You know what kind of TV shows I don’t like? I hate the shows you see on the CW since it seems like EVERY show that’s on there is about a bunch of spoiled, whiny white kids with problems. To be honest, I don’t care for shows like that, since like I said, they’re all the same! You could argue that they are different, but tell me one that doesn’t have a 22-year-old, acting like a 16-year-old, and has issues with love and relationships. Why can’t theses shows be like, I don’t know, umm, Rival Schools for the Playstation 1? Since we are on the subject, this next review will be the first ever Playstation 1 game review on my blog, and the name of this game is Rival Schools or Rival Schools United by Fate, if you wanted the whole English title.
The story revolves around different high schools, and one day, something happens to all the schools. One of the incidences is that people have disappeared. Other stuff is like other students getting injured and one of the character’s mother disappearing. So, different students have dispersed from their schools to find out who is behind all these strange incidences and save their own respective schools. It’s interesting, since it’s just not one school beating up on other schools.
The game play is a tag team 2.5D fighting game. The 2.5D is kind of like Capcom’s Street Fighter 4. You can choose from a good list of characters, each from different schools. Of course, this isn’t your Dawson’s Creek group of kids. Let’s just say the students and teachers are very unique and are always fun to get to know. The fighting system is a lot simpler than Virtua Fighter 5 or Street Fighter 4. Each combo is successfully put down for each punch and kick. You can also pull off two super moves for each character, just by pressing either L1 or L2 on the controller. You can also pull off team-up moves with your partner, and they range from a group beat down, or support and healing, and you get the idea. It’s always interesting to see which combo your team has. There are also a lot of stages, so it isn’t so repetitive, and you aren’t fighting in the same place twice.
The graphics by today’s standards have aged a little, but I think it looks nice still. I mean, yeah, if you look up close, you can see all the pixels, but it isn’t as bad-looking as the first Virtua Fighter. The music is also very Street Fighter-like, and is lively and fun to listen to. A great thing Capcom did was to keep the Japanese voice-over in the game since, well, I think it would have been horrible to put in English voice-overs. Another cool thing is that there is an anime-like opening and ending, and for a Playstation game, they look nice. They kind of remind me of the animated sequences in Tail Concerto. I also like all the unique characters and what their goals in the story are. It’s nice, since not one person acts like the other. The color pallet is also very nicely used, and has an anime/Street Fighter Alpha-esque look, and it fits the game, I think. The game also comes with a second disc, where you can unlock four new characters and go through the Playstation form of Rival Schools, and other stuff like mini-games and photo galleries.
This is a fun fighting game, and there is only one thing I could say that I don’t like about it. The controls in the game are perfectly spot-on, and I like the fluid fighting system, but the only thing I hate about the controls is the required control of using the D pad to move around. It’s awkward as heck sometimes, and it becomes a pest later, when you’re fighting the teachers from Justice High later in the game due to the teachers being tough. I have played Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo with a D pad and it’s the same thing, awkward. I wish there was a control option where I could use the joystick or something on my controller.
Overall though, this is a fun game, and I would recommend buying this game for anyone who is a fan of fighting games. It’s not going to be easy though, since it is hard to find. I had to pay around 40 dollars for my copy and it can go higher. I also wish Capcom would make a sequel to this game. I know there are a lot of rumors coming out from Capcom about bringing back some of their old games, but we will have to wait and see.
This game gets a 9.8 out of 10
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