Everyone’s favourite duelling cat & mouse, Tom & Jerry, have hit the computer screen before, but this time they’re up for a real fight. Enter Tom & Jerry: Fists of Fury.

Overview

This is a one-on-one fighting game, pure and simple. Virtua Fighter with cartoon cats, dogs, mice, and ducks. I have to admit that I was a little surprised to see Time Warner’s name associated with this one, given that the cartoons were MGM. Whether that has anything to do with the failings of the game, though given that the more modern Tom & Jerry cartoons are awful (with very few exceptions), it is doubtful whether a stronger MGM influence on this title would have made much difference.

First Impressions

The game is frantic and fun, I’ll give it that. Once you’ve selected your character, difficulty level, and opponent (most are locked until you defeat others… annoyingly, they seem to re-lock each time you load the game), you’re up and fighting either the computer or a friend / foe. The action is fast although being restricted to one small room / area feels a little claustrophobic – though at least there’s a different setting for each character in tournament mode (where you fight a progressively more difficult opponent each time.) There’s not really much variety though – pick up objects and either use them as handheld weapons or throw them at your opponent.

Interface

I tried using the keyboard and joystick, and both proved somewhat fiddly. (The joystick however wouldn’t have been a problem if the game hadn’t refused to recognise two of the fire buttons I wanted to assign!) You do get the hang of it fairly quickly but I still found myself accidentally hitting the wrong key on a too regular basis! (You can put that down to player error if you want, but it was the damn keys I tell ya!) Anyway, the keyboard controls are totally customisable so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

I feel that a real opportunity has been missed here. While the gameplay is certainly fun for a while, it’s not really funny, nor does it have any real strategy to it – apart from working out which object in each level deals the most damage. Where’s the strategic placing of a garden fork for someone to run into? Or tossing bowling balls at them and watching them frantically try to juggle them? Those sort of things may of course be very difficult to incorporate in a game but somehow I feel that the spirit of Tom & Jerry isn’t portrayed in this game, and that’s its main fault.

Difficulty

There are 9 characters and several difficulty levels, so provided you don’t get bored with the game there’s no reason to think you’ll beat it quickly. But… (see “Will You Still Be Playing It In 6 Months”.)

Aesthetics

The graphics are okay but nothing special. The 3D environments look quite nice but the characters themselves lack detail and only bear a passing resemblance to the cartoon characters (even taking into account that the original cartoons are 2D while this is 3D).

The sounds are manic but lack that authenticity, basically consisting of various crunching and screaming noises. The character’s “voices”, such as they are (they don’t actually say anything - unless “owowowowowowaaaaaaaah” is a word...), sound reasonably authentic on some characters but not on most. Disappointing.

Will You Still Be Playing it in 6 Months’ Time?

… then again, there’s no reason to think you won’t be bored of it in far less than 6 months…

Is it Worth the Money?

Not a bad effort, but I can’t really give this a “Recommended” rating. Relies too much on the appeal of the characters without actually trying to do anything to draw on that appeal. The two-player mode is fun but still should have been better. Not recommended unless perhaps you have children who are mad on Tom & Jerry and you don’t mind the cartoon violence… if they’re easily pleased it would help, too…!

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Final Ratings

Graphics: - 67% - not too bad but they could certainly be better.

Sound: - 64% - quite fun but not authentic.

Playability: - 60% - fiddly controls, no real strategy element.

Longevity: - 54% - you’ll probably get bored of it quite quickly, though if you don’t there’s a long-term challenge to beat all the characters at every difficulty level.

Replay Value: - 62% - slightly higher than above because of the two-player mode.

Value For Money: - 58% - it’s not the best few quid you’ll ever spend, but not the worst either.

Overall Rating: - 59% -doesn’t live up to its potential.

System Requirements

OS: Windows 98SE / Me / 2000 / XP
CPU: Pentium 2 266MHz or higher
HDD space: 160Mb
Memory: 128Mb
Graphics card: Any 16Mb 3D card compatible with DirectX 8.0 or higher
CD-ROM: x8 or higher


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Tom & Jerry: Fists of Fury is available on the Ubisoft Exclusive budget range.

For more budget software visit Sold Out Software

For a far more satisfying cartoon gaming experience, try Bugs Bunny: Lost In Time












Recommended: No