Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus

"Decent but definitely could've been better."

Ever since I first started hearing about Tao Feng I've been interested in trying it out. Hearing about all the things you could do in the game go me pretty excited. Now that the game is here and in my possession, there are times when it seems like a case of ''great idea, poor execution.'' Still though, if you look past it's faults, Tao Feng isn't TOO bad.

Graphics: Plain and simple, this is what an Xbox game should look like. The amount of detail in the game is staggering. From all the cuts and bruises to clothes tearing to the environment getting destroyed, Tobias and Co. really created something beautiful. Sometimes the character animations can be a bit jerky and awkward looking but overall, it's one of the best looking fighters on the shelves.

Gameplay: OK, the control scheme is basically set up with a set of trailing punches and kicks and leading punches and kicks. White button for Chi moves, black for taunts. L for escaping throws and repairing limb damage, R for flipping off a wall or pole. Pressing Y&B together will perform a throw. Seems simple right? It is. From there you can string together a number of combos for each character. Pressing XY or AB will change the character's stance and give you more combos to perform. The thing is, the game is a bit too combo reliant. If a character starts a combo, here's no way of stopping it or getting in any retaliation until it's over. Hence, some complete cheapness on the AI's part. In turn, I learned one combo with Jade Dragon and beat the game.

Complaint#2: This game doesn't focus on the flashy projectile kind of fighting, it's more of a hand to hand affair. So for this to be a fist fight, it would've been nice to see more actual moves per individual character as opposed to each character sharing a basic move scheme. EVERY character has 3 throws. EVERY character has 3 CHI moves. EVERY character has 2 alternate stances and 1 combo per stance. Some individuality would've helped flesh it out some.

Complaint#3: The Camera: Why should ANYBODY complain about THE CAMERA in a FIGHTING game?! The camera view quickly changes from normal to reverse during fights so if you're holding back to block when it changes you'll actually be moving towards your opponent. Enough has been said about this from other people so I'll stop here.

As for the rest, it has the standard fighting game modes but in the Advanced Training, it would've been nice to see the moves list while you're training as opposed to having to pause to look in the moves list/manual or let the computer demo the move first.

Sound: It has it's ups and downs. The UPS? From bones breaking to wood splintering or glass shattering, the sound effects are crisp and sound great. The DOWNS? The background music is bland and boring. Not a biggie though. Who plays fighters for sound anyway?!

Fun? Once you get into it, yes. This isn't a game that you can judge after 15 minutes. You really have to sit down with it and get the feel of the game. While it's still cheap at times, you'll eventually find ways to work around it. Either that or smash your controller in a blind rage.

Overall it's a decent 1st outing from Tobias and Crew though there's much work to do should a sequel ever be made. Honestly, I hope they do develop a sequel because once they get it right, this has the potential to be a great series.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/02/03, Updated 04/02/03