Final Vendetta

Final Vendetta is the work of Numskull Games and Bitmap Bureau, who already have experience with nostalgic games such as the much-celebrated Xeno Crisis. Now it's back to the classic style of moving through the streets and beating the s*** out of the bad guys.

The storyline will bring back memories of the legendary Final Fight. Claire is a martial arts expert whose sister is kidnapped by a shadowy crime syndicate.

Helped by Duke, a London wrestler, and Miller, a former wrestling competitor, they set off on their quest... with a fist.

The game is divided into 6 zones (plus a bonus zone), through which we must progress by defeating our enemies. There is no time limit in each section, but it's not going to be easy.

We only have 5 lives and once we lose them, that’s it: Game Over and back to square one.

As you might expect, each character represents the archetypes of this type of game. Duke is the most balanced, Claire is fast but doesn't do as much damage and Miller is a beast at close range, but not so fast.

As we move forward, we encounter enemies such as the typical gang members who can take two punches, boxers, dominatrixes with whips, or knifemen who can surprise you at long range.

And we just beat them off with punches? Well, no, because one of Final Vendetta's strong points is its fighting system, which draws from the classics, but brings interesting ideas to the table.

We have normal melee attacks, but there is also a special attack button that only works in certain circumstances, such as running towards an opponent or after catching them. We can also use it to kick fallen opponents, which is super useful!

Another two-button combination gives us a back attack, and finally we have one for a super attack: a back kick for Claire, a "pinwheel" for Miller and a hurricane kick for Duke.

This super attack is unstoppable and makes us invincible for a few tenths of a second, but if we use it, we lose a bit of life, unless we have a full Super bar (which is achieved by hitting a few opponents or objects on the stage).

Only after completing the game can we access the other modes: Survival (defeat as many enemies as you can with only one life, although food drops from time to time), Boss Race (defeat all bosses in one go) and Training.

On the visual side, there is no doubt that the developers have poured in all their love for classic fighting games from the Mega Drive or Super Nintendo days. Not only in the design inspirations (Miller is clearly based on Haggar and Claire on Blaze Fielding, for example), but also in the graphics themselves.

The pixel art style looks great at full resolution and all the characters are very detailed and colourful. Maybe they are a bit more big-headed than they should be, for some reason, but this is more a matter of taste.

The backgrounds are full of detail, such as graffiti paying homage to other games, posters of mythical martial arts films or little animals observing us from a nook or cranny.

In any case, the highlight is the spectacular soundtrack, which includes hip-hop, dance and breakbeat motifs by established artists such as Utah Saints, Featurecast and Krafty Kuts. Some of the melodies are really cool and yes, you can feel the influence of masters like Yuzo Koshiro in certain themes.

The sound effects are good and include some digitised voices, as well as small sound homages to other games, such as when we pick up food, for example.

All in all, Final Vendetta is a remarkable homage to the golden age of street fighting, which perhaps lacks a little extra content to be among the elite but will undoubtedly bring you great moments of nostalgia and adrenaline.

Be patient, though, because in the first few games you might get a bit of a shock. But then again, nobody said that a cool hairstyle and a couple of pizzas were enough to defeat a crime syndicate, did they?