“The Black Heart” M.U.G.E.N Game Review
The Black Heart is a 2D Fighting game, by Andrés Borghi created with the Mugen engine. It is featuring a very dark and bizarre cast of characters, unique gameplay features, an interesting and detailed Story and an own soundtrack as well.
The Black Heart is a free game, which was in the work for years since it was made by one guy alone who programmed it, draw all the backgrounds and sprites and even composed the soundtrack for it.
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The Character Select |
Peketo Vs Ananzi |
It is for sure one of the most unique free fighting games created so far, and can compete with commercial games in many sectors. The animations and the art in the game are great and show the big effort which was done for it. The characters have special intros sometimes, Peketo as examples felts in Love seeing Ananzi 🙂 In the arcade mode, all character have an introduction to their story, similar as in games like Tekken 5.
The character designs were reminding me at Darkstalkers, the Black Heart characters are all some levels darker and more “evil” though, it seems the creator, Andres Borghi is a fan of horror movies like Hellraiser or The Ring too
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Beauty Contest? |
I am sure those guys wont win it… |
Normally i would write more, but all relevant information about the story, the characters, the development of the game and the guy behind this game is written on
the official homepage of the game where you can download the latest version (1.1) of The Black Heart (around 200 MB) is http://theblackheart.com.ar/
The game lets you chose between english and espanol as languages, you can unlock things in this game as well as seeing the movelists of the characters in a menu
If you like 2d fighting games, unique characters, gory special moves and action than this is definitive a game for you.The Black Heart is gory though and there are fatal moves, similar to the fatalities in Mortal Kombat games, it might be a game you don’t want to see little kids playing.
Screenshots can tell more in this case than any words.
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One of the many super-moves |
Some of the stages are really creepy |
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i LOVE Spiders |
One of the best stages ever of all fighting games i have ever seen. |
| Rating | Details | |
| Game-play | 9,5 | Nearly flawless, it is very balanced, the characters have a lot moves and the game is just fun to play alone or against someone as well. Everything in this game works as it should, except the a bit too overpowered final boss maybe |
| Graphics & Character design | 8 | It is not a Guilty Gear or BlazBlue of course, but the graphics are still good and very fitting to the mood and art style of the game. It is bizarre but good |
| Music | 10 | Fits totally,like the graphics as well it is perfect for the atmosphere of the game and the different stages |
| Sound Effects &Voices | 10 | In the same quality as the music…it is sure not everyone`s taste but so is this game |
| Presentation | 9 | It is a dark game, it is gory, it is about corruption and lies, and the game is good in displaying the mood of the characters. There are unlockables, there are cutscenes and endings, The presentation is very good and outstanding for a free game |
| Replayability | 6,5 | The only little downfall of the game, it has only 6 characters and the unlockable boss. It makes fun to play it through with all six,but after that i can get boring fast for a single player. Like with the most fighting games, the multiplayer is where the fun is at. Sadly online gaming is not possible yet with Mugen Games |
| Controls | 10 | Just fine, it is not too difficult to do the super moves and some great combos, the game is also not a button masher fest. |
| Features & Unique Content | 10 | 10. The Black Heart is one of the most unique games ever made with the Mugen Engine. Nothing was copied from other games it seems, its a complete unique experience and a fun one too. It is flawless for a free game |
| Story | 9 | The story is very dark, it is detailed, and could be from a typical Tim Burton movie. It is more than your standard “fighters around the world mess with each other in a tournament” story and relative deep for a fighting game. The relations between the characters are a big plus for the story as well |
| Overall | 9,1 |
You wont waste your time downloading and playing the Black Heart . I can recommend it to everyone who likes 2D fighting games and wants to experience something else than Street Fighter, BlazBlue and Mortal Kombat This is a great game, and so good that it could be sold for some bucks instead of given away for free |
Review by Reinhold Hoffmann
