Besides the usual punches, attacks, and combinations the other method of attack is Chi attacks. As you land blows on your opponent, you build up a Chi meter, when the meter is full you can either unleash a Chi attack or you can heal limb damage. Each character has 2-3 different Chi attacks. What’s nice is that you can use these attacks in different ways. Some are straight knock down attacks, and some stun your opponent allowing you to move in and pull a combo. This is nice since different situations allow you to use different attacks.
Tao Feng’s 12 levels in the game are well designed and huge. Each level has smaller side areas, which you can fight in. This is good and bad as it offers some diversity to the game but you can get trapped in them as well. The maps are probably one of the best parts of the game and much effort was put into them and making each one unique. Each environment is equipped with unique objects that the player can interact with, including marble floors that crack when characters are slammed into them, electrical panels that explode when you are tossed into them, or posts that you can leap off of and attack your opponent from. The post idea is pretty cool but it’s a little repetitive and overused. If you don’t turn on the indicator to let you know what is interactive you can miss what’s available to use in the game. It would also have been nice to have some more diversity with these attacks. Something I’m sure is being worked on for a sequel. In the same vein, you have the ability to attack off walls. Once you get close to a wall, you pull the right trigger and your character will leap off the wall and attack your opponent. This is tricky to get used to at first since you have to be properly positioned to pull it off. It’s cool once you get the hang of it,though and is something pretty new to the genre.
The game does have some flaws, which really hurt it in comparison to other games like Mortal Kombat:Deadly Alliance. The first is the lack of depth. There are the standard modes but there is only one unlockable map and one unlockable character. Once you finish the single player mode, there’s really not much to work though. Compared to other current fighters like Mortal Kombat: Dark Alliance (which had a bajillion unlockable items) and the game feels a little shallow. Another nuance is the camera. When the characters get near a wall, the camera will suddenly shift sides, which can be a pain when you are trying to land a combo or perform a juggle. After a while, you can almost predict it but it still distracts from the game.
Another gripe is that whenever you end a round or cause limb damage on a character, the game forces you to watch a cinematic of the character getting up. This is kind of cool the first five to 10 times and then it gets and stays old. You can skip part of it but it still distracts from the flow of the game. Another minor distraction is the absolutely awful dialogue. I think it might be intentional and something of an homage but what starts off kind of funny gets old quickly.
One last minor complaint, if you say you are putting demos on the disc actually put playable demos on the disc and not just videos.
The game is a solid fighter and a lot of fun to play, especially against other people. The game is an evolution over current fighters but the lack of real depth in the single player mode and few unlockable items limit the replay value. If you have someone to play with, then the game is a lot of fun but if not then you may want to rent it first to see if it’s worth your dinero. Hopefully, there will be a Tao Feng 2 that takes the concepts developed in the first one and brings them to the next level.
B
Tao Feng is beautiful and a lot of fun but it’s flawed and there’s not much depth to the game.
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