TAO FENG: FIST OF THE LOTUS (XBOX)


Tearing dem new ones on da 'Box

By WILLIAM BARKER

From the creative genius of John Tobias, the dude who helped shape the blood-spattered Mortal Kombat franchise, comes Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus, the latest one-on-one fighting game exclusively for the Xbox.

One of Microsoft's first-party titles, Tao Feng (TFFotL) roused quite a bit of interest: The box shots looked great, the game had plenty of tasty-sounding innovations and on a more personal level, I hadn't played a trad fighting game seriously since Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast.

And the fact that the Xbox hasn't had a leading fighter since DOA3 makes this game all the more intriguing - has it got what it takes to entice the masses?

Before we go any further, allow me to set the scene: The place is New China and the world we once knew is now home to a bunch of supernaturally powerful dudes who, it seems, have one goal in life - to beat each other to a bloody pulp.

Sure, it may as well just be another day in the life of Jerry Springer, but no, these inbred sociopathic freaks are a little different. They each adhere to a specific fighting sect, faction, party, company, wing, or splinter group, if you will.

These two factions are trying to piece together the fragments of a magical talisman that will potentially bestow immortality on its bearer. To be honest, I'd settle for a subway with jalapenos, but there you go. This is a fighting game after all and, at the end of the day, your opponent's head on a spike will usually meet ones requirements in this genre.

Studio Gigante is behind the game, and behind the development house is Tobias, a veritable celeb in the world of videogames. But alas and alack, one man alone cannot guarantee gaming goodness, and far from being rhino shit, TFFotL isn't as brilliant as I was hoping.

After playing Kung Fu Chaos (and having a blindingly good time to boot), TFFotL helps build the Xbox's fighting game library, and with a number of fresh new features even the most jaded of combatants will find it hard not to be intrigued.

First and foremost is the level of realism. Every time you smack your rival in the face with your powerful fists of righteousness, they'll slowly show the damage done in real time. We're talking lots of blood, bruises, swelling and generally misshapen and contorted bodies.

At the end of the first round of combat, you'll be able to see torn clothing, bloodied welts and scratches on backs, the size and intensity of which haven't been seen since Basic Instinct.

Furthermore, there is also a specific damage model, whereby concentrated attacks on either the upper or lower body will result in a warning, and eventually the breakage of bones.

Sure, it looks gruesome and sounds wickedly evil, but the effects of having one's bones broken actually reduces your ability to dish out the pain - by a whopping 50 per cent!

If your legs get snapped, you'll move slower and deal out half as much damage, and if you get your arms mangled, it's 50 per cent damage penalty.

Ergo, it makes tactical sense to try and snap an ulna or femur as soon as you can, and if your foe continuously blocks, their bones will slowly weaken, which means perennial blockers (or bampers [blocking/campers]) will find that their duplicitous ways are nigh.

But there are more tricks than just realistic damage modelling and snapping bones. One such tasty trick is the ability to use walls and poles as environmental launching platforms for attacks, which is a nice addition and helps remove the bonus that larger, slower and more powerful characters have when they manage to back a cringing rival into a corner.

The environments are also fairly destructible, and while it may seem like a trivial feature, it add a lot to general battles. Using a double-fist chest punch to throw your foe into a wall is one thing, but to have them crash through a park bench and some trash cans first is all the more gratifying.

The fighting engine in general is pretty solid, though it's fair to say that Tobias has gone for a more generic engine than one that's overly complex or inventive. You have your general punch and kick moves, in leading and trailing varieties, plus a bevvy of grabs and throws and each player has roughly 100 unique moves.

The grab moves are really impressive and really knocked my socks off. The best ever grapple/throw moves? Perhaps not, but they're still tip-top nonetheless, with plenty of wrestling moves on offer with characters of generous girth, which made me smile.

Combos play a large part in TFFotL, and mastering the basic three and four button permutations shouldn't trouble many gamers after a couple of bouts. Veterans will love the 10+ button combos, and you can even link multiple combos for some seriously lofty hit multipliers.

Timing your combos is easier said than done however, and even after 72 hours solid play it can become frustrating trying to pinpoint the finicky timing need for perfect execution.

And there then was Chi… This mystic force is accumulated every time you land a blow on your competitor, and getting back to the 'bampers' again, if your dodgy friend is constantly blocking all your attacks, fret not. His energy won't diminish, but your Chi meter will build up, and his bones will weaken.

When your Chi meter is full, you'll be able to do one of two things: You can either use it to refill some health and repair your twisted bone structure, or unleash a special attack (three special moves for each character) - aptly named a Chi attack.

Generally speaking, these attacks do plenty of damage and will induce some retinal scarring on gamers lacking eyelids, but there is also a couple of nano-seconds of delay before Chi moves are performed, meaning the savvy player can pre-empt and react accordingly.

Also, the moves are ridiculously easy to pull off (usually involving one direction on the d-pad and the white button), to the point where one wonders if the game suffers as a result…

These special moves look awesome and will help provide a seamless segue way for me into the graphics aspect of the game, which are very pretty, it must be said.

The graphics are of a seriously high quality, but despite this the game doesn't come across as a stunner. This could have something to with suspect animation at times, but it's hard to say. Maybe it's a personal thing and the graphics just didn't get me excited.

The visuals are highly detailed however, with excellent use of high-res textures and the particle system is used nicely when blows connect. Despite my uneasiness with the visuals, the game has a very polished look, and is at least on par with DOA3.

The environments are intricate, quite lively and have lots of smashable bits and so forth. All the characters also have very unique appearances, and there's never any feeling that you're playing the same character with a different dinner jacket on. In general, the graphics are of a very high quality, and the bloodied and bruised bodies of combatants at the end of a hard-fought three-match round look hideously cool.

Playing against human opponents is the most enjoyable way to play (I like the trash talk), though the CPU-controlled AI isn't a complete sham.

In fact, on the later levels your AI foes actually tend to be very ruthless, and you'll need to learn how to block consistently yet still dish out the pain, lest your bones goes 'snap' or your rivals Chi goes 'shazam'.

The fighting game genre used to be what the first-person shooting genre is today - the most popular type of game and the one that everyone wants to be proficient at.

Today, the fighting game arena is a pale waif of its former self in my humble opinion, and if you're not a huge fan of the genre, you probably won't like Tao Feng.

Those who don't really care for fighting games probably won't be provoked into joining the fisticuffs fraternity, but on the whole, this is quite a tidy package.

If you do enjoy fighting games, add another 10 per cent the overall score, as Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus will entertain at worst, and delight at best.

It will tide you over until Soul Calibur 2 arrives, and with some snappy ideas, nice graphics, fairly good execution and above average longevity, there are far worse fighters out there than this.

ORIGINALITY 85%
SOUND/GRAPHICS 80%
PLAYABILITY 80%
ENJOYMENT 70%
OVERALL 75%