PlayStation 5 Critic Reviews

Unfortunately, Fighting Force Collection is less than the sum of its parts (which aren't amazing on their own). The first game is more appealing and easier to pick up, as its beat 'em up premise, despite being simple, works well, especially when played with a friend. The second title shifts to a secret agent-style adventure, with more weapons and missions that are more complex. Both are entertaining for a while, but their mechanics are practically outdated for current 3D games. That is where the collection could have improved things, with more technical enhancements, interesting materials about the games, and gameplay options. Considering the complete package, it is worth for nostalgia or curiosity reasons, but very little beyond that.

Without any significant innovations, additions, or improvements that go beyond the norm, Fighting Force Collection carries with it, without compromise, the qualities, such as setting, simplicity, and objectivity of the purest digital beat 'em up; and the limitations of its time, visually and mechanically speaking, which will certainly bring a nostalgic smile to older players, but will hardly seduce subsequent generations.

More time capsule than must-play, Fighting Force Collection preserves a messy, excessive era of PlayStation history, where fun mattered more than polish. A collection that hits harder if you were gaming in the '90s.

Fighting Force is still fun, in a dated and clunky kind of way. Fighting Force 2 is still awful, in every way.

In the end the Fighting Force Collection is more of a curiosity than a compilation of classics. Some people have nostalgia for the first game, it was decent. The second game, however, should have remained forgotten. Core Design started strong and ended with a whimper and I would rather remember them for titles like Tomb Raider and Soulstar, and not the travesty that is Fighting Force 2.

Overall, I left my time with the Fighting Force Collection wondering why this series, out of all the other games still trapped on older consoles, was brought back. I’m not upset that it was. Game preservation is one of the most important movements in our industry currently. I just think there are other, much better games worthy of being ported onto modern consoles than Fighting Force. Regardless, there is a very niche subset of the gaming community that will be thrilled to hear that these games now exist on whatever platform they prefer to play on, and they have been preserved, warts and all, just as they were when they first came out. I’m just not one of them.