting modes is small; players have only a short arcade mode, a two-player versus mode (both off- and online), and a training mode to chose from.
Although the online community has some dedicated players, the overall population can be sparse and games hard to find. And it's hard to understand why Capcom didn't include more-familiar characters to broaden the game's appeal.
Families can talk about realism and violence in games. Is violence more palatable if it's cartoonish rather than realistic? Are the effects of violence on players different depending on the presentation? Families may also wish to discuss the exaggerated body types. Do depictions of hyper-muscled men and super-busty women affect people's ideas about how bodies should look in the real world?
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