Fight for Life

Atari Jaguar

by Curtis J. Hepworth

Just got Fight for Life today...(thanks Dave at Bits of Fun!) =) I didn't really know what to expect after the latest round of FFL bashing that went through this newsgroup... horror stories of bad control, sluggish movement and sheer boredom, etc. But I must say that I'm very pleasantly surprised with FFL! Is it the greatest 3-D fighting game ever? No. But is it as dire as recent reports indicated? Not by a long shot!

The word was that it had lousy control, yet I found the control to be very nearly spot on and the special moves are among the easiest to pull off of any fighting game I've played. True, the fights are slower paced than most fighting games as well, so if you only like the lightning fast fighters this one may not be for you- but I found that the more deliberate pace of FFL was helpful to me in that I actually had time to think about my strategy and what moves I wanted to try, rather than just blindly pounding on buttons as two blurs whiz around the screen. If some of you are skilled enough to effectively play and enjoy that type of game- Great! More power to you! I am not at that level however, and neither am I too proud to admit it. Sluggish? In speed perhaps, but in control- no. (In fact I found the control response to be considerably quicker than Virtua Fighter for example.) I use VF as a comparison because it is the only 3-D fighter I've played extensively enough to make such a statement.

As for the alleged excessive length of the rounds- well, once I started using a lot of specials the rounds didn't seem to last very long at all. Again this is all a matter of what you want- if your desire is to kick your opponents butt in 10 seconds flat, then again FFL may not be for you. If however you are more like my brother and I who always turned our hit strength in SF2 down to the absolute minimum so that our fights WOULDN'T be all over in 10 seconds, then this may be right up your alley.

Strong points:

• Very good graphics- somewhat akin to VF Remix on Saturn...I like FFL's a bit better because of the nice look the g-shading gives to the tmaps.
• Nice music- again better than I was expecting based on preliminary info.
• Responsive control
• Ease of using specials
• Many of the specials are quite exciting (though not spectacular) and fun to watch!
• Full 3-D movement (ability to sidestep and also roll away) The "avoid" button is a very refreshing twist from the block routine! Pretty good voice and SFX Stealing moves from a defeated opponent in order to customize and "save" (by password) your character is a nice idea and great fun!
• Beautiful backgrounds!
• Nice replays- controllable from any angle, distance, etc. (Gives you some great looks at the characters in action up close.
• Seems to have decent AI- not exceptional here though.
• Difficulty level is pretty good- seems to easy at first but gets a lot more challenging by the 3rd or 4th fight. Seems to be a nice steady increase all along. (No I haven't beaten the game yet!) ;)
• Easy to use but somewhat limited combo system. (Again a matter of personal taste- I don't have any problem with it, but major fans of KI very well might!) <g>
• Very smooth character movement (most of the time!) as well as very nice scaling and rotation, etc.

Drawbacks:

• Pace can be rather plodding (though the generous use of specials can offset this to some extent.)
• Just a bit tricky to get your character turned around to face an opponent from time to time. (After a overhead jump for example) Some of the characters look better than others- a few still look like they could have used a bit more work.
• Control can be a bit touchy at first- you'll notice this when you accidently jump over someone when you just meant to move toward them =) (After a few minutes though, you'll adjust and it'll hardly ever happen anymore.)
• Some moves are better (read smoother) animated than others The game never really quite achieves that "adrenaline rush" some may be looking for in a fighter- again because of it's deliberate pace.

All in all though a very worthy purchase in my opinion! Seems solid throughout- some very nice features and no real glaring weaknesses as I see it. Definitely a game that showcases what the Jaguar is really capable of- congrats to Francois Yves Bertrand and his team (artists, composers, etc) I think this game pushes the hardware more than most any other Jag game yet. Some people may find the pace a bit slow, but at least we won't have to endure whiney "16- bit" comparisons on this one! Well done!

Lastly I'd just like to say that this game DOES have that certain intangible that makes it very addicting! It really seems to grow on you- I can't wait to finish this post and get back to playing it... that should say something anyway! I hope that this post might help make it easier for someone out there to decide if they want to purchase FFL or not- if so, glad to be of help!

Graphics-   9

Music-        8

Control-    8.5

Overall-    8.5

Now back to the game!

--Curtis J.