Fighting Force
The beat 'em up genre had its heyday in the 16-bit era, and really, in the arcades. Games like Final Fight, Double Dragon, and Streets of Rage gave players control over characters who used their fists to tell tales of revenge, blackmail, and… revenge. A lot of the plots revolve around revenge. Giant 2D sprites animated their punches, kicks, and throws, and when games began to transition into 3D, the fluidity of the genre stumbled a bit. Sure, games like Die Hard Arcade did their best to take the genre into the future, but by then, players had started to experience fatigue and were looking for less arcade-y games, as well as new experiences with substance on their shiny new 32-bit home consoles.
Hot off the success of Tomb Raider, Core and Eidos teamed up again to tackle not another adventure game, but instead a true 3D beat 'em up for the next generation. Core originally worked on a version of this game that they had hoped would be a 3D Streets of Rage, but for unknown reasons, Sega declined when presented with the prototype. Much of what was included in that prototype was reworked and reused for an original game called Judgment Force, which then became Fighting Force. This refusal from Sega is also rumored to be the reason Core soured on working with Sega in the future, with games like the Saturn version of Tomb Raider II being canceled, and eventually the Saturn version of Fighting Force being canceled without specific reasons. What makes the Saturn version cancellation more bizarre is that its development was farther along than the PlayStation version, as it began on that hardware as the Streets of Rage 3D/Judgement Force title.
What ended up being released was a 3D beat 'em up as intended, with an original cast of characters. Hawk, Mace, Alana, and Ben "Smasher" Jackson all had their own small punch and kick combo chains, as well as a special move, to make them feel and play differently. The character designs and plot were created with support from the famous comic artist, Marc Silvestri. Players also had a button to attack behind them, allowing them to start a string of punches with a quick turn in case they were surrounded. This was a very forward-thinking design choice for a 3D title. Certain levels required you to destroy a door, wall, or other object in your way to continue, and after certain stages, you were given a choice for your next level to help keep things fresh for anyone replaying the game again and again. There were also items players could find around the stages to throw at enemies, weapons like knives, axes, and pipes, plus a few guns for good measure.
There are bosses with unique designs at the end of the themed stages, two of which were repurposed characters from the Judgment Force build of the game. Diver, the boss you fight on the street stage, and the boss you fight before you get on the subway train, were the models used for what would have been "Hammer" and "Vulcan" as the final two playable characters alongside early versions of Hawk (who looked very Duke Nukem-ish) and Mace.
While the game had its curious development history and struggles, it was ultimately received with above-average scores from magazines at the time. Game Informer was the lowest-scoring review I saw, giving it a 6.5, with the biggest complaint being the loading times. EGM's review crew gave the game an 8.5/7.0/7.5/7.5. They all shared it's a beat 'em up for fans of beat 'em ups, which is me. If you are looking to check this game out yourself, I think the actual Streets of Rage 4 may be a better way to fill your cup, but Limited Run Games is working on a compilation of this game and its sequel for modern consoles in late 2025.
