Virtua Fighter 4 its the ultimate fighting game.
Great graphics, awsome backgrounds, arenas etc..., great character design, nothing was left behind in this game.
Virtua fighter 4 arenas have a simple thing that goes a big way around, in some arenas when you fall to the ground it breaks, or if your in the snow, by walking in it, your footspets become parte of the scenario as well as an arena in the water where the water efects are awsome.
For a fighting game you can't have better graphics.
Sound:
Nice soundtrack with great sound effects makes the sound in virtua fighter 4 very good, try hitting your enemys stomach will make a different sound from hitting the head or a foot, every sound you can imagine are there.
Gameplay:
I see people rating this game with a dissapointing review and I am almost sure it is because of the gameplay, this is an hardcore fighting game so you can't go into a battle and button mash cause it will do simply nothing, your character will just stand still.
In other games like Tekken or Soul calibur you use the training section the learn more tricks, combos, new punchs and kicks to become a better fighter, In Virtua Fighter 4 you go to the training section not to learn more and become better, you go there to learn how to fight, if you want to finish Virtua Fighter 4 in EASY mode you need to go training and only when you know the basics you'll be able to conquer the game, if you wish to conquer the game in its max difficulty than you have lots of work to do.
I'll say the learning curve its about 1 to 2 hours, but to master it you'll need much more than that.
Life time:
While other games focus on extras and unlocking characters and endings, Virtua Fighter 4 focus on the fighting improvement, you will need many hours of play to master Virtua Fighter 4, There is a mode where you can rank up with your favorite character, to reach to top you have to master your character and to really master your favorite character you'll need to spend many hours fighting...
So you can count on lots of hours to really master and conquer Virtua Fighter 4.
Final Comments:
Some people will say Virtua Fighter 4 its the greatest fighting game of all time, others will hate it. I love it because of its hardcore gameplay, great graphics and awsome ambient, if you really like fighting games you should purchase this game, but, if you are an ocasional fighter than don't even bother playing this game cause you won't find nothing interesting in it.