"If you can't beat 'em, then select continue and try again!"

Virtua Fighter was the original 3D beat ‘em up and I think it's safe to say that SEGA are partly responsible for all the 3D beat ‘em ups that have emerged ever since. You think Nina Williams was the original blonde babe? Nah-uh, think again there son, Sarah came first. And do you think that Dead or alive was the first beat ‘em up to feature such a nice and easy button layout? ‘Fraid not, Virtua Fighter had it first. Virtua Fighter hit a period when it seemed that all the games that had made an attempt to imitate it had actually bettered it and this was when Virtua Fighter's future was in question. Many preferred the button layout of Tekken and the more interesting characters it offered. Many went for Dead or alive because it had the females fighting in bikini's with their breasts defying laws of gravity. If these events weren't bad enough, Virtua Fighter seemed to be ill fated from way back when, as it got released on 2 consoles which were flops and died in spectacular fashion. Not many people cared for the VCR looking console that was the Saturn and due to the Saturn's flop, many people questioned whether the Dreamcast would be any different – and with hindsight, they had good reason to. WAIT!!! There's more… Virtua Fighter was also a game that never got a faithful port to console due to SEGA's insistence on using more and more powerful arcade boards with each game. Virtua Fighter 1 wasn't as sharp as the arcade version, Virtua Fighter 2 looked all-round crap in comparison to the arcade version and Virtua Fighter 3tb was outdated and didn't feature any new bonuses or options to keep people interested. Meanwhile Tekken was getting arcade perfect ports and enjoying its time on a console which pretty much everyone owned and Dead or alive was keeping the guys happy. Virtua Fighter soon became that bum of a relative nobody cared about and it seemed it was losing fans and everyone's attention. BUT…SEGA never knowing when to give up decided to do Virtua Fighter 4, once again showcasing an all new graphics board. The game was a huge hit and made Tekken 4 look like a pile of doo-doo. Its approach to pure fighting and less emphasis on breasts and walls appealed to beat ‘em up purists and everyone fell in love with Virtua Fighter again. Things seemed to be going right and due to SEGA going multi format, they decided to show their generosity by making Virtua Fighter 4 one of its first wave of releases for the PS2 and was the first VF not to feature on a SEGA console. (As usual) SEGA's console of choice wasn't powerful enough to hold an arcade perfect conversion of their baby, but it was good enough and as nearer arcade perfect as it could possibly get and it sold like hot cakes and took half of Tekken's fans with it!! SEGA THEN decided to work on and release Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution…

EVOLUTION
This is NOT in any way, shape or form Virtua Fighter 5. The title pretty much clarifies and says it all. Think of it as Virtua Fighter 4.5. VF4 Evolution is a darn good game and it would have been all to easy to just palette swap the colours of the stages and add a couple extra costume colours, but SEGA have pulled their finger out and re-created an even better game than the original VF4. is actually quite an accomplishment and shows that ‘some' games developers DO listen when criticism or ideas are put their way. Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution builds and betters on what let VF4 down and caused it not to be an entirely ‘essential' purchase..

(For the sake of not having to type Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution each and every time I need to mention he title, I will refer to it as VF4:E)

Problem 1 – Anti-alaising…
First off, many complained the graphics were jagged in places and the anti-alaising was kinda poor. I myself didn't really notice such this and probably wouldn't have until it was pointed out to me (which the countless magazines who reviewed it did). SEGA have fixed up these jagged edges and the characters do look much smoother than they did before. The graphics ‘still' aren't absolutely arcade perfect, but as near as it can get. Only those who have played the arcade version of the game extensively or those who have the arcade machine set up next to their PS2 to compare will notice this.

Problem 2 – Characters…
Virtua Fighter has been criticized somewhat for having a lack of characters. In comparison to the likes of Tekken, you can see that this is a valid point. However, games such as Tekken have proved that many characters does not always mean better and many of the so called “Bonus” characters were often palette swaps of older and or existing characters, so you ended up having 2 or even 3 characters who fought exactly the same, give or take a move here and there. VF4 had only 14 characters to pick from (including Dural – the final boss) and even though the number of characters was never really too much of an issue due to the extensive range of attacks each fighter had, VF4:E brings 2 new characters to the table, Goh Hinogami and Brad Burns. These 2 guys are brand new characters to the VF universe and have their own fighting style. (None of that Christie Monterio – female clone of Eddie Gordo crap like Tekken 4 pulled off). These 2 guys fit into the roster nice and snug. Brad is a kick boxer, Goh is a Judo master and I mean PROPER Judo, not that Paul Phoenix rubbish that Namco try to pawn off as Judo. Even though it's only 2 extra characters, it does make the difference and they are worth playing as, though Goh will take some mastering and is as an advanced character as Akira is.

Problems 3 – Kumite mode…
The Kumite mode was a welcome addition to VF4 and was the only Kumite mode I had seen in a beat ‘em up that was truly original and entirely different to the Arcade mode. Kumite allowed you to save your character data which consisted of your character's ring name (which was customizable) wins and losses, win ratio and rank. You had to fight an endless number of players which would build up your characters stats and also cause them to be promoted to a new rank when the ranking matches popped up. Your fighter was awarded with new items and colours that allowed you to dress up your characters and give them a unique appearance. As good as this mode was it proved to be extremely difficult and tedious. Once you reached a certain rank, it was almost impossible to raise it any higher as enemies became ruthless and near impossible to beat. Raising your rank also proved to be a tedious affair as ranking matches rarely arose and you therefore found yourself fighting for hours on end and not having the chance to raise your rank up higher. To sum up the Kumite mode in VF4, it was a good idea, but tedious and poorly executed. VF4:E re-invents and re-introduces the Kumite mode as “Quest mode” which see's you trekking the cities arcades to become the number 1 player. The basis of this mode are the same as Kumite from VF4 – fight, raise your rank and try to get more wins than losses. The difference here however, is that matches are now played a la Edge master mode in Soul Edge / Calibur. You are given stipulations and rules for victory and these have to be completed in order to advance – these vary from the simple (Knock your opponent down, win by 3 ring outs, throw your opponent 10 times) to the highly advanced (Escape from a throw 10 times, Win 10 matches without dodging). As impossible as some of these seem, there are ways around them and they are actually complete-able if you put the effort in and the training mode to good use. Another welcomed addition is that you can now alter the difficulty of the Kumite mode. You get beginner and standard. The best bet is to go with beginner as you will actually have a chance of raising your rank and winning something. The acquiring of items is also different as they now have to be bought in a shop with money that you earn in matches and by winning tournaments. Some items are won in matches however just like Kumite, but the difference is that you'll know when you are fighting for an item because you will be told so. The games unlockables and bonuses are also bought in the shop in Quest mode and others won by reaching certain ranks. The better the prize, the more expensive they are and harder to obtain. All in all, the quest mode is well done and is where you will spend all your time. It improves upon the Kumite mode in every way and is highly addictive. The enemies you encounter will also raise a smile as they have odd-ball names and ‘unique' looks.

Graphics
The graphics in this game are brilliant. The characters actually do look kinda real at times. The only nag with the graphics is that the skin looks too plastic and shiny on some characters, particularly the larger characters such as Wolf and Jeffrey. Also the costumes look very plain and basic in comparison to the complexity and originality of the outfits in Soul Calibur 2. (But you can kit your characters out in more out-landish gear!) But other than that, the characters are well rendered and fluidly animated and noticeably motion captured in places.

Sound
Pretty much what you'd expect from a Virtua Fighter game if you've ever played one before. The sound effects are un-changed from previous Virtua Fighters. The same noise when you press start at the title screen is here and the same ‘whips' and ‘whooshes' in fights are intact. The sound effects in Virtua Fighter have never been an issue and well… “If it ain't broken, why fix it” and Sega have adopted this with the sound effects.

Music
Nothing special here. There aren't really any stand alone tracks that really stick in your mind and none of them are particularly catchy (besides the main menu music) – but the music suits the game and is no way as atrocious as the music Namco had the audacity to grace us with in Tekken 4. The music in this game isn't rubbish, but it is no way as brilliant as Tekken 3's soundtrack which had tracks that were stand alone good pieces of music that you could listen to on their own. So the music in this game isn't gonna have you bidding for the soundtrack on ebay, but gets the job done and suits the game. Typical SEGA style music.

Options
One of the reasons why VF4:E is such a brilliant conversation is because it features a healthy selection of options which were disappointingly absent from many of SEGA's past Virtua Fighter console releases. The only nag here is that it would have been nice to have your normal array of play modes such as Team battle and survival, but the game is brilliant and has enough to keep you returning for more...and more…AND MORE! Plus anyway, does anyone really play through the likes of survival, time attack and Team battle?

/// Virtua Fighter 4 VS Tekken 4 ///
This game is 10 times better than Tekken 4. Tekken 4 was rushed and released quickly to try and thwart Virtua Fighter 4 and steer people away. If anything, all Tekken 4 did was reveal how much the series is losing its touch and how you can only spruce up graphics and pawn off new characters that fight exactly like older characters for so long. Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution is what you call a sequel. It betters over VF3 (and VF4) in every conceivable way and SEGA showed their confidence and growth of the series by evaluating what worked and what didn't and putting the essence of VF into VF4 Evolution. There is no evade button and the characters no longer float in the air when they jump and ring outs are also more lenient and your character does not flop out of the ring when they are one whole yard away from the edge. The arenas are also flat(again) and roughly the same size (a la Virtua Fighter 2) and the walls can be utilized in combos to a much greater extent than they could in VF3 and do not drain vast amounts of health and lose you the match as the walls did in Tekken 4. Virtua Fighter decides to do things its own way and as it sees fit, rather than feeling as though it has to compete in order to try and out do other games. Tekken 4 took the Dead or alive route with enclosed stages and walls, where as Virtua Fighter went in the opposite direction and gave the game a more VF2 style. VF4's direction was a wise one; where as Tekken 4's was stupid. The large open stages worked fine and there was no need to change them and by doing so, Tekken sold itself out. So if you have been pondering over whether to get VF4 or Tekken 4, avoid Tekken 4 like a plague and get Virtua Fighter, it's a hell of a lot better and more interesting to play and this is coming from somebody who thought Virtua Fighter was pretty much a dead fish after the boring VF3tb release on Dreamcast. AND I also used to love Tekken and thought it was the best thing, so my opinion is not biased.

Re-cap of what's new in VF4 Evolution:
2 new characters
The original cast of characters have all new moves
A revised Kumite mode in the form of Quest mode
Revised stages
Revised training mode
Smoother graphics

I already own Virtua Fighter 4!?!?
The game is brilliant. It features all kinds of little things and bonuses that make this game so much more special. However, as brilliant as the game is and despite how much better VF4:E is in comparison to the original VF4, the question is “Is it worth buying if you already own the original VF4?.” If you were those who were smart enough to wait for VF4:E, as it was announced before VF4 hit shelves, then BUY THIS GAME. It is easily the best 3D beat ‘em up around and is easily up there with the likes of Soul Calibur. However, if you ‘do' own the original VF4, then it's a toughy of a decision to make. The game features a great deal more than the original release, but is it worth shelling out an extra £40 for? If you own the original VF4, my advice would be to rent it first so that you can see what extra's you're getting and then make up your own mind.

So in conclusion… ///
Virtua Fighter's future was somewhat questionable after Tekken 2 stole a major amount of Virtua Fighter 2's thunder and Tekken 3 seemed to seal VF's fate. However, SEGA have struck back with a game that makes you wonder how you ever questioned Virtua Fighter's brilliance and doubted it would reign supreme. After the dismal game that was Tekken TAG and the even MORE dire Tekken 4, it's clear that Virtua Fighter is the king. If you are into 3D beat ‘em ups, GET THIS GAME and if you are sick and tired of Tekken, GET THIS GAME! Do your PS2 proud and have this game in your collection. This game deserves nothing less than a Perfect 10.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/13/07