Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus

"Not good, not bad - it's a start"

Gameplay:
The core of any game is the gameplay. Without it the game is nothing. So where does Tao Feng fall with its gameplay? Right in the middle. Let's start with the plusses of Tao Feng, then move on to its weaknesses.

First off, the environments are interactive - meaning you can jump off walls, swing on poles, and back your opponent into things. This is great, and its something people have been into for a while now. Secondly, you can break people’s arms or legs, in doing so you can halve their attack power with that location. This is the first time its been seen in a game, and it has come off fairly well. Finally, the game has a good deal of modes available for play - with your standard Fighter modes (Versus, Training, Tournament, etc.) but has a nice Quest mode that gives the back story for each character, and lets you explore the Tao Feng world a bit. Now, lets get to the middle of the road things - these are things some people will like and some people won’t. Let's face it; we don't all like the same things.

There have been great discussion about whether this is a button masher or not, how complex the combo system is, and how hard the gameplay is. Here we go. The game is both button-mashy, and complex at the same thing. I know, that didn't make any sense, I shall elaborate. Just about anyone can sit down on this game, play training mode for about 10 minutes, look at the combos printed in the manual, and pretty much proceed to beat the game. There are some combos in the game that require alot of timing and precision, but then there are some that you just press the buttons in order and watch the action on the screen (just like the ''Dial-A-Combos'' in MvC2). Sure the ones with timing are longer and do more damage, but they are also harder and generally when you fail leave you open to attack. This will lead ALOT of players to just use the simple 3-4 button, easy combos that do reliable, average damage. Secondly - the game can be REALLY frustrating, most of this is attributed to difficulty, and I lend it to some of the games flaws - which I will get into now.

The most GLARING flaw in the game to me is the camera. The camera can often do instant 360s when you get into a tight spot indoors or near some sort of obstacle. It also tends to do this when someone uses a wall maneuver or a pole swing. This leads to foiling your combos that are reliant on directional input, and most importantly can totally cancel your block, leaving you WIDE open to take a beating you normally would have stopped. Speaking of blocking - it seems pretty flawed in this game. Sometimes an opponents moves (human or computer) will penetrate your block as if it wasn't happening. I have yet to see why this happen, or what causes it, but it happens. Another flaw that presents itself is some of the impact and collision detection. I cannot count the number of times I have watched someone sail at me, seemingly to pass right above me but I get shoved along the ground by some sort of phantom force that seems to be right at the front of his foot, head, or fist. Its not game breaking, and its a once-per-fight thing or less but it definitely is a minus. One of my other major beefs with this game is its inability to counter a combo in any way. Once the combo is started (once the first attack hits), you are wide open to pummel them or they you. There is no way to stop an opponent in mid-combo. This means that the big characters have a MAJOR advantage; as their combos do MASSIVE damage in short order. Some of the minor flaws I have notices is that while you cannot counter combos, counter is a throw is the simple matter of pressing a trigger. Wall/Pole attacks are simple too strong - they are easily repeated over-and-over and do damage whether the opponent is blocking or not (not full damage, but enough that it hurts). There are more minor issues with priorities, and some moves not actually serving to counter even if you hit the opponent while he is attacking.

Not sure if this is gameplay, but I'll plug it in here. The characters are great, not just their stories as listed below, but also their style. They are individual, there are no clones at all, and they look good too.

5/10 - Mediocre, some glaring problem, but still a decent play.

Story:

Oddly, for a fighting game, there is a story to Tao Feng. Even more bizarre is that its intelligible and pretty good. There are two martial arts factions fighting over a relic that is said to make the user immortal - cliché but well told. The characters that play out in this story are great too.

7/10 - Well told, involving, and pretty decent, but it is still cliché.

Audio/Video -

MAN OH MAN DOES THIS GAME LOOK GOOD!! Let me say that again. MAN OH MAN DOES THIS GAME LOOK GOOD!! It’s so pretty I can't describe it. The animations are fluid, the textures are gorgeous; This is what I expect from X-Box. Each character has their own look, and as the fight progresses that look gets beat up and bleeds, bruises, etc. The levels are all great too, well lit, well animated, well EVERYTHING. I don't know if I should call the game bright or dark - because the artists proved they could do both. From the dark interiors of a corporate lobby and a massive, evil hired thug to the scenic well-lit exterior of a monastery and its diminutive, ancient master. The sound is top-notch as well - even if it’s just mostly just grunting and impact sounds, they are well done and well recorded. The voices could use a TINY bit of work, but you don't hear them very often so it’s not really that much of a detraction.

9.5/10 - There's not really much room from improvement, but the sounds could use a TINY bit of tweaking because they're not perfect yet.

Replayability:

As a fighting game, it has near-infinite replayability as long as you can get some friends into the game as well. There's no online-play option, and as of this reviews writing not too much to be unlocked. Its a fighting game, so even the Quest mode is a 3 hour event at most - no big deal by any means.

3/10 or 8/10 - Depends on whether you have friends to play the game with or not.

Overall Impression/Summary:

Its fun - it’s not bad and it’s not great, but I enjoyed it. Despite its glaring flaws, it’s a nice start and if the creators take some notes from reviewers and gamers they have the basis for a GREAT game. I hope they do, I would really like to see it.

Rent or Buy? :

Definitely a renter, as some people have despised the game. Honestly, I probably won't keep it long after I beat it as there are better fighting games out there to play with my friends, but I enjoyed the experience!

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 03/23/03, Updated 03/23/03