THE KILLING BLADE
Developer: igs Year: 1998 Genre: Fighting
In the UK, we have certain romanticised historical periods that are popular settings for fictional works – Tudor England, for example. In China, the Three Kingdoms period has the same effect, and IGS has utilised it for this one-on-one fighter. Characters are armed with weapons and have the usual array of special moves, but what sets it apart from the competition a little is the presence of dual-super meters. The red gauge builds as you deal and receive damage, and enables a high-damage, multi-hit attack when full. The blue gauge builds when your attacks are blocked, and can be charged manually. When filled, it enables a special ten-hit combo which must be entered manually, but leaves further combo potential if completed successfully.
In the parade of fighting games from the Nineties, The Killing
Blade lands in the middle of the pack. It’s no challenger to the likes of Capcom and SNK – the backgrounds are blander and character sprites are less detailed, and the gameplay feels less precise, as hitboxes are not so well defined. But it’s no waste of time, and deserves at least some attention.