Capcom Fighting Jam has been met with many differing views, some positive but most have been negative. Is this game really that bad?

Well 'no' is the answer, however it does not match up to any of the previous Capcom VS, Street Fighter, or Vampire series. Capcom Fighting Jam takes the most well known Capcom fighting IP and WarZard! and have created a game around each games unique fighting system. It seems that now we can finally find out which style is superior.

The styles in question are;

Street Fighter 2 - Based on the Super upgrade, these characters have lower combo potential but are very strong.

Street Fighter Alpha - Speed is the key here, with multiple hits and the original combo meter making a return.

Vampire - Ex moves, super jumps, the vampire cast is well represented with some very good character choices.

Street Fighter 3 - Parry, ex moves

WarZard - Level up system, WarZard characters are very underpowered compared to everyone else.

The premise of the game is comendable, but it never quite works. Admittedly that is a vague comment to make, however if the chosen characters had been redrawn in a consistent style then the game would have looked less like a cut and paste job. The screen shot below highlights this perfectly.

The sprites have been through some filtering process as they have lost a lot of their original crispness. The SF3 sprites have been downgraded as has their CPSIII WarZard counterparts. Some of the characters have had their sprites re-touched, Ryu has been altered again and seems to share more in common with his SF3 version than the team he is supporting. Ingrid is a 'new' character who plays significantly different from the rest of the cast.

The characters that represent each game have been well chosen, so at least we don't get 5 shoto's! Rose makes her triumphant return, and her combo's seem to do a lot more damage than they did in the Alpha series. Joining Rose is Karin and Sakura, and Guy. Sakura's inclusion is disappointing, but was probably expected.

The other team which gets a good character selection is the Vampire cast. Felicia, Demitri, Jedah and Anarkis all play completely different from one another and it is nice to see the 'also-runs' appearing as the main stars in a new game. It is fair to say that this game is really only appealing to fans of Capcom, it is never going to attract any new people as to anyone else it is just a huge mess. (a good mess).

My biggest problem with Capcom Fighting Jam is the inclusion of the WarZard characters. I think the idea of Sakura taking on a T-rex is just so stupid, and the fact that all the WarZard cast can be beaten easily with perfect super victories makes them a mockery.

The music is good, with the best track being the one that plays on the final comic strip ending scenes. By finishing the game you unlock your characters original music track...as if we don't know Ryu's theme by now!

Udon, the people behind the Street Fighter and DarkStalker comic series have drawn the character selection art and the ending art scene. Their art is good and does show our favourite characters in a new way, it is just a shame that the main sprites were not altered in some form.

Capcom Fighting Jam is the first Capcom 2d fighting game that I could quite easily take it or leave it. It never gets to the same level as Capcom VS SNK 2 or Marvel VS Capcom 2, and fails to get anywhere near the quality of the games that it makes aquaintences with. Capcom Fighting Jam is not a bad game, it is just not as good as I had expected it to be. Recommending Capcom Fighting Jam at the price of £19.99 is also not hard, as for fans this is a fun game, but you know within a month you will be back playing Street Fighter 3.