The fighting genre has sure come a long way since Street Fighter first introduced the concept over 10 years ago. Some say the genre is over.
I beg to differ.
With it's brilliant gameplay, pretty graphics and mind-boggling A.I., Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution is a sure sign that fighting games still have many more paths to tread.
Let's start with the basics. The graphics are nice. The original Virtua Fighter 4 had those annoying jagged edges around the fighters and in the backgrounds. VF4: Evo has elminated the edges almost completely, with only slight roughness in the backgrounds. There is a much higher polygon count in the character models, and they are all equisitely detailed. When the fighters speak, there are muscle movements in their faces much like real life.
The sound is decent. The music is nothing new: heavy guitar riffs that at times bring the Power Rangers theme song to mind, but nearly as irritating. The grunts and battle cries are all there and in the right places. The voice acting is good. American fighters speak English, and the Japanese their native language as well, but only before and after matches. Not during fights, thank goodness, with the exceptions of "take that!". Nothing to argue about, although the punches and kicks are sometimes awkward; sometimes they sound like echoless hand claps and banging sticks. Bone-cracking is good!
But where the game really shines is the gameplay. The training mode is nothing short of incredible. Choose a fighter and be walked through their entire move list. Once you've got the hang of it, it's off to Quest mode, which is an expanded version of Kumite mode from VF4. Here, you will fight your way through the arcades of Japan against fighters designed after the actual fighters from the VF4 championship in Japan. Along the way you will collect money and items, which you can use to almost completely alter your Character's look. the A.I. is like playing a real opponent, and requires strategy and patience to overcome. The most realistic AI anywhere.
So there you have it. Virtua fighter 4: Evolution is without a doubt, the deepest, most engaging, and overall best fighting games in years. And for only 20 bucks? But what do you care. Go buy it!
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