Virtua Fighter 3tb

"An oldy but a goody"

A few months after the Dreamcast was released a little game known as Virtua Fighter 3 was shipped out. Many of the Sega faithful were extremely excited over the prospect of them being able to play VF3 in there home without pumping quarters into an arcade machine. This is my review

When you first turn the game on you’ll notice that the load times are considerably longer then some other games but that’s not exactly too distracting. When the game starts up your greeted with some clips of combos that you’ll only wish you can do if you don’t have an arcade stick but, I’ll get into that later. Now, we get to the main menu. Everything is there. You have your options, normal mode, vs mode,TB normal mode and the ever popular training mode. If you’ve never played VF before I suggest going online a getting a few Faqs before you jump in because this game has depth and it also doesn’t have a moves list which I really didn’t appreciate.

Once you choose what mode you want you’re treated to some pretty sweet looking graphics. Now mind you, this game was originally released in the arcades 5 years ago and Genki the company that took the reigns of porting the game over to the DC didn’t exactly feel that they needed to do any graphical touchups. As a matter of fact the game looks a little downgraded from its arcade counter part. This will automatically steer some of you away but it doesn’t detract from the game at all. Head bands sway in the wind clothes flap and there are a lot of little details like this through out the game. The arenas that you do battle in are some of the best I’ve seen in any fighting game period. The levels have slops and steps and hills and these factor into your strategy throughout a fight. Once you see Wolfs Desert or Jefferey Island level you’ll see what Sega was trying to accomplish with this games level design. As far as characters go you’ll eventually find someone you like. Sega decided to stick with the same characters through all 3 games. The character models have been improved through each version but there are still some flaws. On occasion you can see a seem where the shoulders are. If you’ve played any of the AKI wrestling games for N64 you know what I mean. Also the knees seem to be a little too blocky. Some say that due to the lack of a true storyline the characters are under developed. They just seem to get together and beat the crap out of each other for no reason. I’d tend to agree with them on that.

I have very little to say about the sound. It’s a requirement in games and its just kinda there. When a punch or kick connects you get some sense of pain but I’ve heard better. As for the music. It sounds like something from the mid 90’s and I like it, It reminds me my days in the arcade which I no longer go to because of the lack of any in my surrounding area

Now we get to the best part of the game. Gameplay. In terms of actual gameplay, you’d have a very hard time finding a fighting system as complex as this one. Button mashers beware. If you don’t know what you’re doing you will get you’re ass handed to you in short work. If you want to get good at this game, its gonna take practice and patience. Once again this might turn off gamers because of its immense depth. I consider myself a casual fighting game fan and this game is really consuming a lot of my fighting game time. Once you actually find out all the little nuances of the system you’ll want to practice. Once you get the timing right for that floating combo you’ve been trying or, bait someone into a severely damaging throw you’ll be grinning from ear to ear. It gives you a sense of accomplishment. As for the controls, they are rock solid but, the DC controller SUX for this game. If you really want to master this game I really suggest purchasing an arcade stick Hell if you like fighting games you probably already have one. It makes life so much easier with this game. I will warn you though read into it before you purchase one some are not very good.

In closing If your looking for a game that everyone that comes to your house can enjoy instantly, stick with Soul Calibur. If you want a game with serious depth, I really recommend this game. Even if you just want a fighting game get this. I really doubt that you won’t like this. You’ll end up spending a lot more time with this game then you’d think.

Gameplay: Awesome some may feel that the slower pace of the action takes away but I feel it gives it a sense of a chess game.

Graphics: Bleh they suck compared to everything else thats out now but they get the job done

Replay: Well uhh it depends if you don't like practicing your style and combos then stay away from this game. I'f you like perfecting your moves and timing and all of that I suggest it highly.

Sound: Sucks......

Overall: Good game the translation could have been WAY better but its good for what it is

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/19/02, Updated 10/19/02