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The Lowdown
Pros: A close to arcade translation of a classic 3D fighter.
Cons: Way too simple and not enough depth to make this anything more than
trip down memory lane.
 Purchase
at Play-Asia
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Sega's Virtua Fighter series has come along way. Four games in the
making, with the most recent one hailed by some as the best fighting
game ever. However, are focus is on the Sega Ages re-release of the
second installation of the series.Sega claims that this version is an
arcade perfect version of the once popular arcade game. It's not too
hard to believe, after all the PS2 should be able to handle a game of
this complexity. I haven't played the arcade version in sometime, but I
have noticed some "differences". First of all during battles there is
ever present slowdown. It usually happens when background effects, like
lightning and a fast frame move occurs at the same time. This is a
pretty severe problem because during quick moves you need to be able to
block in a split second. The slowdown also makes this version of Virtua
Fighter 2 feel more unresponsive than the Saturn version. The VF series
has always depended on precise button presses at the appropriate second.
The blips of slowdown break the fluidity of control and you will end up
doing other moves than you expected.
Virtua Fighter 2 has the basic set of ten characters, plus one hidden
character for you to play with. All of these characters appear in future
installments, but if you haven't heard of them before here's a small
rundown. Kage fights with his ninjitsu training, there is the slow and
powerful Akira, the quick Sarah, and everyone's favorite drunken boxer
Shun. The cast of characters represent a wide range of fighting style,
which was one of Sega's goals when designing the game. Virtua Fighter 2
also has realistic moves, just like the rest of the series. Even though
you might not be throwing glowing balls of energy, there are a decent
amount of time sensitive punch and kick combos to master. Once you learn
those you'll have to understand how to throw an enemy, perform a ground
attack and learn some signature moves for each character. The system
works very well for using only three buttons: punch, kick and guard.
Although the fighting system that is present in the game is notably
dated. You can move around freely. Instead you move and attack in a very
rigid, blocky fashion. You'll throw a punch, then the animation will
break and the next move will start up. Speaking of moves, the entire
move set for each character isn't that large compared to say any other
3D game on the PS2. You were probably expecting that, since Virtua
Fighter 2 is now a classic game. Side steeping is also a slow affair. If
you're used to running circles around an enemy, you can't do that here
either.
The game's presentation deteriorated with time too. The graphics look
really cubodial on the PS2 and the background textures don't look that
great either. The textures look really pixilated and washed out, not
arcade perfect. The characters themselves look OK. The in game audio
doesn't use the quality of the PS2 sound processing to its fullest.
Virtua Fighter 2 has a great soundtrack. So, Sega should have added in
the option to use digital audio instead of rom emulated audio. If you
just remember that this is a port of a classic game you can probably let
the weak graphics and MIDI quality music slide.
Something else that will distract players from this fighter is the
lack of single player challenge in the game. The computer AI is pretty
good. You won't be able to reach Dural instantly, which is a good thing.
However, you'll always fight characters in the same order over and over
again. A little variation in the battle order would have gone a long
way. The single player mode can be finished in a matter of minutes. Even
with all of the in game difficulty levels, it just isn't fun to play
alone.
Ten years ago Sega released Virtua Fighter 2 in arcades around the
world. People were amazed at the "lifelike" characters, vast array of
moves, complete 3D motion and an excellent soundtrack. Back then,
people's standards of video games were held much lower than today.
Virtua Fighter 2 just can't stand up to King of Fighters: Maximum
Impact, Soul Calibur 2 and especially not Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution.
Menus and the limited voices are in English. So, you shouldn't have a
problem playing this from beginning to end.
US Bound?
There has been no announcement of Sega bringing this game over to
the US yet. Although, it seems like there is a good chance because Sega
has been into packaging the Sega Ages games into compilations for a US
audience.
Overall
Sega Ages Virtua Fighter 2 is at the same price point as some great
fighters like Soul Calibur 2, Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution and Tekken Tag.
Honestly, your money is better spent on any of the other listed titles
instead of this.
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