"A Decent Fighter"

INTRO: After reading others reviews on this game and seeing their opinions, I am baffled. THIS IS NOT THAT HARD AT ALL! In fact it is a little too easy considering you go get through the arcade mode 10 minutes or less with just about any character. Anyways on with the reveiw. I have played the other 2 in the series and although this installment is not as good as the orignal it is not the worst.
GRAPHICS: The graphics are the highlight for this game. All of the charcter models are very unique to the seris. The backgrounds are also nicely detailed. The game has very prevalenet japanese anime flavor to it and is obvious in shading and modeling of the game. Nothing stellar but easy to look at.
Score 8
SOUND: The sound effects are crisp and sound good for the most part, but the music is absolutely the most horredous thing I have ever heard. Thankfully you can turn it of easily though.
Score 4
CONTROLS: The controls are also very nicely done. The scheme is set up so that it is very accesible to everyone. All of the characters respond tightly. The game also moves at a very quick pace. There are several large combo moves that can be devastating. And with a little practice you can master all of them, and reconize and counter them too.
Score 7
STORY: This is a fighter which means it pretty much has no story. It does make some what of an attempt with the storyboards at the ending of each character. But I'm going to give it a score on just cool presentation.
Score 8
GAMEPLAY: The gameplay is very fast and dependent on long combos and juggles. All of which are fairly easy to perfect. The difficulty for this game is relatively easy except for the final boss. All the other characters are are predictable on any difficulty setting. The final boss Xion can be a challenge at first. But after you have mastered a charcter you can dispose of him as easy as any of the characters. You choose between around 12 different characters who have a human form, and an animal form. Which can be changed in real-time after you have charged up the beast gauge. After you become a beast you can charge your gauge up more to go in to ''rave''. Which makes your character move like he is high on speed. You can be taken out of beast mode by taking a certain amount of damage or performing certain special moves. The setting also plays an important part in the game. Most areas have walls which can shattered to increase damage and throw you opponent out of the ring. The weakest part of the game has to be that there is a lack of variety of modes. Just the basics like Arcade, Versus, Survival, and Time Attack. If your looking for fast paced fighter this is it. But if your looking for game full of depth, this shouldn't be your first choice.
Score 7
REPLAY: After you beat the game with all the characters (which there is very little incentive to do) there isn't much to do besides enjoy the 2 player mode. Total this game will maybe last 5 hours to achieve everything if you went hardcore on it.
Score 5
MY OPINION: Although it is not the best fighter ever this still a very fun game that most people should try. I like it for its style and over the top combos. The moves are very cool and fun to watch, which gives a sense of reward. I added it to my personal collection because it was fairly cheap ($20) and the survival and 2 player modes are good fun.
Score 7
FINAL SCORE/AVERAGE: 6.8
RENT OR BUY: I say if your a fighting game fan, or fan of the seris its defintely worth a rent.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/11/04