Bloody Roar Extreme is the latest addition to the Bloody Roar family on the Xbox. Bloody Roar has been around since the original Playstation, and is a fighting game where players take control of contestants that can transform into beasts to help them fight their way to victory. The series has had multiple publishers throughout its lifetime, but this time around Konami has done the honors.

Bloody Roar Extreme is your average fighting game. A very powerful leader is holding a competition for all Zoanthropes (people that can transform into beasts) to find the most powerful fighter. There’s a punch button, kick button, block button, and a Beast button. Bloody Roar also offers the traditional fighting game modes: Arcade, Versus, Survival, Time Attack, Team Battle, Versus Team Battle, and Training.

The gameplay is very basic. Fighting consists of hitting the punch and kick button alternately to create combos. The combos are very easy to pull off due to the simplicity of the button combinations making it easy for anyone to get good at the game. This may be a turn-on for a lot of gamers, but hardcore fighting game fans may find this annoying.

The flare of the Bloody Roar name is the ability to turn into beasts during the fight. As you fight, your beast meter at the bottom of the screen fills up. Once it’s full, you have the ability to transform and become more powerful. While in your character’s Beast Form you do more damage, have access to more moves, and are able to pull off a Beast Drive attack. Beasts Drives are a lot like the super attacks you’d see in a Street Fighter game and result in a really cool looking barrage of attacks on your opponent.

Aside from Beast Form is Hyper-Beast Form, which turns your character into a faster, stronger version of their Beast Form. The screen gets sort of a blur and you have unlimited access to Beast Drives. Your character can only do it once per turn, but in tough times it can win you the battle.

Bloody Roar Extreme has plenty of treats to unlock. There are extra hidden characters and fun things like Kids Mode or Beast Only Mode.

Overall, Bloody Roar Extreme is a fun game to just pick up and play, but it’s definitely not for gamers that are heavy into fighting games. They may be disappointed with the lack of technique and charm. The characters seem strangely like characters from other fighting games and not very unique, the graphics and textures are plain, and the play mechanics are simple and uninventive. Bloody Roar isn’t a bad game; it just feels like it they didn’t try very hard with this one.

Gameplay: 6.5
Bloody Roar Extreme is fun to play, but with its simple fighting engine a skilled player could still get beat by a button masher.

Graphics: 7 
The graphics are mediocre; I’ve seen worse, but I’ve also seen a lot better. The textures are pretty plain and the backgrounds are flat and lifeless. Character animations and costumes are pretty cool, though.

Sound: 7
The sound is also mediocre. There’s nothing too exciting in the music department, and the sound effects are the usual. No custom soundtrack or Dolby Digital support really hurts, especially since those are two huge pluses on the Xbox.

Difficulty: Hard
You’re able to change the difficulty in Bloody Roar Extreme, but even at the medium setting fights get really hard towards the end of Arcade Mode. The AI gets really smart and can dodge your attacks endlessly in the more difficult settings.

Concept: 5 
Being able to change into a beast is a really interesting idea, and being able to send your opponent flying clear across the arena and through the opposite wall makes the idea even better. The problem is that there is nothing unique or exciting about the actual gameplay, which is very important in the growing genre of fighting games.

Multiplayer: 7
Playing against your friends in any sort of game is always more entertaining. There’s really no change in the gameplay when playing a human opponent, it’s just more exciting to be sitting next to the person your pounding into the ground.   

Overall: 6.8
The problem with Bloody Roar Extreme is that it gets by on the bare minimum. The gameplay is very simple and requires no skill. While Bloody Roar is a fun fighting game, lack of anything above average really hurts this game’s score. Bloody Roar Extreme is an entertaining game by itself, but with competition like Tekken, Soul Caliber, and Dead Or Alive it really needs something to help it stand out.