The Bloody Roar franchise has always been pretty solid in terms of gameplay and visual experience. This latest version follows that same simple yet effective formula with the addition of enhanced visuals thanks to the power of the Playstation 2. In the latest installment players are able to fight as one of 14 characters, each with human and beast forms. What sets this series apart from the Tekkens and DOAs of the gaming world is its ability to provide an insanely fast paced fighting game. The combo sequences are literally endless, although this results in some complications as far as gameplay balance goes.

Graphics/Sound
Eighting has done an admirable job on giving the Bloody Roar series a Playstation 2 visual upgrade. Graphically, Bloody Roar 3 approaches the ranks of Tekken Tag, sporting some nice background animations, such as dinosaurs moving in a museum. While not as good as the eye candy in Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore, the visuals are more than enough to compliment the break neck speed of the fighting ensuing around the environments. In addition to increased background animation, the shape, size and structure of the combat arenas vary well. Some arenas are narrow and confined, while others are wide and have plenty of room to move around. The characters benefit greatly from much higher polygon counts and increased detail in the rendering. Additionally, each brawler's beast form looks much more like the animal that inspires it. For example, Stun the insect resembles a gigantic beetle, covered in heavy armor.
The soundtrack is best described as classic Japanese anime suited tunes. Heavy guitar rifts accompanied by the usual sound effects of punching, yelling and superpower maneuvers. Regardless, it all accompanies the gameplay nicely.

Gameplay
The difference between this franchise and other fighting games remains the player's ability to temporarily transform into super-charged animal versions of themselves, gaining speed, greater power, and more moves. This gives the game some depth, and as your time is limited, choosing the right moment to mutate into your animal becomes critical. Each character's special attacks are inspired by their animal type, which is an element that adds depth to characters and combat but unfortunately also causes balancing problems. Every player enjoys combos in fighting games, but it becomes less strategic and more luck to simply mash on the buttons to score endless hits on opponents. The game also allows a player to land super animal moves that can take off large amounts of power, thus entirely changing the course of a fight instantly. Another complaint is despite their awesome talents, the characters somehow still lack personality as in earlier Bloody Roar titles. If Eighting can sort out these inconsistencies in future versions, the gameplay has the potential to be second to none in the fighting genre.

Value
At first glance it would appear that BR 3 is a little light in the extras department but that is not the case. Players can fight as one of 14 characters, two are unlockable, each with two different life forms. Each character has a multitude of spectacular fighting attacks and combination attacks. Face off in 9 interactive 3-D arenas, featuring destructible walls and floors. In terms of gameplay modes, step into the ring and get into action using Arcade, Versus, Survival and Practice Modes, as well as eight additional modes that can be unlocked as the game progresses. The majority of these extra modes are dependent upon your success in the Survival mode. New modes start appearing after beating at least 10 opponents in a row.
The biggest disappointment in terms of value has to be the lack of CG to accompany the character stories. Instead, traditional animation stills and text are used to tell the stories. After the likes of the Tekken series and DOA2 series, gamers have come to expect some visual eye candy to go along with the character stories.

Final Word
Bloody Roar 3 should be a welcomed addition to your Playstation 2 library provided you have already exhausted Tekken Tag and DOA2: Hardcore. The game is fast, easy to play and provides just enough pizzazz to keep you and your friends busy until later this year when new versions of Tekken and Virtua Fighter are to appear.