Virtua Fighter 3TB is a good catch on Dreamcast, even if it isn't the lengthiest fighting game on the system.
Virtua Fighter is one of the few fighters to have relied on so very few characters which are very well balanced in comparison to games like Tekken or Dead or Alive. It is also one of the few beat em' ups that always stays true to its formula with each release, with upgrades never being so dramatic or so minimal that really makes it accessable to all players.
Even if you join into this fantastic franchise with Virtua Fighter 3TB on the Dreamcast, you'll be over-joyed by how easy it is to jump into the game, how perfectly the game actually plays on the system and how wonderous some of the stand-out gameplay features are like.
Make no mistake that this is beautiful creation of a Dreamcast game, with very solid graphics, even three years after its release. the visuals are very speedy in this title and they stay very true to playing like the coin monster it was in the arcade. Genki have done a good job in sending over the game to the Dreamcast. As a result, all the details, textures and polygons are correctly rendered with blinking eyes, animated clothing and glossy effects such as reflective surfaces.
The game also has a cracking soundtrack, something that makes it much apart of the Virtua Fighter series. The developers have used musical themes presented in both Virtua Fighter 1 and 2 and good quality sound effects to make this incarnation of the series much like the previous ones.
Granted, the voice acting isn't the best, but more than acceptable for the type of game this is. It is terrific to hear the new booming voice of the announcer, regardless, on the whole, the music is neither truely magnificent or memorable.
The real draw-in for Virtua Fighter has to be the gameplay though, something that really sticks this out as a game. The game isn't one that punishes you for not knowing vast combos or complicated special moves, like in games such as Street Fighter and King of Fighters, but rather on how you time moves.
Virtua Fighter 3TB is no button basher, and relies on tactical thinking in order to win fights. Of course, otherwise it plays like any other beat em' up. The premises is to knock out your enemies by draining their health away with punches, grabs and kicks. Virtua Fighter 3TB also uses the ring out rule, which is less commonly used in a fighter today, but making a welcome return anyway.
VF3TB is also different as it doesn't stretch out the button patterns and sequences normally expected in the type of game it is. This means that learning combos and stronger attacks are all a little too easy, but also this makes a lovely change for the same reason. The game doesn't torture you to get better at it. Giving the player their own ideal pace at improving themselves in the game.
Despite all this triumphs in VF3TB however, it lacks in terms of lifespan and actual content. This is more or less just the arcade port featuring both the one-on-one modes and Team Battle, which is overly hyped up, despite being a regular in other fighting games, long before Virtua Fighter 3TB.
There are still no endings, still no extras worth playing for, and no hidden characters. All this combined makes a huge difference to the overall lifespan of the game. There is replay value in the actual addiction of the game, and improvement of arcade mode times, ranking, etc. Yet even that can't compensate for whatever else we've experienced in other fighters on other systems, and Dreamcast.
Interestingly, there is a mode that shows a short video of all the characters in CGI, as well as one that shows the game's history and 3D roots, but these are both time wasters rather than must get endings. These endings, also don't match the quality of the ones from Tekken 3, which had cinematic qualities they were that well designed and executed.
Virtua Fighter 3TB on Dreamcast still is a good catch for anyone who decides to buy it for the system. You can take note that the playability isn't the lengthiest in a fighting game, but put that aside and it is a great game for the system.
Added that the price for the game new and sealed is still less for £10 in the UK, and the fact few fighting games have ever had this much attention to the sheer combat and gameplay features, true gamers will keep playing this for a very long time rightly because of the reasons just stated.
Yet this isn't the best on offer even then, and if you want the real deal on Dreamcast, go find yourself Soul Calibur, Dead or Alive 2 or Power Stone instead.