Karma Fighter

You can't fight karma. Ask Earl. What you can do, though, is make a game called Karma Fighter, even if the idea might not make sense to some. Isn't karma a peaceful concept, couched in a peaceful religion? Is fighting karma like assaulting Buddha? If you assault him in the forest, would he make a sound?

Karma Fighter won't answer these questions for you – actually, it isn't even trying to – but it will furnish you with some shocking, pastel-coloured violence, which, in a way, is even better.

A side-scrolling beat-'em-up from the Street Fighter II school of virtual violence, Karma Fighter sticks to the classic win-and-unlock formula. Four fighters are available to begin with, and a further four become so by completing the tournament mode with the character most recently unlocked.

As well as Tournament, there are two other modes available: Single Fight and Survival (in which you face successive opponents until your health gets depleted.)

If this roster of features makes you yawn, the fighting itself is unlikely to rouse you. That's because every character in Karma Fighter has exactly the same moves, like clones, meaning the game effectively boasts a range of one. And before you switch to Expert mode, the only thing you can do is generically attack, throwing punches and kicks with the '5' key.

Nevertheless, Karma Fighter is a very competent game. In Expert mode, each player has three types of kick, three types of punch, and the capacity to jump and duck. A small power bar at the top of the screen gradually fills up as you play, and once it's full you can execute a special move with a simple double-tap upwards or away from your opponent.

Like Archer McLean's seminal IK+, Karma Fighter demonstrates that a few sensibly varied moves and appropriately sophisticated opponents are all a fighting game needs in order to achieve enlightenment.

A limp soundtrack is outshone by rich and gorgeous graphics. Without being technologically barnstorming, the levels are subtly colourful and spare, and the sprites have the elegant simplicity of the early Prince of Persia games.

Hits are signalled by satisfying explosions, while special moves cause the whole screen to flash with concussion. There's a mere quartet of backdrops, but each of them – California Beach, China Mountain, Pirate Ship, and Aztec Ruins – wriggles with detail and beguiles with parallax depth. Despite the bone-shaking violence, this is a beautiful game.

A thing of contradictions, Karma Fighter manages to be both tranquil and brutal, delicate and steely, average in some respects and superior in others. In the end, it may not be a knockout but it's a solid points victory.