#24 Virtua Fighter 4

Game Info

Publisher: Sega

Developer: Sega

Platform:  PS2

Genre(s): Fighting

Players: 2

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: March 19, 2002

Intro: 
The opening CG for this game is nicely lit in neon.  It looks pretty cool.  There isn't much of an intro before getting to the main screen and getting ready to play, but that's ok, because this is the kind of game you want to play, not watch.

Getting Going:
There are a few options in the options menu to begin with, which is a nice touch.  From the very beginning, you can update the wallpaper on the screen from a choice of 5 available wallpapers.  In addition, there are icons demonstrating that more wallpapers will be available as rewards later in the game.  The controls are quick and easy to master.  The options menu is concise and easy to understand.  The game gets the player going rather quickly.

Fun:
I'm a Tekken gal.  I admit it.  This game was really easy to play.  It was almost too easy when compared with Tekken.  The environments were so-so.  All-in-all, I couldn't help comparing it constantly with Tekken while I was playing and, for me, it wasn't as challenging or skill-building as Tekken.  The characters don't have the depth of background.  The one thing I really liked was the martial arts talents of the various PC's.  It was kind of fun to explore the moves each had.

Visuals:
There are a lot of different arenas here, even when you are playing in one arcade.  And, similar to Burnout, you work your way through tournaments, unlocking new arcades as you go.  That was a nice touch when compared with games such as Tekken and Soul Calibur II.  The multiple costumes and unlockables add a nice way to visually see achievements as you go through the game.  There is certainly enough to look at and the texturing is well-done.  The fight animations are boring and repetitive, however.  It would have been nice to see more combos and different moves.

Sound:
There doesn't seem to be a lot of effort put in on barks in this game.  In other words, the players say the same line over and over as they win.  It's boring and unrewarding.  While I've promised myself recently to pay more attention to sound design in games, listening especially for dynamic sounds, I didn't really notice the music or sound effects in this one.  Which is to say that, overall, the sound was unremarkable. 

Intelligence:
I was a bit disappointed in the AI of this game.  I could use the same move constantly throughout a fight and the NPC never reacted or changed tactics.  Often times they couldn't beat it and sometimes it resulted in a perfect fight.  I think this is one thing I've noticed in Tekken that I expected from Virtua Fighter 4: that each character should have strengths and weaknesses which the other characters have to learn to overcome.

Immersion:
I can't say I was immersed in this game.  There was nothing immersive about it.  It's not addictive; it's predictable.  And, as I've stated before, I found myself constantly thinking of a game that I feel does the same thing this one does, but better.

Cameras:
The camera is invisible in this game, as in, the player has no control over it.  Still, there is no need to worry about camera angles, only the action going on on-screen.

Controls:
The controls are simple, concise, intuitive and have a low learning curve.  It's very easy to get into this game and play effectively from the first time the player picks up the controller.

Ideas:
There are a lot of games that seem to try to play on the success of other games.  I don't honestly know what came first, Tekken or Virtua Fighter.  I only know that I noticed from playing this game that challenge and some degree of required skill trumps ease of play.  I also noted that depth of character/story development and breadth of player options adds to the play experience in a very measurable way.

Memory:
I didn't find myself thinking about Virtua Fighter 4 after I put it down.  I found myself thinking about Tekken 5 and Tekken:  Dark Resurrection.  I kept wondering why this game rated in the top 100 while only one Tekken game made my list.  In the end, I decided that it must simply be that this game is just easier to pick up and play.