<<
Return to
Crispo74 's profile
Retrobate Name:
Crispo74
Game Title:
The Way Of The Tiger
Released: 1986
Developer/Author Name: Chris Kerry, Shaun Hollingworth, Peter M Harrap and Marco Duroe.
Publisher: Gremlin Graphics Software Ltd
Format Reviewed: ZX Spectrum
Genre: Beat-’em-up
Game Profile:
Released in the mid 80's when Bruce Lee and Karate Kid films had us all wanting to be like our movie heroes, i went for the lazy option. Yes, I chose to be a martial arts expert on my spectrum.
Set in some far away mystical world, Grandmaster Naijishi wants you to become a ninja, to do this you must pass three tests, if you succeed, you get to fight the main man himself, defeat him and you become a true ninja, enter if you dare... The Way Of The Tiger.
The three tests you had to pass were Unarmed Combat, Pole Fighting and Sword Fighting. You fought a variety of foes from Skeletons and Goblins to Ninjas. Your health came in the form of Endurance and Inner Force, as you got hit, you lost Endurance, once you lost a full circle of Endurance, you lost a point of Inner Force. The less Inner Force you have, the lest powerful your hits are. You gained strength by defeating enemies. You have sixteen moves, the eight directions and your fire button. Your player can also change direction, quite new at the time.
This really is one of the best beat 'em ups on the Spectrum, it really did push the rubber keyed beauty, some people might of missed out on this game, those that did have truly missed out. The most striking thing about it, is the animation, for the time, it's incredible. In the background as you fight, fish jump out of water, ducks swim, logs float down the river, people work and owls fly, this came at a time when most beat em' ups came set against stationary landmarks. The animation was almost distracting. There are fairly decent sound effects and nice enough tune, it is also pretty playable.
There is however one downside, the game came on two cassettes and had to be loaded in different parts, this was certainly a pain, i'm sure emulation can get round this now, so there's no excuse not to experience this classic. We've all wanted to be Bruce Lee, haven't we?
