
The default control scheme works fairly well on the GameCube controller.

The characters have the same move sets and handle the same way. The core gameplay in Bloody Roar Primal Fury has been brought over from BR3 with a bit of refinement and a new twist. The other six backgrounds-a Chinese temple, an aquarium, a freeway at night, an Indian palace, a laboratory, and a Japanese castle-are new. The aircraft carrier, the building rooftop, and the back alley return, although they have been remodeled-the back alley stage also features a collapsible floor. You'll find fewer familiar sights in the game's stages, because only three are from BR3. Each character will have two new original outfits for the game as well. Chronos has the dubious "bonus" of being able to morph into a penguin-like form in addition to being able to morph into his phoenix form. In addition to the 12 default characters you start out with and the two secret characters, you'll also find two original characters, Chronos the bird and Ganesha the elephant. You'll find the same mix of old and new in BRPF's roster and stages. The game is also expected to contain as many, if not more, hidden modes that you'll unlock by playing through the game's various modes. You'll also find an extra multiplayer mode, versus team battle, in addition to the standard versus. In addition to the arcade and survival modes found in the PS2 game, you'll also find time attack, team battle, and training mode, which replaces the PS2's practice mode. If you're familiar with Bloody Roar 3 on the PlayStation 2, you'll notice that Bloody Roar Primal Fury on the GameCube offers several new modes. Think of it as a fundraiser with one-on-one fighting action.

All the characters are participating in a contest put on by King Orion, who is funding research to discover the secret of the zoanthropes' morphing ability. A short intro sequence gives you a rough idea of what's going on, but there isn't a true "story" mode like in Bloody Roar 2. This time out there isn't as much emphasis on the game's story. Having brought down the corporation in Bloody Roar 2, the various zoanthropes are trying to go about their lives-although it's always a bit hard to go "civilian" when you can morph into a humanoid animal. The game's premise still focuses on the various "zoanthrope" fighters, humans subjected to a variety of experiments by the Tylon Corporation in order to create warriors that combine human and animal traits. We recently checked out a preview build of the game and found that it all seemed to be coming together nicely. Bloody Roar Primal Fury will instead feature an overhauled graphics engine, tweaked gameplay, new characters, new stages, and extra gameplay modes. Despite the lack of competition, Hudson has opted not to coast and do a straight port of BR3 for the GameCube. Outside of Super Smash Bros., the game will find no competition in the fighting genre for some time, since Soul Calibur 2 is not due for a while.

Developer Hudson looks to repeat that timing with the latest entry in the Bloody Roar series, Bloody Roar Primal Fury, for Nintendo's GameCube. When Bloody Roar 3 hit the PlayStation 2 earlier this year, it benefited from the fact that it was one of the only 3D fighters available for the system.
