More
heart seems to have went into AOF3's quality animation & graphics than
character designs this time around. Personally, I'd rather go back to AOF or
AOF2 for the character rosters alone. AOF3's roster really
doesn't define what the series is all about, and feels incredibly lonely.
The overall "sluggish" feeling of the gameplay is still
evident, but there are some cool aspects to enjoy. No doubt, Art of
Fighting was a respectable
fighting game series by SNK, and it went out with a bang. The Art of Fighting
series might be dead, but thankfully many of the classic characters have
crossed over to many other fighting games over the years. ~TFG
Webmaster
STORY:
In Art of Fighting 3, the storyline changed focus from the Sakazaki family to Robert Garcia.
Robert disappears
to search for an old childhood friend, Freia Lawrence, and he tracks her to
Glass Hill, Mexico. The game's boss, Wyler, seeks Freia to
complete a powerful elixir, which was created by both his and Freia's fathers.
This drug affects users in a similar manner as the potion in The Strange Case
of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Heeey, where's the rest of
the gang? :(
REVIEW:
The third
and final installment to the Art of Fighting series introduced an entirely new cast of
characters, only bringing back the two main protagonists of the series, Ryo Sakazaki
and Robert Garcia. AOF3 highlights
all of the elements that defined the Art of Fighting series in the past... the
brand new character sprites were among the biggest 2D video game sprites to date,
and featured uncommonly fluid animation for such large sprites.
Following in tradition with the prequels, AOF3's visuals are something
to behold. The elaborately designed
hand drawn backgrounds mesh nicely with the large characters, and the scrolling effect used in the first two games
returns and is notably smoother than before. AOF3 also presented some of the
smoothest animation to appear in a 2D fighting game to date.
Kasumi represents that
Todou-style!
AOF3's gameplay was also taken to the next level,
featuring a brand new combo system and some new gameplay systems. The new Spirit
Bar limits the use of special moves, as each special will decrease the meter. As
each character's "spirit energy" drains, their special moves also look
less and less impressive and do less damage. Spirit energy can be recharged by
holding down specific buttons, but recharging leaves players open for attacks.
An Ultimate Knock Out is now possible, and occurs when players finish their
opponent when 10% or less of their life remains. This allows them to perform a
Desperation Move, which results in an Ultimate KO that immediately leads to
winning the whole match, not just the single round. The new combos system compliments the gameplay
nicely, and also speeds things up a bit (which the series needed). Overall, AOF3's
gameplay is the deepest and probably best of the series.
"Gimme your lunch
money... tubby."
Although most of the moves and animations look
excellent,
some of the "collision detection" actually doesn't make much sense. For example,
Robert's spinning backfist "launches" the opponent straight up into the
air. That's a technique that
should simply knock down or stagger your opponent, not send them flying
10 feet into the air.
Otherwise, the fluid movements of the characters and the variety of moves they
can perform is impressive.
AOF3's "new generation" roster is slightly disappointing, since
many fan favorites are missing in this installment. The new characters don't really
manage to "take the place" of some of the classics, and simply don't have the lasting appeal that the
original cast did. This is probably
the biggest downside of AOF3... that character selection screen in
particular has a rather "lonely" vibe.
Where's Yuri & Takuma? Hell, it would even be great
to see that fat asshole biker, Jack, make a
return. I guess they wanted to wipe the slate clean and offer something new, but
if there's one thing AOF3 is short on, it's characters.
PS2 - in Art of Fighting: Anthology
PS2 - in Art of Fighting: Anthology
Otherwise, the fluid movements of the characters and the variety of moves they
can perform is impressive.
