Designed by John Tobias (co-creator of Mortal Kombat) Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus is set out to be THE SHIT. Well, the best fighting game for the seXbox. The hype and pre-release noise is so loud and has travelled so wide, that even people without X-boxes are talking about it.

Being a new title and only for the Xbox, the game will have to stand on it’s own two feet to gain it’s breed of fans. This kind of game simply can’t be made for the arcade or other systems. It really works that Xbox hardware powar to teh MAXIMUMS.

Thanks to Kris Abel I had a chance to play the game and chat with John himself, but I’ve felt and experienced enough to say that there is definately a large, general learning curve. There’s too much thinking going on in a serious player’s mind. It’s obvious if this was a game for serious arcade competition, one can’t just “do their usual thing” in a relaxed manner. Players of equal skill would have to really pay attention to one another’s style and way of thinking, then form their playing style and timing against that specific player.

A simple handicap won’t do. Anyone who knows the game better and is a better player, will always win. This is a balance most versus fighting games have strived for in the past, and barely came close to reaching. With time we will find out if Tao Feng can serve that purpose.

There’s plenty of dynamics going on to keep players at one another fighting non-stop instead of continuous stalemates. Instead of rewarding one who turtles up, the punishment for blocking is devastating. Limbs can become injured and unuseable - players can also target certain limbs specifically, and furthermore you also can very much notice this visibly in the graphics and limping.

The battle takes place in 3D environments, and players must make use of their environment and location to stay ahead. Sidesteps are possible, but can’t be abused to the point of instant dodge gratification.

As with most 3D fighting games, there won’t be many aerial based battles or movement going on, it simply wouldn’t fit in the future-realistic atmosphere. There are attacks that involve being above ground (like swinging off poles or jumping off the wall), but from what I played, there didn’t seem to be much need for actual jumping and upward movement, at all.

There’s two set types of predetermined combos for every character. One is the simple three button/attacks based for new players, while the other is a long string of timed presses ala Tekken. Some can even be optionally finished by having the opponent thrown into a “hazard” (like smashing the opponent into an item near the wall).

However one can’t just mash away at any memorized combo and get success, if an opponent is expecting or knows where to block, they can always find a counter. This is about you versus the opponent, not how good you can dial a phone number on the pad, sons.

As expected there are “super moves” and in this game they’re appropriately called “Chi” attacks and vary for each character. They only can be done when your Chi bar was built (can be built with successful taunts as well) up. Only a seriously aggressive player would ever get a full Chi bar easily, which fits the game’s in-the-opponent’s-face style. Such attacks can be cancelled by an opponent’s activated Chi attack as well. A full Chi can also be used to heal a limb. This is helpful when an important limb was injured during battle. But all these decisions must be made in a split second, which is also part of the juggling of many player’s priorities and plans in this game.

Ok on to the graphics and general stuph. The graphics are revolutionary to fighting games, apparently new technology specific to the Xbox hardware is used for the skin and bruises and various injuries characters can get. All the character (knowing MK I was expecting some hidden plethora of palette swap characters, however everything is conveniently available from the start) and stage designs are fitting to the Asiatic story (and yes, as there was one in Mortal Kombat, there is a story here, and it’s a pretty good one too. wut o nos, if things go right, someday a Movie mayhaps?). The background designs are equally as shiny slick and as imaginatively colored as the characters, so characters don’t look out of place as in most 3D games. The colored lighting and surroundings affecting characters added to that “of a whole” effect.

So what was it like being a lowly nigra having the chance to meet John Tobias? It actually was hard to believe he was one of the people behind that whole “revolution” in arcade fighting games that began with Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, their becoming franchises with movies and trancending other forms of media, becoming household names. For someone who works hard at developing his games, he still is able to view the past and future in a retrospect as though he’s just another guy who used to go to the arcades after school. HE IS ONE OF US. And that, is what you’ll have to trust when seasoned players take the chance to try this game out.

Ereet notes:

Captain Nipples aka Biggles who voice acts on Rinoa’s radio plays and video dubs had also voiced various characters for this game.

The chinese theme has always been an interest of John Tobias, which is why Tao Feng is similar to Mortal Kombat in that aspect.