Friday, March 29, 2013

Playing History at GDC part 3 -- Streets of Rage, Double Dragon.

I'm not a huge fighting game buff, but when the machines are set to Free Play, why the hell not?

Working the MADE booth, I was right next to Streets of Rage, which was insanely fun to play. It's probably the game I got the most practice on; it got to the point where I could reach level three without getting a GAME OVER. It was the first time I had ever played a game where I was consciously aware of using combo moves. They helped me immensely and when I pulled off a chain of three (grab and kick, flip over, lariat finish!) I felt crazy badass. I also got to play with some other people who came to view the exhibit, and that made the game ten times better. One of the other CAs discovered with me that our players could do sweet combo moves together. I tell you, there isn't a feeling better in the world than doing a backflip off player 2's chest and smashing an opponent's face in with your heels.

Double Dragon required significantly more skill, even though the game was more simplistic in design. The hitboxes (or areas where opponents could be struck to take damage) were very small and precise. for example, if I was standing too close or too far away from an opponent character and did a punch or kick, they wouldn't take any damage; in the meantime I was getting battered to a pulp quite easily. I found my best approach was throwing a punch, then running around so they couldn't get to me, and throwing a punch again. I'm sure it looked pretty hilarious if anyone was watching--it certainly isn't a good strategy to employ should you get into any real fights.

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