Final Fight

It's the nightmare scenario the Daily Mail has been warning us about for years: society has broken down, vicious crime gangs have taken over, and normal citizens can no longer walk the streets without fears of hoodie-wearing hoodlums. The police can't sort this out – heck some of them are in on the action. The only possible solution is violent 'no tolerance' confrontation from a vigilante.

Nope, that's not part of Rudy Giuliani's famous mayoral election campaign to clean up New York, but actually the rough premise behind Final Fight, a mobile conversion of the veteran arcade classic based in Metro City, which charges you to single-handedly take on the Mad Gear crime group.

Having selected one of the three characters on offer (chunky but slow wrestler-turned-mayor Mike Haggar, nimble but lightweight martial artist Guy, or tough street fighter Cody) you're hurled straight into the 2D side-on beat-'em-up action against your first crime wave of assailants. Thirty seconds of frantic button bashing later and the miscreants have been taught an important civic lesson through the medium of an old-fashioned kicking.

Unfortunately, your actions fail to inspire other crims to throw down their arms. Instead they drive ever-tougher villains in your direction, every one of which needs to be educated on a one-to-one basis, or preferably three-to-one if they're standing close enough.

When a sufficient number have been dealt with on each level, you get to go toe-to-toe with the ultra-tough ringleader. Beat him and you're off to repeat it all again in another part of town, through six stages in all.

Final Fight's control system is as simple as its premise, with movement in four directions and one main button for attacking and picking up items (such as food or weapons). In fact, although there are secondary buttons for jumping and a special attack, the game can be played single-handed.

Yet though Final Fight favours frenzied button bashing over the more subtle attacks of a dedicated fighting game (such as Capcom's own Street Fighter II), the game isn't entirely brainless.

The flailing arms provoked by rapid jabs (or simply holding the action button if you select 'auto attack' mode) may take down most comers in the first few levels. But as you progress, the hoodlums and the enemy AI get more fiendish, demanding a modicum of strategy to isolate the most significant threats first and avoid being surrounded.

What's more, each opponent has their own special attacks to watch out for – bosses in particular need to be monitored and dodged if you're to keep your precious lives intact.

The various weapon pick-ups add an extra dilemma (is it worth staying where you are and using your fists, or grabbing that dagger or sword at the risk of leaving yourself vulnerable?) whilst the presence of a health bar for every battler (including yourself) enables you to rapidly separate the generals from the grunts and pick off the stragglers first.

Unfortunately these subtleties are somewhat undermined by a slightly over-generous difficulty level (on default 'normal' at least) and unlimited restarts from the point of your last demise. Whilst this arguably serves to make the experience more approachable to newcomers, it also helps you speed to the end of the game. There's a certain replay value, thanks to the three characters and a tougher difficulty level to switch to, but you're unlikely to be returning to Metro City after the first day or two.

It's unlikely too that you'll fish it out to show off to mates, as the visuals, though comparable to the home console conversions of the original game and atmospheric in a retro sort of way, are competent rather than cutting edge on today's mobile phones.

All of which leaves Final Fight as an interesting diversion rather than an essential purchase. Unless of course you're an avid fan of the original, or a middle-American survivalist looking to say, "I told you so!"