Toshinden's flashy graphics will only dazzle you for five minutes before you regret the lack of content it has to offer
So let's go through the good points: Toshinden had lovely visuals. In comparison to other Playstation games around the same time, not many of them matched the quality of the game.
The frame-rate felt smooth, it wasn't as fast a Tekken but far smoother when put side by side while being played. Because of this, animations tended to look OK, although with that in mind, they weren't necessarily the best either.
The environments were vastly detailed with goraud shaded objects throughout the game and making good use of the Playstation's capabilities. Characters looked cartoony but they suited the scheme of the game and isn't worth complaining about when it's in a full 3D arena.
The sound was also good. It felt cheesy at times, but it's a fighting game we're talking about, it's pretty much required now. Voice acting also did the job but once again, weird. The characters sounded stupid or mentally challenged, clearly not much effort was put into it as a result.
Infact the whole game of Toshinden feels unoriginal. The story, character design and gameplay functions have all been used at least in one other fighting game before this one.
Now there is nothing wrong with using formulas that are known to work, but developers should be able to at least incorporate some kind of original gameplay function alongside it. Toshinden fails to do so.
It's odd that the gameplay feels simplistic swell, yet still able to confuse and frustrate gamers because of its design. The configurations of the game are poor and odd to say the least. With certain buttons doing unexpected movements and changes that would be unthinkable in a game like this.
Although if you pass this issue, the game itself is pretty damn easy. The move list is that simple that you can perform the same special move constantly and win the game, unlike Tekken or even Virtua Fighter.
Eventually, you'll come across the expected boss who is clearer cheaper than other characters but yet again also easy to defeat, It's not hard to play Toshinden all the way through and discover it's few (weak) secrets.
Endings are lacklustre, infact the whole special move business that is to be discovered are lackluster because they make incredibly poor use of the Playstation with endless screens of text with little replay value.
So now that I've pretty covered about Toshinden all I have to say is it's not something I'd recommend if you're after the best. Beat em' up fans that are hard pressed for another game may find Battle Arena Toshinden an excellent addition to their collection and I'll agree with them on that.
There are entertainment values to be discovered in Toshinden and while the game will impress and entertain for 5 minutes, gamers will find it hard not to be disappointed by the sheer lack of content the game itself has.