I had high hopes for this fighting game. I figured
that Microsoft had learned their lesson in this department after their
fairly disappointing fighting game Kakuto Chojin. The concept sounds cool
enough, as the game is being marketed as a more realistic fighting game
in terms of the fighters taking on damage from simple bruising and torn
clothing to blood and broken bones. Break a limb and loose some serious
style and ability points!
The pain is indeed real. You find that out as soon as you realize that
the Xbox controller will really cause your hands to cripple up in pain
after extended. You'll also realize that quite a bit of the "pain" and
damage inflicted in this game is caused by a practically non-existent
blocking system. This fighter is almost all offense. There is practically
zero defense. That, and some of the character movements are not quite
snappy enough. This results in you sometimes getting heavy damage by combo
happy AI opponents.
In utter frustration, I switched to an X-ARCADE
joystick to see if that would make the gaming experience any better. Well,
it did make the game easier on the hands. However, the game's play mechanics
are still somewhat flawed and seems somewhat unbalanced. Then there is
the devistating and humbling computer AI... the CPU's AI is brutal, even
at the easiest of settings, once you meet the 5th opponent. This fact
alone will cause many to give up and move on to one of the more accessible
fighting games on the XBOX platform. But if you give Tao Feng some serious
playtime, getting a better appreciation of the combo system, the fighting
environment and each character's strengths and weaknesses you'll probably
grow to both love and sometimes really hate (in a good way) title. This
one is not for the casual button masher. Still, the game is much
easier than the Neo Geo's Art of Fighting 2! I've never been able to master
that game. Talk about hard!
The fighting environment is rich with vivid detail and style. Some of
this comes with a price as you will see occasional slowdown in the engine
once in a while. Each fighting area is somewhat interactive. By that I
mean that stuff will smash or break up when you or your opponent slams
into something. Not recommended as it can cause quite a bit of injury,
not to mention destruction of virtual property! The blood effects are
a bit overdone, too Mortal Kombat-ish looking if you ask me.
There characters themselves look terrific, really good stuff here. They
show a lot of detail and "emotion." Their movements, however are not a
fluid as I had hoped they would be. Some of the movements, especially
when pulling off combos or grapple moves are fresh and fluid. However,
some of the standard stuff, punches and kicks, sometimes look a tad too
stiff and mechanical. Did I mention that the defensive maneuvers are practically
non-existent? I just thought I'd mention that again. One particularly
good move to learn and master is the pole move where you basically use
pole type structures to pull off a really sweet and damaging offensive
move. Ya gotta see this one in action!
CHI is another important aspect of the game. Think of it as powering
up your player. When CHI is achieved, you can perform your special powered
up move. This can cause a lot of damage but it can be countered! What,
a defensive move?!?! Whoa!
Tao Feng offers several game modes. Verses is a straight up chose your
player, opponent, arena fighting game. Quest requires that you choosing
a side or sect and playing through using each character. It is quite cool
but gets very difficult. Survival, is well just that. Then there is team
battle, tournament and training (Spend a lot of time here!)
The sound effects are quite good overall. There is quite a bit of voice
acting to keep the quest mode moving along. The XBOX is definitely up
to task here.
There is more good to this game than bad. Those that spend enough time
with the title will get quite a bit of satisfaction out of it.. Tao Feng
is not as accessible, mainstream or as easy to pickup as Dead or Alive
3 or Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance. The casual gamer would probably be
a lot happier with one of those. Tao Feng requires a lot of patience and
"CHI" in order to master the game. You may also need to keep a spare controller
handy. ;-)
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