International Karate + (aka IK+) was available on the Commodore 64. It hasn't changed at
all since then. Now, I'll stand by a game that remains unchanged from platform to platform. That's usually the sign of a classic game. Only a few games actually
deserve that status.
It's bad enough that the game, a simple karate beat-'em-up, has been ported from the ECS Amiga unchanged, but the game's attract mode still tells
you to press keys like F1 and F2 to select players. The last time I looked, a keyboard is not standard equipment for the CD³². They could have at
least cleaned up the code to show the proper buttons to push on the CD³²'s controller. If you need an example of shovelware, this game is it.
Like before you can play alone or with two against the
compuetr enemy in a hand and foot combat. You can't choose luxery things like an
other scenery or even an other character. After each two rounds you get a neat
bonus game.
It wouldn't be that bad if you could use the CD³²'s control pad to at least salvage some nostalgia from the game. As it stands, the CD³² control pad is
almost impossible to use for this game. We plugged a normal Amiga/Atari-type joystick in and it worked much better. Unfortunately, that's not saying
very much.
VERDICT: |
All gripes aside, the actual game may have stood it's ground in 1988 (the copyright date of the game, still proudly displayed in the attract mode), but IK+ just doesn't cut it anymore. This is the age of STREET FIGHTER II and MORTAL KOMBAT type beat-'em-ups. The animations and sound are still very good. |