Virtua Fighter 3TB

by seba

Product Details

• ASIN: B00000K3XB
• Item Weight: 8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,824 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Editorial Review

Realistically animated fighters, wonderful 3-D environments, and the deepest gameplay to grace the fighting genre--what more could you want? Although Virtua Fighter 3 tb isn't without fault, it valiantly manages to bring all those things to the Dreamcast incarnation. VF 3 tb has always been less about over-the-top acrobatics and more about the raw realism of martial arts. In fact, one of the game's characters, Shun-Di, virtually mimics Jackie Chan's "drunken style" from the Drunken Master movies.

New to this third installment of the Virtua Fighter series is the team battle mode, which lets you take a team of three fighters head-to-head against either the computer or a human opponent. The U.S. version also sports a much-improved practice mode: you can now set the computer opponent's difficulty levels and even configure their attacks. VF 3 tb successfully combines stunning visuals with multilayered gameplay, which makes it a must-buy for fans of the series. --Sajed Ahmed

Pros:

• Deep and rewarding gameplay
• New versus mode and improved graphics for the U.S. version
• Arcade-quality character and environmental graphics
• Complicated fighter artificial intelligence is effectively challenging

Cons:

• Only 12 characters, and no hidden fighters
• Fighting depth can be lost, as success can also be had through button mashing
• Lack of peripheral options such as the now-standard theatre or quest modes

GameSpot Review

There was a time not so long ago when the words "Model 3" were acknowledged with equal proportions of awe and respect. It was Sega's newest arcade hardware, and a mighty one million polygons it did move. These days, such numbers are almost commonplace, with the arrival of the Dreamcast and the impending arrivals of polygon crushers from Sony and Nintendo. However, when the Model 3 hardware first debuted, it was with Virtua Fighter 3, the flagship fighter borne of Yu Suzuki's AM2 development team.

To think that in 1997 Virtua Fighter 3 almost made it to the Sega Saturn is, in hindsight, practically hysterical. To this day, the Model 3 hardware has only recently been superseded by the relatively inexpensive but comparable-in-performance Naomi arcade board. As PlayStation fans got every installment of Tekken ported right to their favorite console, Sega fans had to languish until more powerful hardware arrived.

Now that time has come, and the question is whether Virtua Fighter 3 (the complementary "Team Battle" tag amended), with all its encompassing history, has been worth the wait.

As fans of Virtua Fighter will attest, VF3 (as well as its predecessors) is one of the deepest games you will ever play. When it comes to technique, move combinations, and overall feel, few games can boast the sophistication of VF3's fighting engine. While not as instinctive, perhaps, as a 2D fireball-throwing, dragon-punching series that will go unnamed, VF3 features a depth nearly unsurpassed in the 3D arena. Certainly, button mashing will certainly get some gamers a fair amount of success in the one-player mode, but match a novice up against a skilled Virtua Fighter veteran, and the difference in their skills will quickly become apparent. Building on the simple three-button interface of the groundbreaking VF2, part three adds a dodge button to the mix as well as two new characters, Aoi and Takarashi.

With the established VF fighting engine already in place, the dodge button adds a whole new slate of moves to the labyrinthine arsenal of attacks and defensive strikes. Unfortunately, since games like Soul Calibur have used the benefit of hindsight to further the genre in a more refined manner, VF3's dodge function could have, admittedly, been implemented in a more intuitive manner (see Tobal 2 for a good example) than simply having you thwack an extra button. After all, Virtua Fighter 2 had practically perfected 3D gameplay on a 2D plane, offering such an array of offensive possibilities that Tekken 2 could never seriously approach. By adding a fourth button to what was basically a perfect configuration, something was simultaneously gained and lost.

Aside from all that, how does the Dreamcast version of Virtua Fighter 3 Team Battle compare with the arcade version? It compares very well, especially when you consider the newly released American version over the rushed-to-production Japanese port. While the American version adds little else aside from a versus mode, which was somehow omitted from the Japanese debut, it's not so much that the features that have been improved, but that little glitches found elsewhere in the game have been removed. Gone is the slowdown when the camera zooms into certain arenas. The shadows that were found to be so imperfect have also been patched up a bit, so that the breakup found on uneven surfaces (such as stairs) is not nearly as problematic as it had been. However, even in the original import version, these problems were merely superficial and never actually interfered with gameplay.

Graphically, the character models in the game suffer from a lower polygon count than the models found in the arcade version, resulting in some odd blockiness at times. Keep in mind that the occasional blockiness doesn't stop VF3 from looking better than 99 percent of the other fighting games out there. Other touches like the loose, fabric-like qualities of Jacky's jacket have been lost, along with a couple other minute inconsistencies with the arcade version. However, all in all, developer Genki did an admirable job with AM2's techno-baby, and almost all this is nitpicking. Certain stages have lost a couple bits of polish along the way, like Aoi's stage, where the water and snow aren't arcade-perfect, or the desert stage, where you no longer leave footprints in the sand. For the most part, the stages look absolutely amazing: Pai's rooftop level and Sarah's subway arena are practically pixel-perfect, and they offer unique strategic possibilities that no other fighter (until the approaching Dead or Alive 2 is released, anyway) has. --James Mielke
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Depth of VF3tb, December 12, 1999

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Virtua Fighter 3TB (Video Game)

Virtua Fighter team battle is one of the deepest fighting games I have ever played on any system. When I first played the game I was a little dissapointed. I thought that the characters would move quicker and their attacks would be flashy, but as I played the game more it became very interesting. There were many attacks, throws, blocks etc. that you can't pick up by just pressing any button at random, a person would have to study the game, and get the right timing on each attack, throw, and block. As a person gets deeper into the game he/she finds out that every character has, what seems like, an infinite amount of moves. For me it seems like I learn something new about a character every time I play and that's what makes this game one of the best and deepest fighting game of all time.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Its useless to compare this game to Soul Calibur, February 21, 2000

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Virtua Fighter 3TB (Video Game)

First off lets clear up a misunderstanding. This game has nothing in common with Soul Calibur. They have two entirely different approaches to gaming. Soul Calibur is a sort of fantasy-like fighting game with flashy moves and supernatural powers. Virtua Fighter is a down to earth realistic approach to fighting games. So comparing the two is impossible. Now to the game itself. Sure it has some small problems, like a clunky interface and the graphics arn't exactly the cutting edge of technology. But it looks great anyway. The fighting is very complex and allows a great deal of variance in styles between two players, not just the one way approach used in most other games. It also simulates the fighters different forms of martial arts well. Overall I think it does a great job.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Fun If You Have Patience To Learn, February 21, 2000

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Virtua Fighter 3TB (Video Game)

I love the VF games. I played VF1 and VF2 to death on my PC. The Dreamcast version of VF3 has the same look and feel as the arcade version. The arenas are all 3D which provide new challenges when fighting on roofs or stairs. Each character has a few new moves, but they are hard to master with the cheap Sega controller. For example, a Left - Right combination in 1/10th of a second is almost impossible to do with your left thumb.

People that become bored with this game are those that do not want to spend the time to master the character's moves. VF3 provides a Training Mode which displays all controller input (left, right, punch, kick, etc.) with a split second timing display.

The disappointing thing I found with the game is that you can save the VS results, but there is no way to save your Options (number of rounds, time of fight, custom key assignments, etc). Once you turn the machine off your custom key assigns are gone.

Contrary to the Amazon review, and a few other reviews, there are hidden characters: the Gold Dural, the Silver Dural, and Alphabet Man. Use any web search engine to find cheat codes to access these characters.

There are two movies on the CD. One is a 'History' movie which shows the evolution of the design of the VF games from 1 to 3. If you beat 8 characters you can view the 'Ending' movie which is computer generated clips of the characters training to fight or doing their hobbies.

If you liked Virtua Fighter 2 then VF3 is well worth your money. It is as addicting and challenging as its predecessors.