Genre: 3 Dimensional 1 on 1 Fighting

Geeky: I approach the shoddy hovel of my colleague. Stepping over fallen branches, and clawing my way through overgrown greenery, I make my way to the entrance. As I enter the darkened abode, a foul odor escapes through the crack of the creaking, cobwebbed door...I am wary of closing off the portal from which I came, for fear that with the leaving of the light, I may suffer the same fate as my friend. I slowly make my way through the dark halls, witnessing more and more evidence of Fat's current state....piles of unwashed dishes, a litter box unchanged for months, dirty clothes strewn everywhere....finally, following a dim light and the faint sound of a Television, I find him...sitting in a corner, unkept (as usual), unwashed (as usual), and staring blankly at the TV (as usual)....but watching infommercials. This is worse than I thought....

Geeky: Man, smells like ass in here... so what's up, Bunky?

Fat: ...Nothin'.

Geeky: Fat uttered this single word, never taking his blackened pupils off of the television set. The sounds of the TV chimed faintly in the background, but in that moment, I could literally feel the silence of this place. The stagnent air....the overpowering darkness... the nothingness. I looked over at his rather impressive collection of game systems...all collecting dust. I already knew the answer to my next question, but asked anyway...

Geeky: So...play any games lately?

Fat: ...No. Nothin'...

Geeky: This was obvious. Except to eat and use the facilities, it was clear he had not moved from where he was sitting. Fat was in a funk....in more ways than one...

Geeky: ..Wanna go get some Chicken Wings or somethin'?

Fat: ...rrRRRaagghh....

Geeky: Fat's cry of indifference alerted me that measures had to be taken to get him out of his mood. Fortunately, I had just the game to do it with me.

Geeky: I'm gonna play somethin' on my PS2. Do ya mind?

Fat:...don't care....

Geeky: Setting up my import PS2 (ya gotta have one to play THIS game right now, though it comes to the states in March), I quickly have it up and running. Though the infommercial has disappeared from the screen, Fat continues to stare blankly...until the Sega and AM2 logos appear... I notice a slight twitch...a glimmer of sanity appears in his eyes...he continues to stare...Virtua Fighter 4's intro movie comes up...

Fat:...My God...it's...beaaaauuuuutiful......

Geeky: Ehhh...well, it looks OKAY, for a PS2 game...thought it'd get your attention though.....

Fat: Gimme the controller...Gimme the Con-TROLLER...GIMME THE CONTROLLER!!!

Geeky: I hand Fat one of my hard-to find yellow and gray Namco Joysticks...

Fat: Ohh..VF...How I have longed for you...

Geeky: Fat plays the game with wreckless abandon. Not letting the language barrier deter him, he tests out the game's many new modes and features. As he plays, the room slowly seems to mystically lighten up...although the Cat box didn't magically change itself like I was hoping it would...in a few hours, Fat was himself again, good and bad.

Fat: I feel the wonders of INSPIRATION welling up within me! I must declare to the WORLD of the wonders of this game! All must know!

Geeky: ...Would you settle for writing a Game Hits review of it? That way, at least 10 or so people will see it...

Fat: ....good enough. Virtua Fighter has always been the premier 3D fighter series for me, ever since the first installment, which looks quite crude now, but was the groundbreaking first 3D polygon fighter that made so many other 3D fighting games of today possible.

Geeky: For many people, the best fighting game of the series was Virtua Fighter 2, which at the time brought the graphics and deep strategic gameplay of 3D fighters to a new level. While VF3 was also one of my favorites as well as Fat's, it was hampered by somewhat slower gameplay and a very expensive arcade board which made finding one a rarity in most U.S. areas.

Fat: Now AM R&D Dept. Number 2 graces us yet again with Virtua Fighter 4. All of our favorite characters have returned a stunning new look and lots more moves, except for VF3's sumo wrestler, Taka-Arashi. Some characters, like Wolf and Lau, have only been tweaked slightly, and given some new moves and combos. Others, like Sarah and Kage, and been practically reinvented. You can play them in the style of the original VF games, but they have so many new moves, you can also play them totally differently.

Geeky: 2 new characters have been introduced to the series: Lei-Fei, a Shaolin Monk with a distinct set of styles and stances, and my new favorite Vanessa, a brazillian brawler who is a bit like a female version of Jeffrey, only more technical, with some lethal limb-snapping counters.

Fat: I have heard claims that this is the closest arcade to home translation that Sega has ever done with a VF game. That I would agree with. However, I have also heard that this game is "arcade perfect" by some. Ummm....I wouldn't say that....

Geeky: Me neither. The background textures are pretty low-res in the arcade game (my guess is that they did that on purpose so that a home translation would be easier), but they are a bit lower and muddier yet on the PS2. The characters are nicely detailed and have the same high polygon build as in the arcade, but again, lower-res textures are noticable in some areas, particularly some outfits, and Akira's face. The lighting has also been toned down a bit in some stages, and some characters have a bit too much "shine" to them (Vanessa and Jeffrey in particular).

Fat: Also, VF4 suffers slightly from the interlace flicker and shimmer that plagues some other PS2 games. Despite this, the game is still beautiful. The action is fast and non-stop, the characters are animated fluidly and convincingly, and I'd wager that this is the best looking fighting game on the PS2, unless Tekken 4 looks about twice as good as it's arcade incarnation...

Geeky: Overall in looks, though, I'd still go with the X-Box's Dead or Alive 3, though Fat believes the characters look a bit better in VF4.

Fat: Yeah, particularly the faces, and the mouth and facial feature articulation. They are still a bit off, but AM2 tried much harder to implement them than any other 3D fighting game maker to date. Which Brings us to the sound: Sound effects are the usual high quality thumps, thaps, thwacks and cracks that accompany other VF games. Most of the Japanese and Chinese characters (Lau, Pai, Akira, Shun, Aoi, Kage) as well as Jacky and Lion have their original voices from VF3. Wolf, Jeffrey and Sarah have new voices...mixed in with old ones, which is kinda obvious and a bit cheap-sounding. Why they decided to do this I have no idea. All of the characters have new intros and victory taunts.

Geeky: The music in VF4 is, in my opinion, a step up from the other VF games. It's a good mixture of techno, rock and traditional themes that work well for each stage.

Fat: For the gameplay of VF4, Yu Suzuki and crew decided on a "back to basics" approach. Gone are the multi-leveled landscapes and dodge button of VF3, going back to the flat square arenas of VF 1 and 2, although 4 does have the addition of breakable and unbreakable walls on some stages. This game has much more in common with Virtua Fighter 2 than 3.

Geeky: Some of VF4's detractors claim that Sega went backwards with this game instead of forward, due to the subtractions of what they did with VF3. Fat and I think that they wanted to purify the experience: No obstacles, just you and your opponent going at it in an enclosed space, much like a boxing ring or a Sumo arena.

Fat: This game does have it's share of new features: Dodging is now done by tapping the stick up and down twice ala Tekken 3, and dodge attacks are done with the same motion and all 3 buttons. You can instantly get up after most knockdowns by pressing the 3 buttons at the right time while falling. Jumps must now be done by pressing up and Punch or Kick simultaneously, so no more accidental hops.

Geeky: Each character now also has slow charge moves that stagger your opponent if they hit, whether they're blocking or not. The speed of the game has been brought up, and multi-hit air combos are easier to do and more effective than in past VF games. Also added is a new stun feature that will give the stunned character a chance to get out of his/her dizzy state by wiggling the stick/pad.

Fat: As for features added to the home version, there's a lot of 'em...no, the game doesn't have endings for each character (No VF game does, except for VF Kids), there's no artwork to uncover, and the chance of any secret characters (besides Dural) to unlock are slim...but there is a slew of new play modes, and a very extensive training mode which teaches you moves, combos, counters, and even gives you strategic advice.

Geeky: In VF4 you can create your own custom character that you can play against a bunch of other custom characters in the game (in Kumite). As you win battles and complete required events, you start getting different costume options for your character: You can change the color of their clothes, and you get different items like sunglasses, Earrings, helmets, even a squirrel on your shoulder.

Fat: You can also train an AI character with your own moves, save it to a memory card, and battle against other AI characters (or actual players). Like the custom characters, you can also win new colors and items for the AI fighters by winning battles and completing objectives. Things like this add a lot to the longevity of this game.

Geeky: In all, we feel VF4 is a very worthy sequel that upholds the good name of the Virtua Fighter series well.

Fat: I've been waiting for this game for a long time, and it's every bit worth the wait.

Geeky: Satisfied that I had saved my colleague from the death of boredom, I take my PS2 and head home. As I enter my own house, I sense the foul stench of my own cat's unchanged litter box....but I don't feel like changing it....I don't feel like doing....anything at all...

Graphics: (Fat)9 (Geeky)8

Sound: (Fat)9 (Geeky)8.5

Control: (Fat)9 (Geeky)9

Worth a rent?: At least....

Worth a buy?: Depends: Are you a competitive player? Do you have friends you can play this game with? If so, it's worth buying. If not...it's worth buying anyway.

Worth buying a system for?: We know a few people (like Fat) who's major reason for buying or wanting a PS2 is the ability to play this game.

Fat & Geeky's Final thoughts: For some die-hard Sega fans, the anchovy on the otherwise perfect pizza is that they have to swallow their pride, put aside their beloved Dreamcasts, and buy the system that put the DC under (with mostly hype) to play a game that should have rightfully been theirs. That aside, no matter what system it's on, VF4 is a deep, beautiful and fun fighter that will remind hardcore players why this series is so good, and perhaps introduce some Tekken-mongers and Dead-heads to a new experience they haven't had yet.

Use the AI mode to train your fighter to take out the trash...

A wink before a whoopin'.

Here's Vanessa givin' Lei-Fei the business.

Gorilla presses never looked so good.

Pai shows Vanessa her new chiropractic skills.

The training mode shows you moves and strategies.

Kumite allows you to train your fighter against others.

Jacky finally figured out his hair looks dumb.

Winning Kumite matches gives you new items and costume colors.