Two Crude Dudes

This game is an honorable mention in favorite beat em ups of all time. It's of course another childhood gem of mine, I remember playing this game at two places, one was at the Silver Coin at Southcenter Mall in Tukuila, WA. But the other was at the "Melody Skating Rink" in Auburn, WA. This game was just a lot of fun, even more so when there was another person playing with you.

It's got a solid plotline, it's also part of what made this game unique as there really weren't many games at the time that took place in the post apocalypse settings.

And I know one thing that would be strange now is the fact this apocalypse took place in 2010 which has now passed; a lot of sci-fi stories of fundamentally being inaccurate with time. But you have to understand this game was made in the 90's and 2010 that year was really far off at the time, though we should be grateful that what happened in this game never came to pass.

Think of this in Multiverse and Elseworlds terms, this game takes place in an alternate version of 2010, in the aftermath of a nuclear war society is trying to rebuild but unfortunately the gangs and organized crime has put a halt to the plans and a stranglehold on the city and it's up to you as one of the half mutant brothers to clean up the town.

That's it in a nutshell nothing too new, it's just I really like the setting the fact that this game takes place in the far future or possible future which I never have seen much of in beat em ups as most of them always take place in the present. This post-apocalyptic world you're in is interesting reminds me a little of the movie "Hardware", despite all the ruin I like that there is still technology that still works in fact some of the tech in the game is the kind we still don't have as we see there are hover bikes, crafts/carriers, high tech armor and weapons. It just goes to show that even a post apocalypse can't put a halt to progress.

I like the graphical presentation, the backgrounds are well detailed in showing an America in you can say beautiful ruin which make each of the level even more memorable. Like in the first level my favorite sight was seeing "The Statue of Liberty" head down on the ground. This is obviously an homage to plenty of sci-fi that utilized this image a lot, most notably the animated 80's show "Thundarr the Barbarian", it's also such surreal sight but show us the grim possibility that we might not be around forever.

But of course really like the character designs from the bad guys in which there is a solid variety that consist of humans and mutants, along with the bosses. Despite their short stature don't underestimate them because they can beat you by their numbers game, let alone your not weapon proof as some of them are armed with weapons or mutant ablities so be careful.

Also of course are two main heroes the Crude Busters/Dudes whom are both sort of like "The Incredible Hulk" as both have super strength, let alone are taller than the badies that come your way. Yeah, their look in fact some of the look of even a few of the baddies might date the game a bit as in the 80's and even early 90's the wild punk look was still in; let alone this game was made in the 90's after all. Though if you think about it this game takes place in an alternate timeline and it's in the post apocalypse, so may 'be that look came back or because most of the world was obliterated, progress halted or slowed down which meant certain styles and trends didn't happen. Anyway, enough of the deep stuff, what I really like about these character designs are how expressive these characters are.

The game clearly has its tongue firmly in it's cheek as it clearly doesn't take itself too seriously, after all you are playing as a hero that for some reason always has his sunglasses on and somehow stays on him despite everything going on.

There is sort of a comic book atmosphere to the game as you see several of the pow and bang graphics like you would see in some of the old comic books mainly the gold and silver age. But also of course there is the "Batman 66" tv show. I really like how we see the expressions on the characters you control, like a happy expression after they clear a level, I feel the same way when that happens. Or when you deliver kicks and punches there are hurt expressions along with sounds from the bad guys, it makes you feel like you real are delivering damage.

The music is very good, each of the tracks are actually memorable and all just really have that action movie pumping vibe to them, that just makes you feel tough and want to waste every bad dude that dares cross your path.

The gameplay is solid, you can say is a smoothie mix of both "Bad Dudes" and "Super Mario Bros 2" and both make a tasty smoothie. Like with "Bad Dudes" you have two different planes you can alternate to as you advance. But along the way just like with "Super Mario Bros 2" you just about pick up everything in your path to use as a weapon and from the craziness that goes on in the game, you'll need them as your best friends. It's just really cool, really gives you that illusion of Hulk like strength as you are picking up, like throwing boulders, a car, a traffic light pole and throwing it like a missile, uprooting traffic signs and using them like a fly swatter to swat away the baddies. You can even use enemies as weapons also, the list goes on the amount of possibilities and goodies to use as weapons, almost as much as a Jackie Chan film.

The only problem I have with the game is the difficulty can be cheep in places, there are places where the bad guys suddenly have home court advantage for no apparent reason or just take some cheap shots at you. This is a minor gripe as the same can be said for a lot of other arcade games out there.

"Two Crude Dudes" is too crude fun.

Rating: 3 and a half stars.