by Jeff Parsons

Created on: December 21, 2007

This game has an extraordinarily long demo period. I think that would help you get to know the subtleties of this game, like the game editor which allows you to create and modify your game world.

The game is concerned with managing martial arts fighters. You find them, sign them up, set up events and TV shows, and make money. Your success depends on how well they do. They build or lose their skills with each match because each fighter's statistics are relevant to the outcome. Experience builds injuries, maybe fame and hopefully more money. Your success can be monitored by live reports. Success can be affected by your fighter's reputation, popularity, quality and the promotion sizes they participate in.

This game has a very nice setup for static graphics.

My first positive impression of the game was the great variety and number of fighters available for hire. They are shown in character pages that contain their picture, description and statistics. A lot of creative detail, thought and imagination went into these pages. However, one minor observation... I've practiced martial arts for a long time. I've rarely seen these kinds of weight lifters and punk runway models in my dojo. I guess that's all a part of the showbiz glitter.

A tutorial would really help players get up to speed, but, no matter what you know, I still think there's not much going on in the way of any game play or plot. This game reminds me of going to my actual work, sometimes not fun at all, but hey, it pays the bills.

This is an outstanding niche game for those people who love to manage martial arts fighters. I'm not one of those people, so I found the game to be profoundly dull (1 out of 5).

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