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By Contributing Writer Jimmy Payne Rating: Average Virtua Fighter 3tb has way too many flaws to be the worth the cash for die-hard fighting game fans, especially on a system that has such great fighting games as Soul Calibur and Power Stone. Before I go over the many things there are to hate about VF3tb, let's go over the few things there are to like. I like how ring-outs are much more common than they are in Soul Calibur. In VF3tb, nothing is stopping you from walking right off the edge of the ring, while in Soul Calibur there is an invisible wall that prevents you from falling unless you are knocked into the air. One wrong move can mean defeat in VF3tb, which adds some tension what is otherwise a snooze-fest. The arenas themselves are also very nice, with all sorts of different terrain like water and sand. VF3tb shows its age with its embarrassingly blocky graphics, which are all the more un-impressive when compared to Soul Calibur's graphics. The costumes also look foolish due to their poor design. I have no idea why Sega even attempted to make two costumes for each character, because the second costume almost always looks ridiculous (like the ninja's silver pants, for example). Possibly the only thing worse than the graphics is the control. The list of things wrong with the control is almost endless. Moving the characters is done with the d-pad, which hampers the feeling of executing moves and gives the game an unpleasant Mortal Kombat-like feel. The ability to press the punch or kick button as fast as you can and do a lightning-fast "combo" move is more than enough to encourage mindless button mashing. There is an annoying lag time between when you press a button and when the button-press registers on the screen. The moves seem to be mechanical instead of fluid and smooth like Soul Calibur's moves. Most of the combos don't seem too terribly different from the last. Characters can somehow float in the air for several seconds during a routine jump. I could go on and on, but I think you can get the point: VF3tb's control stinks. VF3tb also has very unbalanced difficulty levels. There isn't enough difference between the Easy and Normal levels, or the Normal and Hard levels. It also seems that when you lose in VF3tb, it's not because you made a mistake, it's because your computer opponent used cheap attacks that are often un-blockable and always faster than your own. It is also absurd that if you don't beat the last boss on your first try, you have to start over from the beginning of the game rather than just fighting her again. Virtua Fighter 3tb has some strong points that made me think twice about calling it a bad game, but they're nowhere near enough to make up for things like below-average graphics, horrible control, and unbalanced difficulty settings. Virtua Fighter 3tb might be fun for hardcore fans of the series, but most fighting game fans should stick with Soul Calibur. Send your thoughts on this review to jimmy@mastergamer.com
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