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Dom Robinson reviews
for Sony Playstation 2
Sony 
You could say that the main addition for Virtua Fighter 4is a graphical overhaul – and you wouldn’t be far wrong, but that didn’t stopthe release ofDead or Alive 3appearing 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 Fightercrowd and, to add weapons, with the Soul Calibur lot, but I’m less intothe Tekkens andDead or Alives of thegaming world.
The characters you can play with here include eleven from the old school andtwo 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 Kageand Kung-Fu beginner Lei.
In Arcade mode, you have infinite chances to slug it out with each of youropponents, including a carbon copy of yourself, before having a final singlefight with the metallic Dural; “VS” is a one-on-one standard two-player gameand Kumite makes you fight your way through a continuous series of opponents witha 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, allowingyou to watch the ripples fan out.
It’s a brilliant looking game with only the usual jaggies letting it downfrom 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 insand or snow are recorded accurately and it seems to avoid the problem I hadwithDead or Alive 3when you got someone up against a wall and knocked them down, which resultedin 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 soundtrackshould be essential for a fighting game, but most games manufacturers don’tseem to bother with this, which is a shame.
The game is a joy to play, like Soul Calibur, but does take a littlegetting used to if you’re not used to the moves. Once learned, they make moresense 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 didhe 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 willbe beaten by the master later in the year when Soul Calibur 2 is released,hopefully with another mode similar to ‘Edge Master’.
SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC
PLAYABILITY
ENJOYMENT
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.