Garou: Mark of the Wolves (Arcade) review "SNK has always been the glorious underdog of fighting games. Due to being mostly arcade based, since the Neo Geo's success can be considered laughable at best, not many gamers were able to be exposed to SNK's impressive work. Since games such as Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat were produced to the more popular consoles, they got more recognition. But in my opinion, and most other fans of the Fighting genre, that's the only reason Street Fighter currently holds it's posistion at the top. "

SNK has always been the glorious underdog of fighting games. Due to being mostly arcade based, since the Neo Geo's success can be considered laughable at best, not many gamers were able to be exposed to SNK's impressive work. Since games such as Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat were produced to the more popular consoles, they got more recognition. But in my opinion, and most other fans of the Fighting genre, that's the only reason Street Fighter currently holds it's posistion at the top.

But enough of that. You're here to hear about how a single game is, right? Not about a company's work.

Garou stays true to SNKs great developement of games. For one, the backdrops are lush and colorful, and most are the host to a fair amount of animation, and even a couple of cameos by past characters. Each character's stage is a good representation of that character, and while a couple of settings might seem out of place, upon closer consideration you're able to tell that the subtle parts are what make it fit the characters so well.

While we're there, let's touch on characters a bit.

For one, there's 14 characters to choose from. 12 normal, and the 2 bosses that are selectable as secrets. In my opinion, this is where SNK makes it's games. The majority of the characters are always fresh and original, each with their own style and greatly developed attitude.

While the majority are original, this can't be said for all. What would a fighting game be without the one serious karate man and his basically goof-off rival karate man? Yeah, they're there

However, it's also host to a slew of other original characters. Such as, Jenet, the female, fun loving pirate, Hotoharu, the child ninja, Kain R. Heinlein, who drips of style, and a flurry of other interesting and unique characters to choose from.

As far as move lists are considered, there's nothing to see here. Just like every other fighting game in existence, a quarter circle forward with a punch button usually yields some kind of long range attack, most generally a projectile. Forward, Down, Down Forward generally yields some kind of rising upper atack, usually in the style of an uppercut. We've seen this before..*yawn*

As far as story is concerned, i'm really unsure of what to say. I'm sure it has one somewhere. Like, underneath all of the fighting and such. But i've yet to find it. I've played through the game several times, and read each characters storyline through and through, and i've yet to see an actual reason for most showing up. As far as I can tell, people are just fighting random people until they meet up with one that tells them a bit about their past, or makes them some kind of offer, then they duke it out. Then the boss battles occur. As I said, i'm sure there's a storyline somewhere, i'm just not seeing it.

Game storyline aside, most individual characters storylines are well thought out and developed. While some are quite cliche.(''I'll never join you!'' ''Even if I tell you your mom's alive?'' ''Mom's alive?!'' ring any bells?) The rest are interesting and deep, providing a lift to the otherwise mundane storyline the game provides.

Overall, Garou scores high. I most often find myself looking for a game on Garou as opposed to the other Capcom or Marvel fighters. The depth and uniqueness of the characters makes me enjoy it more than other fighters such as Street Fighter. Seeing as how there's only so many ways to move a control pad and press a button, the characters and story generally make the game. And this one does it well.

The reasoning for my score is that while Garou is an enjoyable game, there are others availible that are generally better, such as the King of Fighters or Bloody Roar. The games lack of story also knocked it down a couple of points.

Community review by vincent_valentine (February 11, 2004) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.