Developed by Matthew DeLucas
Released for XBLIG (2/2011)
Battle High: San Bruno is a throwback 2D one-on-one fighter and almost feels like it came from the early '90's. You have eight different fighters to select from and you have a decent amount of variety between them (in the trial version you can only select from four of them). The game offers an arcade mode, versus mode, challenge mode and extracurricular which is a mode containing mini-games that was added in a title update.
According to Giant Bomb (link below), the game was originally released for PC and was created in GameMaker, but I had trouble locating a download link for the PC version. Battle High definitely looks the part of an old-school fighter, with some great detailed sprite artwork and some pretty good animations to match. The controls are responsive and moves work as advertised. You have four attack buttons, two punch and two kick, all mapped to the face buttons. The layout is similar to Neo-Geo fighters from back in the day. Like many fighters, you also have a super meter which fills up and allows you to unleash powerful moves. Battle High is solid little time killer, though I wish there was a little more impact to the hits. They all feel very light and it's easy to spam moves leaving the computer helpless. Still even with these issues, Battle High is a solid experience and is not the type of game you typically find floating around on XBLIG. Two years later, the game would receive a sequel which was also initially released on XBLIG, but the sequel would receive ports to the Xbox One, PC, Linux, Mac and even the Ouya.
Final Verdict: Battle High is a cool, simple throwback 2D fighter that will prove a fun diversion for fans of the genre.
Related Links:
Battle High 2 - Xbox Overview
Battle High: San Bruno - GameFAQs
Battle High: San Bruno - Giant Bomb
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