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Company Hudson Soft ESRB Rating E for Everyone Release Date US - June 18, 2007 Controllers Wii Remote Classic Controller Gamecube Controller Wii Points 600 Review by: Corbie Dillard ©2008 Virtual-Turbo

It's worth noting right off that Bloody Wolf doesn't really have an original bone in its body. It borrows from just about every action-shooter title ever crafted, some more than others. Having said that, there's no denying that it does at least manage to borrow from many of the best titles in the genre which is probably the biggest reason that Bloody Wolf succeeds even though it's nothing gamers haven't seen a hundred times before. You run, jump, and shoot your way through all of the levels in the game, and along the way you'll occasionally get the chance to take a ride on something that mixes things up a bit and keeps the entire experience feeling a little bit fresh. After playing Bloody Wolf for an extended length of time for the review, it's evident that since the TurboGrafx-16 system didn't have access to a Commando or Contra title that NEC decided to create one of their own. The result is a very enjoyable and playable action-shooter that should please fans of this type of game. Other than a small scene before each new level, there's not a lot in the way of a storyline going on in Bloody Wolf. Basically the president has been kidnapped and it's up to you to rescue him. Along the way your partner will also be abducted which then piles the responsibility of saving him on your shoulders as well. Pretty standard stuff, but why get creative with the storyline when the rest of the game isn't. The best way to describe Bloody Wolf is to liken it to a cross between Commando and Final Fight. You spend the majority of your time running around shooting everyone that gets in your way. There will be times when you'll have to jump barbed-wire fences and detonate a few fuel barrels, but this plays a fairly minor role in the overall scheme of things. At certain spots in the game, you'll come across a motorcycle or a river raft that you can take a ride on, and this is where the game begins to shine a little bit. Given that so much of the game is run-and-gun, it's nice to take a break from all of that and mix the game play up a little. Since you'll be dealing with a wide variety of terrain, you will also get the chance to pick up helpful items like flippers or x-ray goggles that will help you navigate some of the more intricate areas of the game. It's not much, but like the vehicles in the game, it does manage to freshen the play control up at times when it begins to become a little redundant. At the end of each area you'll face off with a boss character that will require you to use not only your standard weapon, but also your sub-weapon, such as grenades or a flame thrower. The game play is fairly responsive, but the enemies in the game can become a little overwhelming at times, not to mention the seemingly endless barrage of enemy gunfire. You'll definitely have your work cut out for you, but thankfully the game does provide you with invincible vehicles like the motorcycle which can make you untouchable during the time your on it, at least until the fuel runs out at which time your on your own again. Bloody Wolf is a tough game in later levels, so be prepared to put in some serious practice time if you plan on beating the game all the way through. Visually Bloody Wolf is up and down. There are places in the game that look really detailed and colorful and other places that look extremely plain. Each level generally has its own look and feel, but anytime you get near water, that's when the game's visual quality usually takes a serious dip. (No pun intended) If there's one visual point that really stands out it's the individual characters. They look quite detailed and move around very realistically considering there nothing more than simple 2-D sprites. The graphics overall seem to fall somewhere in between an 8 and 16-bit title, but you'll spend most of your time watching out for enemies and their gunfire anyway, so you honestly won't have too much time to spend sight-seeing anyway. The music in the game is pretty much a direct reflection of the visuals. There are a few solid musical pieces and a few that probably should have wound up on the cutting room floor. The sound effects are decent, but you'll probably spend more time laughing at many of them than anything. Even the explosions, which would seem like a very basic sound effect, aren't terribly realistic. It's puzzling why some TurboGrafx-16 titles feature such impressive sound while others like Bloody Wolf make the music and sound effects seem like more of an afterthought than something the developers put any time and effort into. If the action-shooter is your cup of tea, you'll probably thoroughly enjoy Bloody Wolf and gamers that can look past the fact that the game is pretty much a copycat of everything else in the genre will also likely enjoy it. It's nothing terribly groundbreaking but there's something quite simple and fun about playing this game that's always kept me coming back to it even all these years later. Despite the fact that this game is beginning to show some signs of age, it's still a worthy Virtual Console download.