Thoughts by Mr Creosote (31 00 2017) – Amiga (CD32)
The Body Blows competition goes into its final round. Released about six months after Galactic, the best way to describe it is probably “that CD version of Body Blows”. Which has all the fighters of the two previous games. Which, if we’re honest, should have been the case in the second one already, because, you know, Street Fighter II did it that way.
Implying that you get CD audio, though improved technical quality does not solve the issue of the compositions just ranging from boring to annoying. Music aside, there is nothing which would have warranted the use of a CD as opposed to a floppy disk release. Gamepad support seems like a nice addition at first glance and the buttons are indeed intelligently used, but controls were never a big issue in previous parts, either. So, nice, but not a huge deal. Same for the new “Tag Team” mode in which two players choose two fighters each and then compete in a serial manner.
Having all fighters there means that many of them (read: the ones of the first part) are still sort of generic. Though with a wider range of opponents overall, it’s not quite as striking anymore. Backgrounds, a weak point especially of the second part, have been re-painted and can now mostly measure up to the genre competition again. Gameplay speed has been improved again as well.
Overall, Ultimate Body Blows is really what Galactic should have been in the first place. It irons out those inexplicable weaknesses which plagued the series' progress and is therefore the ultimate part, indeed. It does not feel as pointlessly rushed anymore. However, the genre as a whole had also not stood still since the first Body Blows and its progress was too slow to keep up. So to be honest, the overall conclusion from today’s point of view isn’t much different: nice try, serviceable game, but not a big deal globally speaking.
