While there’s a part of me that enjoyed putting my fist through the heads of naked junkies and breaking down walls with a sledgehammer, there’s also a part of me that questions the validity of bringing back an archaic genre which was designed to kill you unfairly in order to elicit another handful of quarters. But coming to terms with the fighting style doesn’t feel like you’re learning a game, it feels like you’re re-learning a whole type of game. It feels good to grapple with a blocking opponent and throw him into a vicious guard dog, for instance, knowing that’s the best way to deal with both of them. Getting to know all the possible combos and follow-ups takes a couple of levels. Weapons sometimes come along – one-hit-kill knives, baseball bats, chairs, even guns and grenades come out in later levels. Combining the dodge button with others results in some more complex moves, such as slide-takling or a speedy grab, while holding down punch eventually offers a forceful mega-punch. Punch, kick, grab, throw, uppercut, dodge and jump your way through the hordes.
In co-op mode you can also revive your buddy by popping your needle into them.įighting-wise, the controls are fairly straightforward. If one of your enemies goes into a dying spasm, you can harvest some Nekro from their body (green-skinned baddies will refill your needle entirely). You can use Nekro to heal yourself or send yourself into a superpowered frenzy. You wake up in a cell, addicted to a sickly green drug called Nekro, and break out to wreak havoc on every bad guy who gets in the way of your rightward march, while also suffering mysterious visions. Soon, a well-armed troop of goons comes to shut you down – servants of Russia’s mafia government.
You begin the game as a brawler in a fighting pit. It’s less a reimagining of the left-to-right brawler than an outright resurrection. But, despite adding a few tweaks to the formula, Mother Russia Bleeds sticks so closely to the game design of the arcade that it also replicates all the obvious mistakes. Living as we do, deep in the Age of Nostalgia, it’s easy to see why an old-school beat-em-up would appear out of the blue, complete with all the classic features – waves of enemies, four player co-op, destructible cars, weapons to pick up and throw at the bad guys.