You could say that the main addition for Virtua Fighter 4
is a graphical overhaul - and you wouldn't be far wrong, but that didn't stop
the release of
Dead or Alive 3
appearing on the Xbox.
There are four main contenders to the 3D kicking and punching crowd.
I'm more au fait for straight-forward fighting with the Virtua Fighter
crowd and, to add weapons, with the Soul Calibur lot, but I'm less into
the
Tekkens and
Dead or Alives of the
gaming world.
The characters you can play with here include eleven from the old school and
two newbies, the full line-up appearing as:
black bombshell Vanessa, muscular Akira, blonde feisty Sarah, Chinese girl Pai,
spiky-haired Jacky, old man Shun, Salvador Dali-esque Lau, wrestler Wolf,
floppy-haired Lion, big bastard Jeffry, dainty Aoi, Ju-Jutsu specialist Kage
and Kung-Fu beginner Lei.
In Arcade mode, you have infinite chances to slug it out with each of your
opponents, including a carbon copy of yourself, before having a final single
fight with the metallic Dural; "VS" is a one-on-one standard two-player game
and Kumite makes you fight your way through a continuous series of opponents with
a minimum of three rounds per match.
Other options allow you to create new players with different A.I., train them,
spar with them and view replays to give advice to your A.I. fighter.
Upon making any selection, the menu has a gorgeous water effect applied to it,
such that any movement on the menu is like dropping a pebble in a lake, allowing
you to watch the ripples fan out.
It's a brilliant looking game with only the usual jaggies letting it down
from time to time, that's if you have time to notice them. On the plus side,
the characters move like lightning, it's superb the way your footprints in
sand or snow are recorded accurately and it seems to avoid the problem I had
with
Dead or Alive 3
when you got someone up against a wall and knocked them down, which resulted
in them pushing you away as they laid down like a stiff.
The sound's very good too, but nothing you don't expect. A DTS soundtrack
should be essential for a fighting game, but most games manufacturers don't
seem to bother with this, which is a shame.
The game is a joy to play, like Soul Calibur, but does take a little
getting used to if you're not used to the moves. Once learned, they make more
sense than a couple of beat-em-ups I mentioned earlier in this review.
It was also fun to see the time when I kicked Lau out of the ring and boy did
he look pissed off, trying to stand up as if exceedingly embarassed!
This is the best new fighting game to play at the moment, but it no doubt will
be beaten by the master later in the year when Soul Calibur 2 is released,
hopefully with another mode similar to 'Edge Master'.
GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ENJOYMENT
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
In Arcade mode, you have infinite chances to slug it out with each of your
opponents, including a carbon copy of yourself, before having a final single
fight with the metallic Dural; "VS" is a one-on-one standard two-player game
and Kumite makes you fight your way through a continuous series of opponents with
a minimum of three rounds per match.
It's a brilliant looking game with only the usual jaggies letting it down
from time to time, that's if you have time to notice them. On the plus side,
the characters move like lightning, it's superb the way your footprints in
sand or snow are recorded accurately and it seems to avoid the problem I had
with
The game is a joy to play, like Soul Calibur, but does take a little
getting used to if you're not used to the moves. Once learned, they make more
sense than a couple of beat-em-ups I mentioned earlier in this review.
