Now Playing: Virtua Fighter 4 Video Review Lei Fei (left) is one of the new characters. Many of the new moves aren't just punches or kicks-they're complex techniques like deflections, reversals, and alternate fighting stances.īy clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's Each returning fighter boasts a number of new abilities, many of which become important additions to their repertoires. Actually, the same can be said for all the characters, not just the new ones. Lei Fei looks better in action than Vanessa, though both of the new characters have dozens of interesting moves. The second is Vanessa Lewis, who looks like X-Men's Storm and specializes in both defensive counterthrows and in kickboxing. The first of the game's new fighters is Lei Fei, a shaolin monk whose dizzying kung fu skills are as effective as they are spectacular. As in all previous Virtua Fighter games, the last bout in Virtua Fighter 4's arcade mode is against Dural, basically a very mean female mannequin made of metal (there's a way to unlock her as a playable character for use in the versus mode).
Only Virtua Fighter 3's conspicuous sumo wrestler Taka-Arashi didn't make the cut-all the other fighters from the series are back with new moves and new looks, including such favorites as the Japanese martial arts expert Akira, the massive Canadian pro wrestler Wolf, and the blonde-haired high-kicking siblings Jacky and Sarah Bryant. Virtua Fighter 4 has 13 characters you can choose from, two of which are new to the series. Virtua Fighter 4 is the best fighting game to come around in years. But the real beauty of it is definitely in the gameplay. Superficially, Virtua Fighter 4 may resemble any number of other graphically impressive 3D fighters.
Furthermore, the PS2 version of Virtua Fighter 4 packs some interesting bonus features and the best artificial intelligence hands down of any fighting game. Virtua Fighter 4 is also the best game in the series to date: It offers even more of the depth that fans of the series have enjoyed for years, yet it also quickens the pacing, streamlines the controls, and fixes the problems found in previous installments. And PlayStation 2 owners couldn't be luckier, because Virtua Fighter 4 is the best fighting game to debut since Namco's superlative Dreamcast version of Soul Calibur back in 1999. Last year, Sega bowed out of the hardware business, so the latest installment of Virtua Fighter is the first that isn't exclusive to Sega's own hardware. Virtua Fighter games have appeared on virtually every Sega system ever made. Nearly 10 years after the original arcade game was released, Sega's Virtua Fighter series now spans four games, not to mention a number of weird spin-offs like Virtua Fighter Kids and the outrageous Fighters Megamix. The blocky, flat-shaded 3D fighters first seen in 1993's Virtua Fighter have sure come a long way.