A quite good beat-em-up with excellent pixel art aspiring to old-school SNK-tier level of frames of animation. The action hews almost entirely to old arcade standards with just enough modernization to show the devs have learned a thing or two from modern games. Your moveset is a few steps beyond old school SOR, but the mechanics are well realized, and those few steps really add up. A few extra command move specials opens the game up into some fine moveset variety and a decent array of juggles. You can also block and dodge up and down, even able to cancel into those dodges out of a few animations. The foundation is really solid, and it stands strong alongside the other top beat-em-ups of Steam, probably the most traditional of the bunch alongside Mayhem Brawler. There is a good variety of enemies and bosses with various gimmicks, but none as demanding as SoR4's hyper armor.
The devs expect you to 1cc it, but the game gives plenty of score extends as well as hidden extra lives, and as a result I was able to get the 1cc on my second try, so none of you have any excuse. It is almost at the perfect length too, at around 30-40 minutes to a clear, keeping excellent pacing without overstaying its welcome. The game pays homage to the SNK animation with an SNK tier zany final boss but if you really keep getting taken down by him, the game has a full fledged practice mode so you can fight any boss or enemy. You also can play a boss rush or survival mode if you seek a break from the normal game.
It's probably not going to appeal to many folks beyond beat-em-up boomers. Button mash credit feed play with friends kids are all going to be distracted by a certain other beat-em-up that released about the same time. Seasoned action game vets are probably going to want to see some of the evolution on the genre that FnR and SOR4 gave us, while the classic style was already almost perfectly represented in Mayhem Brawler. But despite all that and despite loving all those, I appreciate Final Vendetta for going back to the roots with excellent pixel art, great designs, and strong fundamentals while mostly avoiding the cheesy BS of the old days and also avoiding the party game pizza-munching, fun-only-with-friends stuff of more casual brawlers. Still, even with all the stiff competition, the more I play Final Vendetta, the more I appreciate it. The game's pacing, challenge, and variety are all excellent and the depth merits repeat plays to explore the mechanics, and the short run length makes it great to pick up and play. It is a labor of love by the developers and worthy of a spot on the shelf of every beat-em-up fan.
