Review - Sega Superstars: Virtua Fighter

Esco · 12th December 2005, 01:20 AM

And now for something completely different.

Ever wanted to be in a fighting game? Virtua Fighter (one of twelve games in the Sega Superstars EyeToy compilation) is the quickest and easiest solution.

The title screen, high score table, and various fighters.

VF is an interactive fighting game which is very simple and easy to learn. You fight three 90-second matches in a row versus random opponents from Virtua Fighter 4: Akira, Jacky, Sarah, Kage, or Jeffry. Win against all three and you receive a total score. A top score rewards you with a snapshot for the high score table with three photo frames to choose from. Easy is the initial setting, Medium and Hard must be unlocked by beating the previous difficulty.

The EyeToy requires a well-lit area to fully detect the player's body, it might also have trouble picking you up if your colors blend into the background so keep that in mind. By making any motion within an "Attack" icon on the opponent, it will register as a hit. Moving within a "Block" icon over your body will snuff an incoming attack. It is not difficult to determine the general size of the hitboxes, however if you strike within the wrong area the opponent will automatically block. Continuous attacks will build a combo counter. Once past the fifth hit, a "tunnel" effect (Hyper Mode) will activate and let you attack successively until you either miss or the enemy collapses. You can block an attack once a combo has started and the counter will continue to increase unless you take damage. The VF characters will use many signature moves against you. Voices, sound effects and music are all lifted faithfully from VF4.

Top: A successful Block, Mid Attack, Low Attack, High Attack

Bottom: Elbow, Headbutt, Hyper Mode, Excellent!

The EyeToy does not require much distance to be played effectively, only about a five foot distance from the camera. The conventional way to play is by facing your right and turning your head toward the TV, which can be awkward and easily wear out one side of your body. A simple solution is to face the television and place the EyeToy on your left so you can move naturally without your head turned. The body outline displayed in the first few seconds of each round shows they intend for you to play with your whole body, but the game becomes much easier the closer you are to the camera.

Easy mode is slow-paced and accomodating. You have about a full second to Attack or Block when icons appear. The opponent will mostly attack just once, and only up to three times in a row. You can pace yourself comfortably and use your whole body to strike. Easy is where the bulk of the enjoyment is, but I'll get back to that later.

Medium HUGELY ramps up the difficulty. Attack icons appear farther away and disappear faster, so you have to be closer to the camera to win. Your block icons appear much farther away from each other. The reaction time is cut in half so combos are much more difficult (but not impossible). Medium introduces the Counter icon, which will appear above or below Attack icons. If you strike the Counter by accident, the opponent will take a good chunk of your life off. Opponents will also attack up to 5 or 6 times in a row at blazing speed and varying heights. You have little chance to use anything other than quick jabs.

The only way to win at Hard is by standing so close to the camera that your torso fills your side of the screen and continually waving one arm across your body to block whatever insanely fast fusillade is coming at you while keeping the other arm ready to TRY to hit the opponent when an Attack icon appears for a quarter second. You might get a two hit combo if you're lucky. The AI will basically run you over with a constant barrage, often only give Attack icons WHILE you're blocking, and Counter the ever living snot out of you. It's literally impossible to play using your whole body. I assume Dural is the last character since she appears on one of the high score frames with the other five characters, but I haven't managed to reach the third round.

So if Easy's so easy and the other difficulties so restricting, why play this game? The game by itself may not seem to be anything too special, but that's because how much fun you have is wholly dependent on your enthusiasm & creativity as opposed to a typical sit-down gaming experience. With EyeToy it is entirely up to you to make it fun, they just present the scene. YOU are IN THE GAME. Once you realize you can do whatever the fuck you want to slap the crap out of the AI, that's when the real fun begins.

Since you can set the pace for yourself on Easy mode you're free to take risks. Want to get your Bruce Lee on, work your inner Jin/Mugen, or just blow off some steam? You can do that. Wield a bat, swing a sword, whip your nunchucks, rubber chicken, makeshift homey sock, fight standing backwards. Challenge yourself to win using only one arm, one leg, one type of attack, only your head, just knees or elbows, anything you can think of. You don't have to know how to fight or throw a proper kick. If you can move, you can play.

Here's an example of how I made it more fun. As a martial artist, I want to utilize my dexterity, so I restricted myself to kicks like so:

Afterward, I tried to do as many jumping kicks as possible:

Then tried to land some of the most difficult moves I could manage without crashing into the wall.

I have to re-emphasize that you don't need to know how to fight. Your options are limited only to your imagination, physical ability, and whatever you might have lying around the house.

As you've no doubt surmised from my pictures, VF can be an excellent form of cardiovascular exercise. Even just doing simple boxing for three to five rounds can be one hell of a workout. It's also a very convenient way to build up a good sweat in the comfort of your home, especially during the winter season.

Virtua Fighter can be great fun, great exercise, even great therapy, all depending on how much energy you put into it. If it's not fun, that's YOUR fault.

My only faults with the game are that I would've liked to see more VF characters in it (Lau and Pai would've fit fine), a selectable number of rounds would've been nice, and Medium & Hard are too difficult to use your whole body. Other than that it's the best game on the Sega Superstars disc for how much potential you can wring out of it.

Score: 8/10

I bet DYLE wishes he'd charged me more for the EyeToy.

Extra pics: Two aerials and a backflip (some lucky double-hits at that) and the body outline that appears in the first few seconds.

Esco · 12th December 2005, 01:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EscoZG

I bet DYLE wishes he'd charged me more for the EyeToy.

Quote:

09:13] <Internet> I shoulda charged Esco more for the Eyetoy lol

LOL CRAMP

***Utils*** · 12th December 2005, 03:05 AM

Told you guys it was eyetoy.

Mr. Pointy · 12th December 2005, 03:07 AM

I'm imagining Aoi in this game trying to counter your ass, Esco.

Ultima · 12th December 2005, 03:31 AM

HOly shit. Esco makes a great SF character. In fact, he's got "male Elena" right there. Those moves can map perfectly to LP/MP/HP and LK/MK/HK standing and jumping and jumping forward! He even has an overhead (F + HK? F + HP?). All he needs to do is 6 crouching attacks and we're set. o_O

Jumping MP is a cross up.

Ultima · 12th December 2005, 03:31 AM

Esco, you did this on purpose didn't you?

TODE · 12th December 2005, 04:31 AM

This should be in a magazine or something (hint hint)

Frietstof · 12th December 2005, 05:39 AM

Having a stuntguy do reviews DOES make them better.

Can't wait for your Karaoke Stage review, Esco :D

***Internet*** · 12th December 2005, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EscoZG

LOL CRAMP

ONE MAN'S TRASH!

The Million Dollar Street Fighter Fan · 12th December 2005, 11:33 AM

Damn, I would love to buy me this, too bad that I can't find this game ever since they started selling the Eyetoys seperately (I.E. without a game packed in)

Oh well, I could buy me an Eyetoy basically for the camera features in DDR Extreme 1 and 2 for the PS2.

Esco · 12th December 2005, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ultima

HOly shit. Esco makes a great SF character. In fact, he's got "male Elena" right there. Those moves can map perfectly to LP/MP/HP and LK/MK/HK standing and jumping and jumping forward! He even has an overhead (F + HK? F + HP?). All he needs to do is 6 crouching attacks and we're set. o_O

Jumping MP is a cross up.

LOL Ultima.

Forget about your troubles and realize the harmony around us! HEEHEEHEEHEE *THUD*

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ultima

Esco, you did this on purpose didn't you?

If you're talking about taking pictures like a moveset, I didn't, I just put together shots I liked.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Friestof

Can't wait for your Karaoke Stage review, Esco :D

NOPE. Nope. No no no.

Although I WOULD take a stab at reviewing that EyeToy: Kinetic game. Not sure there are many other people here that would ever think of playing that though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanFAN

Damn, I would love to buy me this, too bad that I can't find this game ever since they started selling the Eyetoys seperately

I lucked out I guess. Sega Superstars is only $20 new and I found one in a little game store down the street from me. Gamestop sells it used for $15 on their site.

***Blaze*** · 12th December 2005, 01:42 PM

My goodness man, you make the most compellling advertisment for Eyetoy that I've ever seen! Awesome article, Esco.

I'll second Tode's suggestion - get this printed in HGM. It's a shoe-in.

Esco · 12th December 2005, 04:33 PM

I dunno if they'd take a long-ass review by a non-staffer on a game that's over a year old. But it'd be nice.

TODE · 12th December 2005, 06:16 PM

It's a neat idea for reviewing a game, though, and I don't know that mag or review site has ever done something like this for a cam-game review.

Krzyzewski Man · 12th December 2005, 07:17 PM

I'll post this at the MMCafe; another one worthy of insertcredit.com.

Vic Viper · 13th December 2005, 06:49 AM

Esco = Top Tier

Now I want to get this game. Need more EyeToy games besides DDR: Extreme and DDR: Extreme 2.

***Internet*** · 13th December 2005, 06:58 AM

My only problem is that my Eyetoy didn't come with SLICK MOVEZ.

Esco is the only person who can both play eyetoy and not look like a faggot. I swear. GEL did this and we all shit and vomited at the same time.

***Hit Parade*** · 13th December 2005, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EscoZG

Watch me AWESOME guys!

I hate you. I love you.

Esco · 13th December 2005, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Do YOU Like Erotic?

Esco is the only person who can both play eyetoy and not look like a faggot. I swear. GEL did this and we all shit and vomited at the same time.

I still haven't touched Space Channel 5. Only a hot nude woman could make that game great.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hit Parade

I hate you. I love you.

oo er

***Hit Parade*** · 13th December 2005, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EscoZG

oo er

Seriously, dude. You got me knockin on your door like a true nigga. "Can I borrow a cup of badass?"

12th December 2005, 01:20 AM	#1
Esco Chun Buns Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Canoga Park Posts: 3,365	Review - Sega Superstars: Virtua Fighter And now for something completely different. Ever wanted to be in a fighting game? Virtua Fighter (one of twelve games in the Sega Superstars EyeToy compilation) is the quickest and easiest solution. The title screen, high score table, and various fighters. VF is an interactive fighting game which is very simple and easy to learn. You fight three 90-second matches in a row versus random opponents from Virtua Fighter 4: Akira, Jacky, Sarah, Kage, or Jeffry. Win against all three and you receive a total score. A top score rewards you with a snapshot for the high score table with three photo frames to choose from. Easy is the initial setting, Medium and Hard must be unlocked by beating the previous difficulty. The EyeToy requires a well-lit area to fully detect the player's body, it might also have trouble picking you up if your colors blend into the background so keep that in mind. By making any motion within an "Attack" icon on the opponent, it will register as a hit. Moving within a "Block" icon over your body will snuff an incoming attack. It is not difficult to determine the general size of the hitboxes, however if you strike within the wrong area the opponent will automatically block. Continuous attacks will build a combo counter. Once past the fifth hit, a "tunnel" effect (Hyper Mode) will activate and let you attack successively until you either miss or the enemy collapses. You can block an attack once a combo has started and the counter will continue to increase unless you take damage. The VF characters will use many signature moves against you. Voices, sound effects and music are all lifted faithfully from VF4. Top: A successful Block, Mid Attack, Low Attack, High Attack Bottom: Elbow, Headbutt, Hyper Mode, Excellent! The EyeToy does not require much distance to be played effectively, only about a five foot distance from the camera. The conventional way to play is by facing your right and turning your head toward the TV, which can be awkward and easily wear out one side of your body. A simple solution is to face the television and place the EyeToy on your left so you can move naturally without your head turned. The body outline displayed in the first few seconds of each round shows they intend for you to play with your whole body, but the game becomes much easier the closer you are to the camera. Easy mode is slow-paced and accomodating. You have about a full second to Attack or Block when icons appear. The opponent will mostly attack just once, and only up to three times in a row. You can pace yourself comfortably and use your whole body to strike. Easy is where the bulk of the enjoyment is, but I'll get back to that later. Medium HUGELY ramps up the difficulty. Attack icons appear farther away and disappear faster, so you have to be closer to the camera to win. Your block icons appear much farther away from each other. The reaction time is cut in half so combos are much more difficult (but not impossible). Medium introduces the Counter icon, which will appear above or below Attack icons. If you strike the Counter by accident, the opponent will take a good chunk of your life off. Opponents will also attack up to 5 or 6 times in a row at blazing speed and varying heights. You have little chance to use anything other than quick jabs. The only way to win at Hard is by standing so close to the camera that your torso fills your side of the screen and continually waving one arm across your body to block whatever insanely fast fusillade is coming at you while keeping the other arm ready to TRY to hit the opponent when an Attack icon appears for a quarter second. You might get a two hit combo if you're lucky. The AI will basically run you over with a constant barrage, often only give Attack icons WHILE you're blocking, and Counter the ever living snot out of you. It's literally impossible to play using your whole body. I assume Dural is the last character since she appears on one of the high score frames with the other five characters, but I haven't managed to reach the third round. So if Easy's so easy and the other difficulties so restricting, why play this game? The game by itself may not seem to be anything too special, but that's because how much fun you have is wholly dependent on your enthusiasm & creativity as opposed to a typical sit-down gaming experience. With EyeToy it is entirely up to you to make it fun, they just present the scene. YOU are IN THE GAME. Once you realize you can do whatever the fuck you want to slap the crap out of the AI, that's when the real fun begins. Since you can set the pace for yourself on Easy mode you're free to take risks. Want to get your Bruce Lee on, work your inner Jin/Mugen, or just blow off some steam? You can do that. Wield a bat, swing a sword, whip your nunchucks, rubber chicken, makeshift homey sock, fight standing backwards. Challenge yourself to win using only one arm, one leg, one type of attack, only your head, just knees or elbows, anything you can think of. You don't have to know how to fight or throw a proper kick. If you can move, you can play. Here's an example of how I made it more fun. As a martial artist, I want to utilize my dexterity, so I restricted myself to kicks like so: Afterward, I tried to do as many jumping kicks as possible: Then tried to land some of the most difficult moves I could manage without crashing into the wall. I have to re-emphasize that you don't need to know how to fight. Your options are limited only to your imagination, physical ability, and whatever you might have lying around the house. As you've no doubt surmised from my pictures, VF can be an excellent form of cardiovascular exercise. Even just doing simple boxing for three to five rounds can be one hell of a workout. It's also a very convenient way to build up a good sweat in the comfort of your home, especially during the winter season. Virtua Fighter can be great fun, great exercise, even great therapy, all depending on how much energy you put into it. If it's not fun, that's YOUR fault. My only faults with the game are that I would've liked to see more VF characters in it (Lau and Pai would've fit fine), a selectable number of rounds would've been nice, and Medium & Hard are too difficult to use your whole body. Other than that it's the best game on the Sega Superstars disc for how much potential you can wring out of it. Score: 8/10 I bet DYLE wishes he'd charged me more for the EyeToy. Extra pics: Two aerials and a backflip (some lucky double-hits at that) and the body outline that appears in the first few seconds. __________________ Esco's Blog - Escology.com - DeviantART Last edited by Esco; 12th December 2005 at 02:10 AM.

12th December 2005, 03:05 AM	#3
*Utils* See ya in August! Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 14,065	Told you guys it was eyetoy. __________________ "It's pretty awesome how one of us is one of the few who now owns a Gold Mad Catz TE stick. I hope Maj doesn't actually use it though."

12th December 2005, 03:31 AM	#5
Ultima Muay Thai is the 5th strongest in the world! Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Trinidad, West Indies Posts: 10,431	HOly shit. Esco makes a great SF character. In fact, he's got "male Elena" right there. Those moves can map perfectly to LP/MP/HP and LK/MK/HK standing and jumping and jumping forward! He even has an overhead (F + HK? F + HP?). All he needs to do is 6 crouching attacks and we're set. o_O Jumping MP is a cross up. __________________ Ultima - The Right Arm of Scrub Voltron Ultima's Rambling Page Street Fighter Perfect Project Ver. 4.5 \| Discussion

12th December 2005, 03:31 AM	#6
Ultima Muay Thai is the 5th strongest in the world! Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Trinidad, West Indies Posts: 10,431	Esco, you did this on purpose didn't you? __________________ Ultima - The Right Arm of Scrub Voltron Ultima's Rambling Page Street Fighter Perfect Project Ver. 4.5 \| Discussion

12th December 2005, 04:31 AM	#7
TODE you still got it Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Oregon Posts: 19,869	This should be in a magazine or something (hint hint) __________________ blog \| twitter \| bookstore \| ebay

12th December 2005, 03:07 AM	#4
Mr. Pointy Sega Creamcast Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Darwin, Aus. Posts: 6,924	I'm imagining Aoi in this game trying to counter your ass, Esco.

12th December 2005, 05:39 AM	#8
Frietstof Doing it '02 style Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Amsterdam Posts: 3,220	Having a stuntguy do reviews DOES make them better. Can't wait for your Karaoke Stage review, Esco :D __________________ "Here you go guys! The game the rest of the world got 8 months ago, censored, and running 17% slower!" "Thanks."

12th December 2005, 11:33 AM	#10
The Million Dollar Street Fighter Fan YOU PRESSED THE WRONG BUTTON!! Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Hawaii Posts: 5,903	Damn, I would love to buy me this, too bad that I can't find this game ever since they started selling the Eyetoys seperately (I.E. without a game packed in) Oh well, I could buy me an Eyetoy basically for the camera features in DDR Extreme 1 and 2 for the PS2. __________________ Wii Smash Bros. Brawl Code: 0817-3443-2560 I need a challenge.

12th December 2005, 04:33 PM	#13
Esco Chun Buns Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Canoga Park Posts: 3,365	I dunno if they'd take a long-ass review by a non-staffer on a game that's over a year old. But it'd be nice. __________________ Esco's Blog - Escology.com - DeviantART

12th December 2005, 06:16 PM	#14
TODE you still got it Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Oregon Posts: 19,869	It's a neat idea for reviewing a game, though, and I don't know that mag or review site has ever done something like this for a cam-game review. __________________ blog \| twitter \| bookstore \| ebay

12th December 2005, 07:17 PM	#15
Krzyzewski Man doodz i found holden Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Springfield, MO Posts: 1,263	I'll post this at the MMCafe; another one worthy of insertcredit.com.

13th December 2005, 06:49 AM	#16
Vic Viper Shinobi-nobi-nobi Shinobi-nobi!!! Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 6,343	Esco = Top Tier Now I want to get this game. Need more EyeToy games besides DDR: Extreme and DDR: Extreme 2. __________________ You will obey Hypno Sanae!!!!

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