A Reason to own a Sega Saturn
Written: Jul 02 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Gameplay,Graphics,Sound,almost everything
Cons: no real story, so 1 player play is limited
The Bottom Line: Everyone, especially fighting fans should own VF2. The most realistic and good fighting game, and the greatest 3D fighter.
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| flash-hammer's Full Review: Virtua Fighter 2 for Saturn |
Virtua Fighter was the first 3D Fighting game ever. Originally released in arcades, it quickly made its way onto Sega’s ill-fated 32X console attachment before cropping up as a Saturn launch title.
Apart from being in 3D, the game’s main appeal was that all of the characters used real martial arts moves, and everything they did was possible for humans. (except the big floaty jumps).
The game had good music, great gameplay, and was the dawn of a new era in gaming, but it had one problem: the graphics were crap.
Soon, a sequel arrived in the form of Virtua Fighter 2. here it is.
The game is a one on one fighting game, which boasted a feature that no game since then has, to my knowledge, went to the trouble of including. It sports not only a perfect port of the arcade game, but a version dubbed ‘Expert’ mode, which has glitches from the arcade game ironed out. If you are asking yourself, why include the glitched arcade version? Well, some people buy the home version to practice for play in the arcade, so they want as close to the machine as possible. Sega gave them that.
Graphically, the game is leagues ahead of its prequel, and most other 32-Bit fighters in general. No longer do the fighters have noses that look like ramps, but actually look human. The animation of them is also spot on, with every movie linking into the next perfectly.
Soundwise, the game is also a winner. While the announcer gets a bit irritating, the music in the game is nothing short of spectacular. I’m not a person who listens to game soundtracks but this game has some awesome music. Personally my faves are Pai and Sarah’s stage themes, but all the tunes are pretty good.
The controls are as simplistic as possible. A is block, B is punch, C is Kick. Throws and special attacks can be performed with when two buttons are pressed together and with input on the D-Pad. You could not hope for more responsive controls. The minute you press the button, they start the action.
The game isn’t particularly strong on story. After the first tournament, which was won by Lau Chan, he returns to defend his title against returning fighters like Ry- I mean Akira, Kage Maru the cool Jujitsu fighting Ninja, race car Driver and Jeet Kune Do man Jacky Bryant, who is out to find his sister, his own daughter Pai, Akira’s rival and pro wrestler Wolf Hawkfield, hard up for cash Rastafarian fisherman Jeffrey and the Brainwashed JKD fighter Sarah Bryant. But two new challengers have entered. Drunken master Shun Di and spoiled rich kid mantis fighter Lion Rafaele are included to spice things up. But whoever emerges as the top of this pile still needs to best the cyborg like entity Dural if they want to be the champion.
You see, every character barring Dural is completely realistic. Even Wolf, the wrestler, is muscle-bound, but in a proportion that is humanly possible.
Sadly, as with all VF games, the characters have no endings, so the only real purpose in 1 player play is to practice for 2P, but how does it play?
If you want an indication, put it like this, I only rate the Streetfighter 2 games above it.
The game is supreme. While it doesn’t have flashy special moves on its side, what it does have is what is arguably the most solid fighting game engine in history. The game is often likened to chess, and to use the old cliché, it can be picked up in minutes, but can take a lifetime to master. Each character has literally a hundred or such moves each. They all vary in difficulty to pull off and in usefulness, but being able to have all of those moves at your disposal is not something that can be looked down at.
The fact that they all come out, and connect as they should with nigh on perfect collision detection makes for one of the most genuinely brilliant experiences you can have with a fighting game.
Summing up why the game is great is hard, so I will look at what isn’t great about the game for a moment.
Well, there due to the lack of story, there isn’t really much single player replay value other than to get good at the game. I also aint that keen on the floaty jumps
There, 56 words of fault. That is all. VF2 is just so close to perfection, the closest any 3D fighting game has ever come.
If you have a friend who is of the same skill level in the game as you, the duels you have will be memorable, and greatly enjoyable. It is also a game where someone who goes in mashing buttons randomly against someone who knows some moves will come out looking like a schmuck on the majority of occasions, so playing it a lot pays off if you want to win.
At the end of the day, you will know if you want to play VF2. if as close to a realistic fighting game as you will get (indeed Sega labelled VF1 as a ‘Combat Simulator’) with awesome graphics and music, and a solid system of fighting that will take time to master sounds good to you, then you will love VF2.
I would recommend anyone with a Saturn and any love of fighting games, or games in general picks this title up. It is easy enough to track down, and is truly to 3D fighting games what Streetfighter 2 is to 2D ones. The pinnacle of the genre.
Recommended:
Yes
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flash-hammer
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