Virtua Fighter 4 - IGN (original) (raw)

Once upon a time, I said something was the best fighting game ever made. I'm not going to do that ever again. I no longer feel the need to make that distinction, and neither should any of you -- in a genre this crowded with top-flight competitors, you should be playing everything. And since Virtua Fighter 4 is the first original AAA 3D fighter to be released in...three years, is it?...you should be playing it right now.

I could wax a bit more eloquent when it comes to introducing subject, but Virtua Fighter has never spent much time with frills and ceremony, so why should I? If grand pronouncements must be made, I can at least say that this is the best of the four Virtua Fighters in almost all aspects, a compilation and distillation of what worked over three complete games and ten years of intense 3D fighting competition. Enough games of VF have been played worldwide to plumb every tiny depth of every one of these games, down to each frame of animation, and the feedback from all that fighting is what made this game. Made it very, very good.

It's still Virtua Fighter, certainly, but with its good points magnified and flaws diminished. VF2's straightforward ground-based game is maintained, but the force of gravity is implemented to make aerial attacks more realistic. VF3's experiment with 3D movement yielded mixed results, but its advancements aren't entirely discarded in VF4 -- it's possible to explore the arenas more freely than VF2 allowed, there's just a little more method to 3D movement, and none of the chaotic evasion found in VF3. In both of those games, grappling and reversal schemes proved a worthwhile component of advanced strategy, so now there are even more different types of countermoves, although they're still difficult enough to remain the tools of experts.

While the excruciatingly detailed timing and positioning strategies should be familiar to fans of the series, there are still kinks to deal with here and there. VF is still a heavy pressure game (nothing will ever change the huge okizeme component to advanced strategy), but it's coming from somewhat different quarters nowadays. The edges of the ring, for example, work much differently from earlier games. VF3 introduced the new dimension of wall pressure and reduced the significance of ring-outs -- VF4 goes even farther in both of those areas, adding more walls and less edges, but it also introduces much larger arenas all round, meaning less dithering about ring-outs and more toe-to-toe fighting.

Face-to-face confrontations are expanded with bigger movesets and more shared techniques split up between every fighter. Jacky, Sarah and others have entire new sets of stance-switch maneuvers, along with the expanded catch reversals (which in turn link to new sets of close-in strikes and throws). Vanessa has something close to two entire move sets based on her stance switches, swapping between slightly different sets of defensive and offensive maneuvers. Lei-Fei, of course, is a continuous stream of alternating stances, creating an impressive collection of moves for beginners and real depth for an expert.

Aoi is perhaps my favorite of the updated characters, with a fascinating new misdirection component to her reversal sets, on top of more actual offensive capability. There's no point in getting too optimistic, though -- she still dies like a fly against more straightfoward fighters. Practice those P+K reversals, kids. That's still one of VF's strongest points, though, the amount of differentiation between each character. Fighting style and personality alike are distinct, even when you compare relatively similar fighters like Sarah and Jacky. They still have different basic combos, different stance switches, and a myriad of smaller differences. Compare one of the JKD twins to, say, Shun or Wolf, and they reside on completely different planes.

The two new characters fit in just fine, filling unique visual and stylistic niches. Lei-Fei may look a little silly at times, and he gives off a little of that Eddy Gordo vibe at first, but he becomes a more interesting character to play and play against as time goes by. His basic techniques are easy to reverse and dodge, forcing the enterprising Lei-Fei player to become a more complex competitor. Vanessa, on the other hand, fills the now-vital brawler niche with a unique appearance and surprisingly authentic vale tudo style. She has an attitude to perfectly match her attacks, a sort of distaff answer to Don "My submissions are ten times stronger than yours!" Frye.

This was an arcade game before, but the conversion of Virtua Fighter 4's game system leaves little reason to miss the old Net City cabinet. VF4 contains far more added value for the home gamer than any other VF console port, or indeed all of the last three put together and then some. The PlayStation 2 version's interface is remarkably beautiful, showing the way to a new set of game modes with a superb set of menus, and on top of the keen design, there are some seriously meaty options to dig through. Training mode includes three different modes: command training to learn moves, free training to apply them, and trial mode to practice overall strategy with a series of tutorials and tests. A.I. System provides an amusing diversion by letting you train a CPU-controlled fighter on your own, pitting it against other AI fighters like a sort of VF Pokemon. And then, of course, there is Kumite mode.
Kumite mode is perhaps the most effective single-player game mode ever installed in a console fighting game. Soul Edge still has partisans in favor of its Edge Master mode, and admittedly that was a fine piece of work, but Kumite mode has frog masks, pig masks, and cute bunny ears, which we esteem more highly than any number of funky bonus weapons.

To explain, Kumite is an adaptation of the VF.Net item and ranking system employed in the arcade version of VF4. No, it's nothing to do with the movie Bloodsport, more's the pity. In the arcade game, players carried magnetic identity cards encoded with their fighter data -- they'd record wins, losses, tendencies, and best of all, unlocked character items. Hidden character skins and 3D accessories were available to players who dumped the requisite vast quantities of yen down coin slots, making for decked-out characters to show off along with a hot winning streak.

Kumite mode takes that system and makes a single-player game of it. After creating and saving a player file on a memory card, you do battle against a nearly-endless string of opponents (or at any rate, it seems so) meant to represent the denizens of the local arcade. Each has a ranking, a record, a customized look, and their very own goofy nickname, a custom that's very big in Japanese VF circles. Battling them earns you increases in rank, which in turn leads to more difficult competition, and every so often a little treasure chest opens and out pops a new toy.

The items are brilliant fun -- there are more than 400 between all the characters, and they're inventive enough to be a genuinely impressive reward. Even a new set of earrings or an alternate hat is neat to look at, since the vast majority of extras are modeled in 3D and effectively melded with the character models. Aoi and Kage look great with some of their alternate hairstyles, and Aoi's masks are in an entirely different world. And effective play isn't necessarily a requirement for item acquisition. Some of the coolest items are actually punishment for a losing streak: Akira wears a bunny on his shoulder, Lau has a ramen bowl on his head, and Pai gets to sport the aforementioned pig mask.

What may be even better than all the character items, however, is the genuine variety and depth of challenges that appears in Kumite mode. The ranking scale includes more than two dozen different classes, and it's not smooth sailing the entire way. More advanced opponents are much more difficult to beat, and not just because they have perfect block and reversal timing -- the AI actually displays a greater grasp of the breadth and depth of the fighting system. To top it all off, there is something like 800 fights worth of this, before it's possible to reach the highest rank. Settle down for a long World Grapple Tournament.

This perhaps inspires the question "would I actually want to play 800 fights worth of Virtua Fighter 4?" It's yours to answer, but for my part, I think this game does have that kind of longevity. Settling into a good long fighting session produces the kind of trance that accompanies a really good twitch game -- the mind gradually settles into a perfect synchronization with both the thumbs and the TV screen, all other details melting away to create that neat "one-with-the-game" feeling. Try it. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

If you're just staring at the screen and saying "wow, flicker," well, nuts to you. VF4 is far better than expected as a conversion of the arcade original's gameplay, and honestly it's better than we'd hoped as a visual package as well, even if it's far from an exact equivalent. There are distinct problems with aliasing around the edges of some character models and background elements, but it still sits close to the forefront of the PS2 market as far as texture detail, lighting, and simple environmental scale. VF3 was big -- VF4 is bigger, and leagues ahead when it comes to the level of detail.

On top of the massive scale of the environments, there is more detail to the background architecture, more animated elements lending realism to each level, and some remarkable bits of deformable ground cover. Sand and snow fly out of the way of each character's feet in a blend of cool particle effects and shifting polygons. Lightning destroys sections of Greek ruins, which crumble down to lower sections of the background. In Lei-Fei's Chinese temple stage, a flock of birds flies in front of a brilliantly-drawn sunset.

That's one of the flashier examples of the lighting system (that and the amazing helicopter searchlights in Jacky's rooftop stage), but there are other, more subtle effects to take note of. The flicker of torches through the paper screens in an indoor dojo stage is a favorite, and throughout the game you can notice subtle variations in shadow between sunny, cloudy, and indoor levels. The subtlety of the highlighting on each character is a welcome improvement compared to the excessively shiny A test versions, which makes them some of the best-looking human facsimiles ever rendered for a videogame. For me, the eyes are the kicker -- they're modeled with the depth of a real human eye -- but each fighter looks great from head to toe, including smooth, detailed skin and flowing clothes. Each element of a character's outfit that ought to move does so, down to earrings and hair accessories.
Little details like that are the smallest parts of a massive animation package. Virtua Fighter was the first arcade game to replicate truly realistic human movement in 3D, and VF4 continues that tradition with new and improved motions for the entire cast. Lei-Fei is absolutely brilliant in the hands of a skilled player -- his attacks flow so smoothly together with his stance switches that you actually can put together something that looks as good as his demo katas. Vanessa, oddly enough, represents the other end of VF4's animation spectrum. Her moves aren't so pretty, but she conveys the impact of her fighting style perfectly.

Sound is the other half of that package. When she hits somebody, you hear it, and because you hear it, you feel it. As with so many other games in this generation (Tony Hawk 3 comes to mind), simple, flat sounds are gradually involving into deeper, more textured effects. A basic "thump" or "crack" becomes a nice, detailed "crunch," with extra bits hanging off it -- kinda like the bit where Chong Li gives the hapless Thai boxer the compound fracture. And you thought you'd escape the Bloodsport references...

Speaking of B-movies, you should be familiar with the Virtua Fighter voice-acting standard by now. Yes, Lion is the soul of gimp, but hearing Wolf yell "Shut up!" makes it all worth it. And then, of course, there is the butt rock. It's not as if the entire game is scored with heavy guitar-driven hyper-cheese metal -- that would be Guilty Gear -- but Yu Suzuki is in charge here, and the soundtrack makes this evident. For the rest of you, the usual selection of mild to moderate techno beats should serve to accompany the action nicely, but for our part, it is pleasant to be able to hear screeching guitar riffage spewing out of the woofers for no reason whatsoever and realize that yes, AM2 is in the proverbial house.

Verdict

And AM2 has returned to the house with its best game since...well...Virtua Fighter 3, probably. Shenmue was a fascinating experiment, Ferrari 355 an example of tightly focused execution, but Virtua Fighter remains the thing that this company does best. I can only hope that the market rewards the accomplishment, since it certainly deserves all the success it can get.

Sure, it doesn't look as good as the arcade version. I know this, you know this, and the people who made it most certainly do. Oddly, though, the more I play Virtua Fighter 4, the less significant its graphical flaws become. Quit looking at the game and play it. Then complain, or rather see if you have so many complaints anymore.

Once you're done with that, we can look forward to the most interesting year there's ever been as far as 3D fighting goes, with three major franchises entering the ring in the space of perhaps eight months. Despite all the options available, I meant what I said at the beginning -- you should be playing this. Even if you've never been a partisan of the series (and even though it may not convert you, this still being very distinctly the child of its obvious parents), give it a look and find out what you might have been missing.