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Review: Fighting Vipers |
Very little can be said to describe this game. It’s really very unusual. I feel absolutely no emotion towards this game: positive or negative. It’s just kinda there. Vipers is a fairly decent port of the arcade title of the same name. It’s based of the Model 2 board and plays similarly to VF in some ways. However, it has many interesting variations on the old rules, fighting in a cage being the most significant of these.
The graphics on the Saturn version are fairly accurate to the coin-op. The polygons don’t have quite the refinement of the VF2 port, but they’ll certainly suffice. The backgrounds are, for the most part, pretty basic in design. I suppose the whole cage thing pretty much limits what you can do with backgrounds. :)
One thing I’ve always never liked about AM2’s games were the sound effects. In comparison to Tekken, MK, and SF, the Sega games never had painful enough sound effects for me. Granted, they’re a little more realistic. However, realism is not a trait I desire in fighting games, which is perhaps why I don’t “dig” the VF series. Fighting Vipers is no different. An above average soundtrack gives the game a slight boost. However, these tunes weren’t giving me the desire to dance or kick some more butt.
The gameplay of this game is a little more interesting than the VF series. VF was always a little too “chess match” style for me. This game makes the wonderful addition of making the playing field a weapon. Many characters utilize throws which use the walls of the cage, wrestling ring, etc. to their advantage. For instance, most of the characters have a throw in where they toss their opponent right into the cage (like in professional wrestling). This move will usually juggle the opponent, so you can add a couple of hits to the end. Plus, the ability to recover in mid-air so you can come down with a jump kick or another attack is a welcome addition to the fighting game world.
The characters in FV are a little too lifeless for me, and the announcer has GOT to go. “Let the action begin!” Argh! Anyways… enough yapping.
Bottom Line: If you’re a fan of the VF series or the coin-op version of this game, give it a try. You’ll probably love it. If you don’t like VF, steer clear. It’s too similar.
- Dark Schneider
