The evolution of the Beat-em-up.

[Gamereviewgod]

Ok, lets face it. Beat-em-ups are dead. Completely. Or are they?

We have games on the market today that are really nothing more than glorified BEU's. Baldurs Gate, Onimusha, Norrath, and others are really just BEU's in disguise, are they not? Certainly, games like Dynasty Warriors hardly try and hide this fact, but just think of how many games feature the classic aspects of the genre.

So, are games like Onimusha just an evolution of the genre or truly just action/adventure games? Will we ever see a straight up BEU without any type of strategy or adventure on a next-gen console? Are companies hiding the fact that their games have hardly evolved over the years?

[kainemaxwell]

Would you count the Dynasty Warriors series in that list as well?

[YoshiM]

I don't know if I'd call games like Baldur's Gate or Champions of Norrath strictly "beat-em-ups" (or rather "hack and slash"). Their roots are H&S/BEmU's but they're an evolution of that with combinations of other gameplay genres like most games these days. True you get to whack things with your weapon (usually of choice) and can pretty much mash buttons but there's also the leveling factor, an inventory, mission points, core character customization and more.

The BEmU's as we knew them are probably gone on consoles as target audience typically wants more sophistication. However they will probably live on in hand held form with games like Final Fight One, Double Dragon, Guardian Heroes finding homes on the GBA.

[SirDrexl]

Will we ever see a straight up BEU without any type of strategy or adventure on a next-gen console?

I think the recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game was a straight BEU.

[Flack]

Will we ever see a straight up BEU without any type of strategy or adventure on a next-gen console?

I think the recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game was a straight BEU.

I agree, along with the similar Batman game and Shinobi.

[Azazel]

I always kind of thought and hopethat Guardian Heroes and Panzer Bandits was the next evolution for BEUs. Although no one as really made any games that that since the 32 bit era.

[Push Upstairs]

I think the recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game was a straight BEU.

Yup. Too bad the overuse of voice clips render that game unplayable.

[chrisbid]

i was one of five people that liked Dynamite Cop. it was hokey as hell, but it was simple, over-the-top, and just long enough to not get stale by the end. plus the presidents daughter was butt ugly :P