Doug Jacobs

Hokuto no Ken, or Fist of The Northstar, holds a special place for older
anime fans who grew up during the 80s. This hyper-violent story set in a
Mad Max-esque post apocolyptical world was the target of numerous
rip-offs, homages, and spoofs for decades.

Not for the first time, it's come to a video game console near you.

The demo is rather disappointing. It seems to just be one of the boss
fights from the game. You play the role of Ken, of course, trained in the
deadly martial art techniques that allow him to strike his enemy's
pressure points, causing their body to explode in a gory geyser of blood.
Did I mention the violence?

Anyways the fighting sequences seem pretty shallow. Run in, mash some
buttons, knock the guy across the stage, rinse, repeat. Occassionally
something else will happen just to keep things interesting - such as the
bad guy hopping out of the arena and chucking molotov cocktails at you,
but for the most part it gets pretty tired very quickly.

Once you whittle the guy's health down to almost nothing, Ken initiates
his signature attack, which requires you to press the right sequences of
face buttons in order for the finishing move to succeed.

The game is worth a rental, if only to hear Ken's trademark catch phrase
"you are already dead". But I can't see anyone spending $30 on it, let
alone $60.
d
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It's not broken. It's...advanced.