I read a letter to the editor recently in another prominent video game magazine about the lack of coverage of games outside of the fighting genre. The editor's reply basically stated that the magazine's job is to give the most coverage to what's "hot", and currently, kick-n-punch games are the rage. I have to agree . . . even if you take Capcom and their several successful Street Fighter games out of the scene, you're still left with an overload of hadoken and shoryuken-screaming titles. So what's one more? Gametek figured that they'd might as well get their two cents in with Brutal: Paws of Fury. Please, whether you love fighting games or loathe them, continue to read this article. I can guarantee that there'll be something about this game that strikes your fancy.

	You see, I play way too many fighting games. I beat Street Fighter 2 Turbo every day after work, and after that, tinker with Clayfighter and Mortal Kombat until I realize that I haven't eaten anything in several hours and need to go feed my face. I'd been waiting for Brutal to come out for a long time . . . not only because I needed a new challenge, but also because it looked as if the folks at Gametek had finally put a big enough twist into a fighting game to make it actually worth a long look. In case you don't already know, Brutal's eight regular characters and two bosses are animals. Yes, I know humans are animals too, but I'm talking about fuzzy, cuddly animals normally associated with pet shops and jungles.

	While this is a funky idea, it doesn't singlehandedly put a must-have label on Brutal. I mean, if the only difference between this game and its competition was that it featured rabbits in martial-arts attire, would you buy it? Luckily, Brutal is a whole new ballgame, taking the basics of tournament fighting and overlaying it with a lot of strategy and outstanding features made possible by its Sega CD format. I don't mean to scare away fans of other popular kick-n-punch games . . . they'll have no problem picking up Brutal and playing it like they would their favorites. For those who want a little more, though, it's here.

	Let me cite a few examples. I flip through a game manual once before I play, usually just to see if there's something in there I haven't already seen somewhere else. Since Brutal is a fighting game, I immediately jumped to the back where the character profiles were, hoping to learn the controller motions for their special moves. They weren't there. Well, the names of the moves were there, but no instructions as to how to do them. Sighing, I dropped the manual and fired up the game. Brutal's animated intro and great CD soundtrack hit me first and set high expectations in my head for what was to come. After letting me name my character, I chose one from the selection screen and rapidly pressed buttons to get to the darn fight as fast as possible. And hey, I was impressed when I got there. The backgrounds, the sound effects . . . they were the best I'd ever seen in a game of this type. Using the same three-punch, three-kick layout of SF2T, Brutal felt familiar to me right away as I got down to kicking some serious . . . uh . . . tail. I missed being able to throw fireballs and the like, though, and wondered when (or if) I'd see any. After two victories, the Sega CD paused for a couple seconds, and then answered my prayers. A new screen popped up and showed me how to perform a "taunt", a special move which restores a small amount of energy. What a great system!

	Depending on the character chosen, a number of special moves can be learned after some victories using only what you know. Each of the animals uses a different fighting style, sometimes evidenced by their names (Tai Cheetah, Kendo Coyote, Kung-Fu Bunny, etc.). Mastering them all will take a great deal of time, so Brutal's replay value is quite high. Add in the fact that you can play as the bosses once you defeat them, and you have ten characters in all. A password feature saves not only your progress in a tournament, but also whatever moves you've learned. My ever-curious brain pondered the following question : "If you know the controller motion already, can your character perform a special move it hasn't formally learned yet?" The answer is no . . . I tried, I died. So will you. But hey, Brutal is very cool anyhow. It has some excellent, colorful graphics and outstanding sound, and plenty of personality to make it stand out in a large crowd. Hiiii-ya!