Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus

The best fighting game currently out for the Xbox.

The bottom line on this game is not simple. The game takes risks and tries things never before done in any fighting game.

The grabs are devastating, the Chi attacks look cool, and the strategy involved is compelling. Definitely worth your $50.

This is the single best fighting game for your Xbox and definitely makes the top-5 list of best fighters of all time.

But what better way to show off the extravagantly idealized female form than with high kicks and kung fu-style stretches? Watching them pee sitting down would just interrupt the action, which is tremendous.

The fights are long and challenging, and the gameplay has an appeal all its own. With plenty of features, great graphics and sound and a surprisingly well-developed backdrop, Tao Feng's unique gameplay is a welcome step in the right direction.

Miles better than "Kakuto Chojin," but it’s still a few short steps behind "Dead or Alive 3" and "Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance."

A gorgeously slower-paced fighting game with an emphasis on combos and strategy over frantic button mashing... A refreshing change of pace, to be sure.

The storyline and backgrounds for the characters are very deep for a fighting game, which is an advantage of the small roster.

A clunky fighting system which doesn’t seem to rely on tactics at all and camera angles that make gameplay at times both hard to master and frustrating to endure, hamstring what could have been a fantastic game.

With its new style of match play and chi attacks, Tao Feng offers up the next step in the evolution of console fighters, designed by none other than those who helped create the genre from the beginning.

Other than the stunning graphics, Tao Feng doesn't excel in any other area, but is quite competent in most. [May 2003, p.72]

A good example of the "graphics first" mentality that results in disappointing next-gen games. [Apr 2003, p.92]

The luscious visuals and complete lack of competition could be enough to convince Xbox fighting fans, however don’t go expecting a radical experience.

The game is not forgiving to the weak player who wants to jump in and execute a flurry of moves instantly, rewarding the patient fighter who is willing to extensively tune-in to the fighting mechanics. [Apr 2003, p.58]

It’s like playing an extreme hand of poker, complete with kicks to the face and pile drivers. It’s almost turn-based. Matches typically turn into exchanges of combos. If you don’t grasp this fact, you’ll be trounced by the AI.

The game's sharp graphics and elaborate universe--well, elaborate for a fighting game, anyway--are nullified by its subpar gameplay.

A fine looking title which falls down by being massively frustrating, Tao Feng can consider itself a wasted opportunity to combine the better elements from the Mortal Kombat and Dead or Alive series.

It’s fun and some of the brutal visuals can be a blast to behold with friends, but on the whole, the game is just ok.

It's not deep or particularly innovative. However, the detailed graphics, familiar gameplay, and wide variety of characters and game modes make this brawler worth a look.

Tao Feng, while light years better than "Kakuto Chojin," really ends up as a slightly generic, thoroughly average fighting experience.

A disappointment. Despite the good graphics, decent sound, and rich story, the gameplay suffers quite badly.

There's no fluidity or smoothness to combos and combat, so matches are garbled and verge even closer to feeling arbitrary than fight games usually threaten to do. Limited entertainment. [June 2003, p.106]

Playing Tao Feng is a lot like diarrhea; the longer it lasts, the more irritated you get. [May 2003, p.134]

Unfortunately, some good ideas are handled badly and some basic, necessary rules are strangely ignored, leading to a thoroughly sub-par combatant.

Once you see through the game's flashy veneer, its true nature is revealed - that of a somewhat stilted and deeply flawed fighter. [May 2003, p.52]

Trite and laughably cliched in screenshots, Tao Feng simply falls apart in motion. [Apr/May 2003, p.82]

Sporting spiffy 3D graphics but little in the way of bang for the buck, Tao Feng quickly sinks into mediocrity and takes up permanent residence there. [May 2003, p.65]

So easy on the eye visually that if you saw a demo of it running you might actually think it was going to impress you. But keep watching and, like a drunken rejection from a girl in a nightclub, it will quickly dawn on you that it's not going to happen. Like the gameplay, a solid base was never built upon and the end result is just boring.

I found this offering to be an uninspiring experience, wrought with annoyances that many modern fighters do not suffer from.