Fighting Force is a beat ’em up game originally released in 1997 whose development was a lot more interesting than the game itself. Core Design (the same developers behind the original Tomb Raider games) originally wanted to pitch the game as a Sega Saturn exclusive, based on the Streets of Rage franchise. Sega didn’t give them the green light, so it was reworked as an original IP, released for the PS1 and Nintendo 64 (as in, the Saturn’s competitors). It was a forgettable and mediocre brawler that, somehow, sold a million copies, and spawned a sequel. And that was basically it, the franchise laid dormant for nearly 27 years, until Limited Run Games decided to remaster and re-release it to modern consoles.

You can feel the high-octane action, can’t you?

I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m all for preserving all kinds of games from yesteryear, regardless of their quality. As a result, I do appreciate the existence of Fighting Force Collection. As a piece of preserved gaming history, it’s great. It doesn’t feature any kind of extra content aside from half a dozen pieces of concept art, though. No interviews, no behind-the-scenes, no Nintendo 64 port included in the collection (it was developed and published by different companies, thus I believe there are legal hurdles behind it), so this collection will basically live and die based on the quality of its two games. And oh boy, they are rough.

The two games in this collection are shockingly very different from one another, but one thing they have in common is that, even for late 90’s standards, they weren’t very good, and obviously haven’t aged very well. But I want to clarify that this is not the fault of the company hired to port the games to modern consoles, Implicit Conversions. They were able to come up with a few new control schemes for each game, a handful of visual filters, save states, and a rewind feature. Not exactly game changing or mind-blowing, but they are quality of life enhancements, and need to be pointed out. The issue lies in the fact that both titles aren’t good, pure and simple.

When you order Metal Gear Solid from Temu. Or whatever its equivalent was in 1999.

The original Fighting Force is a stupidly slow-paced beat ’em up where you can pick up from a handful of characters and punch the hell out of a repetitive onslaught of dim-witted foes with your paultry moveset. Whether it’s due to the actual combo set for each character being nonexistent, or the button responsiveness being subpar (again, inherited from the original ROM), you will just press the punch or kick buttons over and over until you get bored with how shallow and unoriginal this game is/was, even for 1997 standards. Levels are really small, the soundtrack is utterly forgettable… the only way you’ll have fun with it is if you have some kind of nostalgic attachment towards the original releases.

I will give Fighting Force 2 one thing: its first-person toggle was somewhat decent for 1999.

Then comes Fighting Force 2, a game that, simply put, has nothing to do with the original. Whereas the original was a beat ’em up inspired by Streets of Rage, Fighting Force 2 is a bizarre cyberpunk stealth game inspired by games like Tomb Raider and Metal Gear Solid. In fact, it is desperately trying to be Metal Gear Solid in tone, style and gameplay, but without the good writing, music, decent camerawork, and controls. It wants to be stealthy, but it also wants to be somehow connected to its predecessor with a hint of melee combat. The fact it was even called a sequel to a game it has nothing to do with might actually be its most interesting feature.

The face of a true action hero.

The only people who will have some kind of enjoyment with Fighting Force Collection are those who grew up with those games and have a borderline die-hard nostalgic attachment towards them. I can’t criticise the folks at Implicit Conversions for their porting skills, as there’s nothing wrong with their remastering efforts. The problem lies at the fact these games have simply aged poorly. In fact, I don’t think they have ever been that good, even for their time. One is a basic beat ’em up with slow gameplay and poor controls, whilst the the other doesn’t know if it wants to be Metal Gear or Tomb Raider. I appreciate the preservation efforts, but Fighting Force Collection is, at best, a mediocre novelty.

Fighting Force Collection is available now on PS4, PS5, PC and Switch.

Reviewed on Intel i7-12700H, 16GB RAM, RTX 3060 6GB and Asus ROG Ally.

A copy of Fighting Force Collection was provided by the publisher.