Tao Feng Fist of the Lotus Screenshots   The Final Say! Gameplay 6.0 Graphics 7.0 Sound 6.0 Value 5.0 Tao Feng Fist of the Lotus  - reviewed by Ryan Raybould Review Date: 01 June 2003 Review Score: 6.5/10 Not based on an average  Distributed By: Microsoft

The co-creator of “Mortal Kombat” brings a fierce hand to hand fighting game to the XBox, brilliant it isn’t but if you like soppy brutality than this might just be your cup of tea.   Tao Feng Fist of the Lotus Features Players 1-2 Memory Unit Genre: Fighting Rating: M+ Dolby Digital In-game Arcade Stick “Tao Feng” takes place in Metro-China, a largely populated city in the fictional country of New China, which occupies the Pacific Coast of North America. The story of the game is based upon two ancient Chinese sects who have been at conflict for many years. These two sects are known as the Pale Lotus and The Black Mantis.  There are many game modes in Tao Feng as is expected with any fighting game. There are six modes all up, these are: Versus: One or two players can compete – every thing is customizable from character selection to the scene where the fight will take place. Quest: Play through the “Tao Feng” story line, choosing a sect and trying to recover the two tablets of the Pale Lotus Temple and subsequently find the lost treasures. Survival: The player has to attempt to stay alive while battling their way through a series of computer-controlled characters. Team Battle: One or two players can compete – player can choose two to six different characters and the order in which they will fight. When all characters are defeated the other team wins. Tournament: A tournament with 4 two 8 players – randomly paired off to fight each other, points are won for each fight won. The final tournament winner ends up with all the points. Training: Here the player learns moves against a computer-controlled opponent. A display on the screen shows the player what buttons to push to get a certain maneuver.   The controls in the game take sometime to adapt to. Each character has there own set of moves, these can be brought up during a fight to help button bashes like myself. The first time I played this game the left thumbstick was turned off. This made moving around during a fight very restricted. Later I found a way to turn this on, which made the game all the more enjoyable.

The actual fights in the game are slightly disappointing. After sometime of attempting to use strategies the best way to be competitive against the AI opponents was to give the controller a beating. The AI opponents in the game are very difficult even on the low settings. One thing that continually frustrated me throughout this game is that I would have the AI opponent almost KO’d but be unable to make contact with an attack so subsequently would be retaliated against and be beaten. 

The characters in the game are interesting, but sadly their charm wears off very quickly and becomes extremely stale after little time. Repetitious conversations and un-motivating voices make winning a fight no more rewarding than losing one, except that you are one step closer to finishing the game. 

Part of the reason of the interest in the characters is the amount of playable characters (12 in total) straight out of the case. As in most fighting games, character selection is vital in the result of a fight and adapting to characters special moves, to obtain an edge in a fight is critical and this game thankfully has that to offer. 

One thing this game does have going for is its ability to become slightly addictive. The player is motivated to continue fighting in the hope of going one step further in modes such as survival. However after being KO’d continually because of the lack of innovation in the control system, hope is slowly lost and resulting in the Xbox being sadly switched off. 

The graphics are detailed and the game has special effects in abundance, which at times shows off the power of the Xbox very nicely. A creative touch on the game is the simulated damage to the characters as they are beaten-up. At times however I found the damage to look the same, rather than accurately depict the damage being inflicted. The game has a limb-damage system but I found this to have little impact on the fights in anyway. 

The soundtrack in the game is clear but repetitious and slowly becomes very annoying. The music in the game is very suitable for where the game is set, and the effects noises are also accurate, it is just a shame about the voices. For those who like quality sound the game offers In-game Dolby Digital.  

The game allows for multiplayer up to 2 players. It would be nice to see a fighting game include 4 player fights rather than a tag team alternative. 

I would love to say Tao Feng as a game is great and a real asset to the fighting genre available on the Xbox, but sadly it isn’t. The quantities are there but the quality is lack luster. For the hardcore console fighter only!

- Ryan Raybould