Flower power. Review

Flower power.

Perhaps no genre has undergone as few major changes over the years as the fighting

game. Ever since Street Fighter II blew open the doors to the left/right

battle concept, we’ve seen only minor if notable tweaks. Virtua

Fighter and Battle Arena Toshinden brought

us into the third dimension, Tekken

brought scads of linkable moves and current kingpin Soul

Calibur raised the bar in terms of gameplay depth and graphics, but by and

large the fighters follow the same formula and borrow move sets like lawnmowers.

Even Bushido Blade, which promised all sorts

of cool changes, only wound up falling into obscurity.

So

when a new series hits the market, we at GR get excited. Could this be the one

to add some genuinely new flavor to what has become a rather redundant broth?

Will this one up the ante once again by fleshing out the usually throwaway single-player

experience? Might this one be the diamond in the rough?

So long as this one isn’t Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus, the answer is

still "maybe."

Coming from Mortal Kombat guru John Tobias, Tao Feng has large,

bloody footprints to fill. Unfortunately, some good ideas are handled badly

and some basic, necessary rules are strangely ignored, leading to a thoroughly

sub-par combatant.

The backstory makes Street Fighter look like Hamlet.

Two warring clans – the Pale Lotus and the Black Lotus – are duking it out over

some mystical artifacts which, when found, will unlock the doors to somewhere

magical in order to make people immortal, maybe, or at least very hard to kill,

or thereabouts. It’s all pretty unclear. Good luck to you.

Matching the far-fetched plot is an odd group of characters. Some are interesting,

such as the Iron Monk or token big guy Exile, while others are simply cookie-cutter

material, such Fiery Phoenix or token old man Master Sage. Then there’s Divine

Fist, who is the spitting image of Jet Li, and the various women, all of whom

have big chests that flop around like water balloons in their pre-fight katas.

Like every fighting game since Greco-Roman wrestling, you pick a guy and try

to beat up the other guy. The simplest way to do this is Arcade mode, but Tao

Feng doesn’t have one in the classic sense. Rather, they’ve renamed it Versus

mode, a title usually reserved for multiplayer games. You can set up a one-on-one

fight here against the computer or a human, though it’s just a single match

sans any kind of plot. When you win or lose, you simply get a ‘Game Over’ screen

and the choice to fight again or set up a new one. It’s a bit confusing, I know.

The real main single-player mode is Quest, which puts you up against

the 6 characters from the other side in a three-fall brawl. However, you get

to choose which order to fight them in, which is nice if you like doing more

work than you should have to do in a fighting game. I suppose it’s handy in

terms of strategy – regardless of the order, things gradually get harder, so

if you’re scared of one opponent in particular, you can choose to fight them

early on when they’re easier.

At any rate, Quest mode falls far short of delivering a decent single-player

experience. There is no FMV to flesh out the plot and there’s a total lack of

any sort of ending FMV after you beat all 6 characters in the other clan. Rather,

you just get spit back out to the Character Select screen with the character

you just played as blacked out. Very shoddy work.

If you manage to beat the other clan with all 6 characters on your side, you

get to fight the game’s only boss. Beat him and you’ll get one of two unsatisfying

ending FMVs (one per clan). Even Street Fighter II gave you specific

ending sequences for the different fighters.

Once you tire of the Quest debacle, you can try out a few other ubiquitous modes. There’s standard Survival mode as well as a Team Battle. Multiplayer modes include Versus and a Tournament. There are also two types of Training, both of which do an adequate job of showing you the ropes.

But regardless of the mode, the gameplay is not up to snuff. In addition to

basic moves, each character has a few specific combos. The combos are essential

to doing any real damage, but there is no ‘combo breaking’ move to stop one

in progress. The computer never screws theirs up, so if the first punch hits

you, you could be in for a quick, unavoidable wallop.

Tao

Feng is in full 3D, which means you can sidestep like a madman. But it also

means that the camera has to keep up, and in this case it’s asking too much.

Presumably to avoid having objects obscure the field of vision, the camera sometimes

swings around randomly and winds up with an opposite view of the action. While

you were just holding ‘back’ to guard a combo, you’re now pressing ‘towards’

and wind up getting nailed. It’s aggravating and stupid.

You also have a Chi meter, which increases as you do damage. When it’s full

you can pull of one of three Chi moves per character, which cannot be blocked

(though they can miss or be interrupted). You can also use your Chi meter to

heal limb damage, which is one of the game’s innovative design concepts.

By blocking attacks, you’ll gradually be warned against possible damage to

either your arms or legs. If you take a fall when the warning is red, your arm

or leg attacks are less effective. It’s a good idea, but it would have been

much more interesting if it was broken down into four sections (one for each

limb) rather than just arms or legs in general.

Tao Feng tries to add more innovation in its environments. The levels

are pretty big, and if you hit a guy into a wall or other debris, he’ll take

extra damage. You can also bounce off walls to get out of a jam or swing on

poles for some big attacks. Again, good ideas, but only marginally useful.

At least it looks okay, thanks to a smooth engine. The character models look

good (despite the gratuitous boobage) and the motion capture is at times impressive.

Fighters show wear and damage as the fight progresses. But once things get going,

you’ll notice plenty of overly jerky movement, which makes it look like the

older MK games from which it is clearly derived. The Chi moves tend to

add some flash, but also lead to framerate chugs.

Tao Feng winds up being a study in game design do’s and don’ts. DO

take innovative chances (limb damage, interactive environments), but DON’T sacrifice

FMV. DO give characters combos, but DON’T make them unbreakable. DO add plenty

of extras, but DON’T, um, well, DON’T forget that one.

And while you’re at it, DON’T bother dropping any cash on Tao Feng.

This lotus should only grow in the bargain bin.