Nintendo is always heralded by fanboys for giving them what they want, but who honesty asked for a 3D version of Urban Champion?
Sure, as Nintendo’s first foray into the fighting genre, its appearance on the NES in the mid ’80s is an important bookmark in video game history.
But after the nostalgia wears off, Urban Champion, even in 3D, is essentially electronic rock, paper, scissors.
A fist-fight simulator, gamers have must punch their opponent in face and gut on order to get to the next block/stage. Sorry, you dirty scrappers, no Ric Flair chops or low blows in this title. Luckily, the gameplay gets spiced up as the people on the second floors of the buildings you brawl in front of find it necessary to throw flower pots down in the middle of the fight. Talk about concerned citizens.
But even with the occasional flower pot, the game gets old fast. With zero unlockables, there’s little reason to play this game for longer than five minutes.
While you can dodge punches, this option is a bit flimsy. The game isn’t a button-masher, once you get in a rhythm, it gets easy, fast. When your enemy punches high, you punch low. When they punch low, you go high.
Over and over.
Over and over.
This would be fine if it was Tommy James and the Shondells’ “Crimson and Clover.” That song had a sick groove. But this game doesn’t have much of anything. It simply can’t entice you to continue playing. Even in 3D, it’s a bore.
The library for the 3DS is thin currently and remakes of lackluster games the likes of Urban Champion isn’t going to improve things. Thinner than the lyrics of a Drake spit and less captivating than a peanut butter sandwich at 3am, 3DS owners deserve better than this tripe.
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