Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus

"Avoid at all costs"

I had been waiting for Tao Feng for a long time. I wasn't expecting much, but it at least looked like it might be an entertaining diversion. They took every chance they got to mention the fact that it was made by a co-creator of Mortal Kombat, and if nothing else, MK had amused me, even if its system was kind of boring. That should have been my first warning.

And so I finally got the game, and played it for a few hours. I was absolutely appalled. The gameplay is horrible, it's like they just took Mortal Kombat 1 and made it 3D. Characters jump obscenely high, the controls are not very intuitive, and the character animations are extremely stiff and non-fluid. Character designs ranged from mildly cool to downright blech. I've seen more interesting SNK shoto clones. Absolutely the only thing this game had going for it was the graphics, and if you're looking for eye candy, I can name about at least a half dozen Xbox games (and probably a couple Dreamcast games) off the top of my head that blow it out of the water and still manage to play well.

The limb damage system is poorly implemented, I never really noticed a huge difference. The only real purpose it serves in this game is so they can advertise the limb damage.

As you take damage, your character appears to be more hurt, with bruises, cuts, etc added on. It's nice, but barely noticeable in the midst of battle, and Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance did a similar thing, except it only affect the faces. In any case, it's a nice touch, but purely cosmetic.

The environment interaction plays about as much of a role in this game as the limb damage system, and I'm inclined to think that it too was only added so they could claim that it was in there.

The chi system is just your standard super-meter that's been in 90% of fighting games since whichever revision of Street Fighter 2 first introduced it.

The only thing this game really has going for it is that it reminds me of Mortal Kombat... But there's already a Mortal Kombat on the Xbox, and it's managed to evolve with the times and actually plays decently.

And now the penultimate question, rent or buy? Burn. No, not download and burn a pirated copy. It wouldn't be worth the cost of the DVD or bandwidth to pirate it. Take a lighter or other such instrument and burn a real copy of the game.

Reviewer's Score: 1/10, Originally Posted: 05/19/03, Updated 05/19/03