The graphics are horrendously generic and mind numbing. You can get some new moves as you progress but I wouldn't bother. The fighting within the game is terribly dull, which surprised me with a 'fighting' game. If the game was any good the loading time might have been ignored. There is no explanation for this as hardly anything in the game could challenge the system to anywhere near its' potential. Every time anything happens you are confronted with this annoyance.
I have never played a game that involves so much time waiting for the loading to complete. Before I actually started playing I encountered the first of many irritants within the game, loading screens. As I found it doesn't matter at all which as the storyline is almost exactly the same for each. At the opening screen you pick one of these five characters. You are also promised that the city in which the game is set can be explored thoroughly. The aim of the game is to fight through villains, police officers and the Zanetti gang with a view to clearing your characters name. The storyline is as follows: five dodgy gangster types end up getting framed for murder and become the targets of the Zanetti family. To have released this game in the year 2005 is an insult to all game designers, producers and game players alike. Somewhere along the way, Capcom have missed this vital point. It was always my assumption that fighting games gave players the chance to vent their frustration whilst systematically working through the various levels.
Capcoms most recent release, Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance is a very poor attempt when you think back to the great 'beat-em-up' titles of the past. There has always been a place for fighting games in the heart of the console gamer.