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Virtua Fighter 3TB

Dreamcast (Import)

1-2 players

Well my copy of the so called "best 3-D fighting game on any console ever!" has finally arrived and it is time to see what old ZT thought eh? Well to start off I am one of THE biggest fighting game nuts in the world and love to brawl on just about any console. I am a huge fan of classic series like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and of course Tekken. All of these series have brought fighting games to the next level and Sega hoped to bring it even further with the release of Virtua Fighter 3TB.

What does the TB stand for anyways? Well it stands for "Team Battle", and it means just that. You start off by choosing a certain number of characters and you work as a team to make your way through the game. This is of course accompanied by the traditional Arcade one-on-one mode and a mediocre training mode. There is, in fact, no Vs. battle at the main option screen...! This totally sucks...but you can still play two players if the second palyer hits start during one of your fights. You obviously have to keep your current character, but this isnt all bad.

With so many options what about the gameplay? Well I have played just about every fighting game on the face of the planet and there are a few that stand out amongst the rest i.e. Dead or Alive, Tekken Series, and of course the infamous Street Fighter Series. VF3 has finally done something great in this category, following in the footsteps of DoA it has added a reversal system to its array of moves. This is becoming more commonplace among fighters nowadays and is very welcome in ZT's fighting handbook. I love reversals they add so much more to the battle. There is also a grapple system very similar to Tekken's and the moves are standard, one punch button and one kick. There is also an evade button which allows your player to dash left, right, up, or down to dodge oncoming attacks. This is also a great addition and there is also the traditional block button.

Now with the part everyone wants to know about...the graphics...do they match up to the arcade?? In one single word...YES! This game is absolutely beautiful, the backgrounds are truly amazing and the detail in the characters is astonishing. There is no longer just a flat surface with some plastered background done in weak 2-D sprites, these babies are true 3-D. The effects in the stages i.e. Wolf's sand in his level are so detailed you can actually see your footprints as you move around, its beautiful. The characters are just as equally beautiful, sporting thousands upon thousands of polygons each! The characters clothes are also free-flowing, which means that they react on how you move in real-time. This is a marvelous game to just gaze upon and drool with delight.

Now I must strike the badpoints...well lets see....ummmm...Hmmm..?? Oh yeah yeah yeah, I almost forgot "bad" points heehee. There are very few to speak of, first off is the "not perfect" arcade-to-home translation. The polygon counts are not as high as the arcade and some of the backgrounds do not sport as much detail as the arcade. Ya know what though??? I DONT CARE!!! This game is incredible and deserves to be in any fighting game fanatics library of Dreamcast games.

In the end it is sad but now I must depart to play some more VF3 and some Powerstone another review that shall be posted here soon. So, so long and have fun and as always happy hunting!!! This is ZT saying see-ya.

Graphics--9.5

Sound--9.0

Control--9.5

Replay--9.5

OVERALL--9.5

This is an excellent game and should be gazed upon as a blessing from the heavens of fighting games.

ZeroTolerance