Previous Next

Kwon, the human gardening machine! I assume that Kwon is a gardener - according to the press blurb he goes cutting a swathe through Europe and into the Middle East. He must be a gardener! Aha, I've got it, the info says a bloody swathe - he must have run over his foot with the lawnmower then!

Since Kwon isn't armed with anything other than a pair of boxing gloves, and he only beats his opponents senseless, he might as well be a gardening machine rather than the killing machine of the title.

In case you hadn't immediately guessed from the screenshots, HKM is an unofficial sequel to Street Fighter, which was also a Capcom coin-op. It is obviously derived from Street Fighter because both games feature martial arts over a series of static backgrounds.

In the case of HKM, there are five locations, and two opponents to fight in each one (though not at the same times).

So off you go to the first locale, sunny Moscow, to face Igor (obviously a left over from a Rambo movie).

Against a rather nice four colour backdrop, you can employ most of the standard martial arts manoeuvres, including a leap, tuck and drop kick. Very impressive! Each combatant has a number of lives for each fight, and an energy bar for each life, which naturally decreases as the blows start to regenerate. Get in there and smash his face in.

After dispensing with Igor there follows the first of the distasteful elements of HKM - dog beating. Shepski the dog is your next opponent.

Assuming you had the stomach to beat the poor mutt senseless it's off to Amsterdam and two ladies of the night, Maria and Helga. Yep, it's hit a woman time, This is what you call pandering to the most base emotions.

Still with me? Good, off we go to Barcelona then, and Miguel the Torreador and his bull, Torus. I can only assume that Kwon is an England football supporter.

More encounters of the stereotype kind with Germans outside a beerhouse. Watch out for the waiter though, he chucks bottles of wine at you, spiked no doubt, because they don't half hurt when they hit you. If you don't believe me try it at home and see.

Your final encounter takes place in the cheery surrounds of Beirut, with a big tank and a bigger terrorist. I found it quite hard, but that's only because I kept tripping over all the hostages and Iranians burning copies of Satanic Verses.

If you fancy a good beat 'em up then HKM will probably suffice, but the non-scrolling backgrounds and only one opponent at a time do give the game a somewhat dated feel.

Good fun, but only if you have the sensibilities of a Millwall supporter.