DJ Boy

Unfortunately any scrolling beat em up (released Pre-Streets of Rage) is now subject to more scrutiny today than it ever was. The S.O.R developers finally delighted us all with fully responsive “fighting mechanics” – working exactly the way they should. Effectively setting the standards thereafter for all fighting games of this genre. DJ Boy, sadly, is an early example of where the developers did not.

Although it has all the premises of a good game, it is riddled with enough problems to render itself a resounding flop. Often frustrating, mainly due to a very poor fighting interface. Punches and kicks need to be lined up perfectly in order to make contact. Misjudge your positioning just once and you’re almost guaranteed to sustain damage. Even when you do manage to hit an enemy, there is neither a punch sound effect nor an animation to indicate a successful hit. All you get is a thud sound when the enemy hits the deck. Leaving the game with a real air of “unfinishedness” about it.

Whilst playing, you can’t help but imagine swapping out the main character for Skate from S.O.R, and thinking how well the game could have worked if done differently.

Instead, you find yourself permanently stressed, having to adapt yourself around a broken game, just for the sake of beating it. Boss fights are tedius, with no real tactical difference in the methods used for defeating them. In the end, unless you can somehow (with pin point accuracy) land flying kicks on them, you reside to just kicking them once and backing right off, then doing the same again. It’s all very wash, rinse, repeat. All very boring, and the bottom line is it’s just not fun to play.

The music and graphics are adequate, but when the rest of the game is so badly flawed, does it really matter? And with just one measly life and no continues, it only serves to prolong the disappointment of what could have been a much better game. A shame.