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Review: Virtua Fighter 3:tb |
Virtua Fighter 3 was the first fighting game to be released for the Dreamcast, and it was the subject of much before-hand speculation. Will Sega’s new machine be capable of recreating the Model3 coin-op?
I can barely stand the excitement….
Erm….oh yeah, it’s already happened.
Well, it is, but it didn’t. Having seen Soul Calibur and Dead or Alive 2, it’s fair to say the DC could run VF3 in it’s sleep. But, and there is a but, this conversion is below par.
For some strange reason, the conversion was not handled by Sega themselves, but by Genki, a relatively-unheard of software house, who have since further disgraced themselves with Tokyo Extreme Racing.
And what’s more, from reports I have read, and the on-screen evidence, it seems to have been a very rushed job.
Subsequently it’s not quite what was expected. Although it still looks good today, and it raised the standard for home 3D fighters regardless, it isn’t the arcade. Characters’ limbs are noticable squarer, and hair and cloth don’t flow realistically. Shadows fall apart on slopes and the backgrounds also took damage - there is fogging on some of them, many have been altered aesthetically in order to cut processing costs, and even then there is some slowdown and break-up.
Sonically, it seem identical to its parent, the usual bland tunes and inappropriate voiceovers. Look, I’m sorry - but if a character says “I don’t make it a habit of fighting ther elderly!” for his winpose - I hate him instantly. What *were* they thinking? And the only stage music I can remotely recall, is Jeffry’s tune, with it’s cyclical drum beat and a looping voice sample saying “Fight! Fight! Fight!” all the damn time. What *were* they thinking?
The lack of time spent on the conversion is also obvious in the options. Or, the non-options. There is no two-player mode. You can challenge in Arcade mode, but there’s no dedicated VS game. You have to reconfigure the keys every time you reload the game. The only way to quit during a game is by using the DCs soft-reboot A+B+X+Y+START command - and that means you have to skip the furking intro every time. The training mode is poor: the CPU opponent actually fights you during it, with no way to turn it off. Bah.
Seeing as the game is subtitled “Tournament Battle” - there’s the choice of playing it like the newer arcade version, with a 3-on-3 King Of Fighters team mode. Whoopee-f?%&!$&g-doo.
Upon completion, you unlock a fairly nice FMV sequence - - but there are no endings or story or anything like that. That’s not a fault of the DC conversion by the way, just the way VF games are.
There’s another pointless extra on the disk - a sort of “History Of Vitua Fighter” movie - in which scenes of the various VFs (from 1-3) assemble themselves from wire-frame models, plus there’s the famous VF3 promotional video, supposedly there to make you realise how far the games have advanced, but all it actually does is make you think about the shoddy conversion, and how crap like this is taking up valuable disk space.
A minor curiosity comes in the form of the 2nd disk in the box (this is the Japanese version) - titled “Project Berkley” - this is just a really long and incomprehensible video in which Yu Suzuki goes on and on for ages, and you see various titles of his from history, plus some early images from “Project Berkley” - which is now released under the name “Shen Mue.” Whee.
But it is Virtua Fighter 3, and just because I’m still waiting for my brother to come home so we can eat doesn’t mean I can trash what is still one of the most technical and precise fighting games of all times.
One punch, one kick, a guard and an escape button - doesn’t sound like much, does it? But it is, and you’re making an appalling mistake assuming otherwise. It is no more endless PPPK combos than the zenith of Tekken 3 playing is “mashing with Eddy” (a national pastime.) In reality, it is an incredible engine - where moves are measured in numbered frames, where an indivuals’ weight will determine how high they are launched, and attacking from a sloping height will add extra force to your moves. The physics are excellent - it’s wonderful to see a character block a move and the block actually physically stops the attack from continuing. The characters affect each other far more than usual, and it really makes for a immersive combat situation, where every attack has a counter, and it’s your ability to use the tools at your disposal that grants you victory.
The characters have a wide variety of moves, throws and counters - all activated with simple commands, leaving the main focus on the fight, rather than the stick - and watching experts play each other is an awe-inspiring, almost beautiful experience.
But (again) unfortunately, me being the shallow videogame tart I am, I never really bothered to get into the game. I played it for a while, but I wasn’t compelled to learn all the intricacies, tactics, tricks and moves.
But that’s just me. Don’t let the lack of explosions, flashing lights and treble-digit combos put you off - as VF3 is something different, something that can yield immense rewards if enough effort is put in. If you fancy a bit of a long-term challenge, and are patient enough to put up with the immensely complex engine and forgiving enough to ignore the minor shortcomings of the DC version - you’re in for a great time.
