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Title International Karate Plus (CD32)
Game Type Beat-em-up
Players 1 or 2
Compatibility CD32
Submission Courtesy of Sean Caszatt

Review
This is the type of CD³² game I'm ashamed to admit exists. INTERNATIONAL
KARATE + (aka IK+) was available on the Commodore 64. It hasn't changed at
all since then.

Now, I'll stand by a game that remains unchanged from platform to platform.
That's usually the sign of a classic game. Only a few games actually
deserve that status. This game is not one of them.

It's bad enough that the game, a simple karate beat-'em-up, has been ported
from the ECS Amiga unchanged, but the game's attract mode still tells
you to press keys like F1 and F2 to select players. The last time I looked,
a keyboard is not standard equipment for the CD³². They could have at
least cleaned up the code to show the proper buttons to push on the CD³²'s
controller. If you need an example of shovelware, this game is it.

All gripes aside, the actual game may have stood it's ground in 1988 (the
copyright date of the game, still proudly displayed in the attract mode),
but IK+ just doesn't cut it anymore. This is the age of STREET FIGHTER II
and MORTAL KOMBAT type beat-'em-ups. IK+ looks very much like the port of
an 8-bit Commodore 64 game that it is.

It wouldn't be that bad if you could use the CD³²'s control pad to at least
salvage some nostalgia from the game. As it stands, the CD³² control pad is
almost impossible to use for this game. We plugged a normal Amiga/Atari-type
joystick in and it worked much better. Unfortunately, that's not saying
very much.

Save your money, avoid this game.