Battle Arena Toshinden URA

"Strange case: a bad fighter that turns quite FUN to play!"

This is my review for Toshinden URA (or, in the full lackluster game title, ''Ultimate Revenge Attack''. This game provokes in me a mixture of feelings, and as such it will be really hard trying to review it. Dont be surprised if after reading this review you also find yourself in doubt whether the game is total crap or total fun. Nevertheless, Ill try to do this the best way I can.

For starters, Toshinden URA is the follow-up of Toshinden Remix, the Saturn version of the first Toshinden for the PSX, that was a huge success. The Saturn version didnt receive good reviews in the sense that it was viewed as a watered-down PSX Toshinden. Sure, it was a little bit weaker visually (for instance, the screen showing the match in the PSX version is absent in Kayins Saturn version of the stage), but all the gameplay was there. Afterwards, Toshinden 2 was released for the PSX, and Sega ported it to the Saturn with the name Toshinden URA. And that is the game Ill try my best to review. Bear in mind that this will not be a comparison between T2 and URA, though I may make some comments on that. Here we go...

STORY - 5/10 - It feels like a side story rather than a proper sequel to the first Toshinden, and doesnt have anything to do with PSX Toshinden 2s story. Some murders are taking place and some robot replicants are on the loose spreading chaos, due to a former police man gone mad. Additionally, an enigmatic man known as Ripper appears to have some kind of connection with the murders. What youre supposed to do is stop the chaos and figure out what exactly is going on. The story is original and shockingly enigmatic for a fighter, but why does it get this average score? Because this is how much of a story as youre gonna get. Throughout the arcade mode, there is no story at all, and all the characters get a generic ending for finishing it. I think its needless to say this ending is rather inconclusive (for instance, it doesnt explain why or what is the connection between Ripper and the murders, you wont know who he actually is, etc). The story starts good, but it seems unfinished. Theres a FMV showing you many of the characters and hints on the story, and it is good to watch if you wanna know at least something about whats going on.

CHARACTER CAST - 10/10 - This games roster is great. The characters are all different visually, with the exception of one clone. Their fighting styles and special moves are truly quite diverse. For those who played it, this game features all the eight original Toshinden characters (Eiji, Kayin, Sophia, Ellis, Rungo, Duke, Fo and Mondo), plus 3 new comers: Tracy, the police woman, straight out of Toshinden 2, Ronron, a wimp-looking scientist girl, and Ripper, one of the best character designs Ive ever seen in a fighting game, with one spinning blade in each hand. There are two boss characters. Repli, a copy of Sho with insane move execution speed, and Wolf, the final boss, complete with cheap moves. There are also two secret characters. Sho, one of the bosses of the first game (you will fight him at the end if you dont use continues), and Vermillion, straight from PSX T2, the dirty fighter with a gun and a shotgun. In total, 15 good characters.

GRAPHICS - 6/10 - One of the mixed bag departments of the game. All the characters look great and everything is presented in high resolution. But thats almost the single good thing about the graphics. The rings are in 3D, but the scenery accompanying them is all in 2D. This could have been good if the scenery was acceptable (think Saturn Last Bronx). and some of it actually manages to be decent, like Dukes castle, Replis glacier, or Kayins elevator. But some of the scenery is designed in such an infantile and dumb way youll wonder ''How come such crap can end in a fighting game?'' Take for instance Ronrons stage, it is merely composed of random skyscrapers. And Wolfs stage, which can only be described as the ''giant plant garden''. And what are dumb, infantile looking small mounts doing in Vermillions otherwise decent stage? I mean, some of these elements are so childish and stupid looking youll wish they had been just in an episode of Pokemon or Teletubbies and not here. And can someone explain me the connection between some characters and their stages? (the most obvious example is the final boss stage - why would Wolf be fighting among giant bean stalks?) It just seems random and senseless. Was Sega really trying anything at all? Were the programmers so drunk or out of ideas they had to create a stage composed of mutated plants? And the worst flaw is yet to come. Why are most special effects so pixilated? It just makes your eyes sore. At least an option for turning them off would have been useful. The graphics, as you can read, are quite a mixed bag, and the only reasons for the high score are the characters, SOME stages and the overall hi-res look.



GAMEPLAY/CONTROL - 2/10 - For those who dont know, Toshinden is a 1-on-1 fighter in true 3D, which means you can walk back and forth, but also evade into or out of the stage. As many other fighters, you must deplete your opponents life gauge to win, throw him out of the stage or have more health when the time count is over. To do so, you have normal, special, overdrive (super), sudden death and throw attacks. You can perform combos a la ''VS'' series, pressing light, hard and special/super attack buttons in succession. It sounds good, right? And it was well implemented in the first Toshinden. But not here. This game is so plagued with gameplay problems it was gonna take me countless hours to write all of them here. And it seems to me neither you nor I have all that time. So, here are the most blatant examples of them. The worst is the hit detection system. When the fight starts, all apparently works well. but after a fighter falls down and then gets up, youll notice he sort of becomes invincible! All your moves will go through him! I dont remember seeing this kind of problem in any other game. Some moves also cause this same glitch (try performing Ellis uppercut the entire fight, you are TOTALLY invincible). Serious problem. But this is far from ending. You can perform supers and sudden death attacks, both highly damaging, but some fighters just make them pointless. Ill explain. Youre Kayin, and your sudden death super is available. You perform Hells Inferno, an autocombo move, and manage to hit the opponent with the starting blow. You can now relax and wait for a good chunk of your opponents life bar to be removed, right? WRONG! Some characters have the surprising ability to (shock!) BLOCK in the middle of supers!!! I mean, you hit them, and they can still block afterwards. Even worst, many can hit you in the middle of your connected super!!! How come such a bad glitch remains in the final version of the game? Has anyone ever heard of TRYING the game before releasing it? This makes supers pointless, might as well remove them from the game. But is not all, and believe me, it just gets better. There are moves so damaging that they CAN kill you. Mondos rotating spear special (Goriki Fujin) is the best example. Getting hit by 3 hits of this move is enough to kill you (with a FULL life bar)! And what about being hit by Kayins Scottish Moon while in the air? Who needs supers when these moves are available ALL the time? And of course, these glitches create character balance issues, but I dont even want to go there... Another fault present is that some characters can hit you BEFORE the announcer says ''FIGHT!''. So, for instance, its possible to remove half of your enemys life bar with Eiji before the fight starts!!!!! How bad is that?? I dont even want to comment... Well, enough is enough, I think Ive shown you how BAD this game is. Add to all this crap the bad control, who doesnt seem to be able to recognize special move motions, and you have a fighter to put off anyone who plays it. Thank God at least you can customize buttons to perform special moves...

CHALLENGE - 4/10 - The AI is laughable, but it sometimes can take advantage of the games flaws, so you can still lose to it. All the normal characters are a breeze, even on maximum difficulty. The worst of all the AI players is Repli, which will always hit you before the fight has even started, taking advantage of the before mentioned glitch. And he has insane speed, enough to make you lose quite quickly. Wolf, the final boss, is, as youd expect, overpowered, and doesnt seem to have start-up nor lag in any move. But since the AI is so poor, you can easily beat him with dirty turtling, or jumping so that he falls out of the ring! Thats right, the CPU-controlled fighters are so stupid they dont care where they are in the ring, and sometimes perform moves that make them fall off the stage, or pure and simply evade in the wrong directions and fall!!! The secret boss Sho fights just as badly as everyone else, not putting any challenge.

AUDIO - 9/10 - The best department in all Toshindens. ''It doesnt matter if the fighting engine is flawed, the game must have ass-kicking tunes!'' seems to have been the programmers philosophy. And how well it was accomplished! Starting from the great intro tune, youll want to hear them loud and clear! The BGM is among the best Ive ever heard in a game, and many of the characters songs stand out. All of them are pure bliss to your ears, but I particularly love Kayins, Tracys, Replis, Shos, Wolfs, Rippers and Ellis. Whats even greater, you can play them in any hi-fi, and youll have a blast hearing them. I totally understand why one of the other reviewers gives this game a great score just because of the music. The SE are good, but nothing youll write home about. One thing that bothers me particularly is that some kicks sound like spits. The voices are great and fit the characters well, too bad they are all in japanese...

REPLAY VALUE - 9/10 - There are virtually no secrets to unlock (the game doesnt even have a save feature!). But if you like fighting games, youll want to spend lots of time with all the characters. There are arcade, Vs human, Vs CPU and Options modes. Furthermore, there are quite some codes that enable nifty features, such as playing as the bosses, playing as the secret characters, two extra options menus, easy secret attacks, watch mode and the original URA mode, where you have to accomplish certain requisites in order to go to the next stage.

''Why does this get a 7/10?'' Because, though the fighting engine is flawed as no other, this game manages to accomplish one of the basic requisites of a videogame: being FUN! In what other game does the final boss throw himself out of the stage? Where else can you hit the enemy before the announcer says ''FIGHT''? Where else will you find an announcer who has such a funny voice as this girl? Where else can you get out of supers, simply by blocking after the first hit? These flaws make this game funny and fun, and thats what videogames are all about. Sure, this cannot be played for serious fighting competition, but it still gives you WELL SPENT time. Call me insane if you like, but Id feel bad if I advised you not to get this. Get it, you can be assured you will have lots of laughs and a bloody good FUN from it!!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/07/02, Updated 11/16/02