Darkstalkers- The Night Warriors

I once heard David Lee Roth (formally of Van Halen) sum up the rock group AC/DC. He said something like "All AC/DC sounds the same....... but, that sound is GOOD!!!". To me, that saying can somewhat be applied to Capcom 2D fighters. All Capcom fighters seem to play alike, but that play is GOOD! They look kinda alike, move kinda alike, and feel kinda alike. But this is a Good thing!! They all are top notch fighters and no other company has even came close to acheiving the high quality looks and feel of today's Capcom fighters.

For all you nay-sayers out there, yes I know all Capcom games aren't exactly the same. They utilize different moves, different character series, and usually try to add something unique to each new game. You get my point though. They all have a consistant feel that is definetely unique to Capcom fighters.

Despite the similarities, Darkstalkers is a little different then the "Street Fighter", or "Superhero" series. Darkstalkers uses a Vampire type theme for it's characters. I gotta tell you, personally I perfer the Darkstalker characters over the super popular Street Fighter characters.  All the characters are very well done, and some of the effects for the special moves are awesome! Here's a rundown of the characters: Demitri- A Vampire, Jon Talbain- A Werewolf, Victor Von Gerdenheim- Frakenstein, Lord Raptor- Here's a cool character, Raptor is a guitar weilding zombie that must be seen to be believed, Morrigan Aenslayed- Succubus, Anakaris- Is a Mummy, Felicia- Is a Catwoman, Bishamon- A Samurai, Rikuo- Merman (Hero of the sea), Sasquatch- Bigfoot, Huitzil- A robot, Pyron- is an Alien. Ok, I admit, I don't really understand where the aliens, robots, and a few others  fit  into theVampire theme, but all the characters really are good. I found myself instantly in like with them! The moves, and effects are really good, and makes them a sight to behold.

Before I bought this game, I read a few reviews of it on the internet. They were pretty varied, but there definetly were some who were dissapointed with the Arcade conversion. They seemed to feel the conversion wasn't up to the high standards of Capcom conversions. I really can't speak to this. I haven't played any other Darkstalkers besides the Playstation version, so I have nothing to compare it with. I will say that I really liked this game though. I feel it was well done, and in my opinion it's an even better game then "Street Fighter Alpha 2". Which is really saying alot if you are familiar with that game.

To make a few direct comparisions with SFA2 I'll say: 1) The backgrounds animate better in Darkstalkers 2) The characters look cooler 3) The effects are better. Overall, I think it is a better game but it is not as balanced as SFA2, nor does it have as many options, or as refined of a special attack meter.

I'm not going to write a list of moves or special moves in this review. I will say however that they are pretty standard fare for a Capcom fighter. There are plenty, and will take some time to master. The special meter is a little weak though. Once it fills you can execute special moves, and hidden special moves, which are cool, but still it's not as refined as the newer Capcom fighter meters.

Overall, this is a pretty cool game. I'm happy I bought it, and am now looking foward to buying Darkstalkers 3 which has also been out for some time now.
 

RATINGS
GRAPHICS 91%
SOUND 80%
GAMEPLAY 91%
ORIGINALITY 82%
REPLAY VALUE 96%
OVERALL 88%