''Human Killing Machine'' (also known as ''HKM'') is a 2D fighting video game. The game was developed by British company

Tiertex Tiertex Design Studios Limited was a British software development company and former video game developer based in Macclesfield, England; it was founded in 1986, focusing on porting games to home computers and handheld platforms. As a video game ...

, who hired external team Blue Turtle (Nick Pavis and Leigh Christian) to produce the graphics, and published by

U.S. Gold U.S. Gold Limited was a British video game publisher based in Witton, Birmingham, England. The company was founded in 1984 by Anne and Geoff Brown in parallel to their distributor firm, CentreSoft, both of which became part of Woodward Brown Ho ...

, released in March 1989. It was touted as a sequel to Tiertex's home computer conversion of ''

Street Fighter , commonly abbreviated as ''SF'' or スト (''Suto''), is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Capcom. The first game in the series was released in 1987, followed by six ...

'' (as the two companies later did with '' Strider II''). It was released for 8-bit and

16-bit 16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors. A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two mo ...

home computer formats.

Gameplay

The player must defeat computer controlled characters from around the world in round-based one-on-one combat. The game is based on the engine from each system's ''Street Fighter'' port, with the time limit removed, and an energy recovery system.

Characters

The following characters are featured in the game:

Reception

At the time of release, the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...

version of the game was generally well received, scoring 9/10 for graphics in ''

Your Sinclair ''Your Sinclair'', or ''YS'' as it was commonly abbreviated, was a commercially published and printed British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum. It was in circulation between 1984 and 1993. History T ...

'', who added "Possibly because of the memory used for the excellent background graphics and big - nay, hooge - sprites, the range of moves available in battle seemed relatively limited. It was, however, still fairly easy to beat opponents". The game scored 78% overall in ''

Sinclair User ''Sinclair User'' was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum (while also occasionally covering arcade games). Initially published by ECC Publications, and later EMAP, it was pub ...

'', who summed it up with "backgrounds are static, but detailed... main graphics are nicely animated with slick arm and leg movements - maybe the best I've seen in this sort of game. The graphics may even be slightly better han ''Street Fighter''. The 73% review in ''

Crash Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch su ...

'' stated "The scenery's really beautiful and the large characters are well drawn and animated", and thought it was "lacking in originality, but still very addictive". Other versions did not fare as well. ''

Zzap!64 ''Zzap!64'' was a computer games magazine covering games on the Commodore International series of computers, especially the Commodore 64 (C64). It was published in the UK by Newsfield Publications Ltd and later by Europress Impact. The magazine ...

'' said of the Commodore versions "repetitive with little skill involved", and gave the game 31%. Maff Evans, a secondary reviewer in the magazine said it was "an incredibly weak program and one of the worst fighting games I've ever seen". '' Amstrad Action'' listed ''HKM'' and ''Street Fighter'' as "some of the most dreadful arcade conversions on the CPC". The Spanish magazine Microhobby valued the game with the following scores:(Spanish
Human Killing Machine - ZX Spectrum (1988)
- article on Soloretro Originality: 40% Graphics: 90% Motion: 80% Sound: 50% Difficulty: 70% Addiction: 80% Retrospective reviews of the game were more negative. YouTuber Stuart Ashen featured the Atari ST version of the game on his web series, ''Terrible Old Games You’ve Probably Never Heard Of'', criticizing the shoddy mechanics, jerky control scheme and frame rate, unfair difficulty, poor graphics, lack of sound effects and animation frames, stereotypical characters, and overall lack of improvement from Tiertex’s conversion of Street Fighter.

References

{{Street Fighter series 1989 video games Amiga games Amstrad CPC games Atari ST games Commodore 64 games Fighting games Video game sequels Street Fighter games ZX Spectrum games Tiertex Design Studios games U.S. Gold games Video games set in the Soviet Union Video games set in Spain Video games set in the Netherlands Video games set in Germany Video games set in Lebanon Video games developed in the United Kingdom