The first thing that hits you about Tao Feng are the graphics: they really are spectacular, showing just how far the 3D beat em up has come since the days when Virtua Fighter made jaws hit the floor.

Tao Feng is by John Tobias, the co-creator of ultra-violent classic Mortal Kombat. His influence is obvious, from the dark look of the game to the ground-breaking approach to the genre. Mortal Kombat brought something truly original to 2D fight games with its fatality moves and buckets of blood and, with Tao Feng, Tobias pushes the barriers forward again.

However, rather than copy the cartoon extremism of Mortal Kombat, Tao Feng's trump card is realism: Each fighter graphically bears the scars of battle with tears in clothing, blood spills, swelling bruises and breaking bones.

The action is furious and intense with the ability to interact with your surroundings by throwing your opponents through walls or using pieces of scenery to somersault off or swing around. Plus, once you've built up enough Chi you can unleash a special attack that takes apart both your enemy and the surroundings.

The animation is spot-on, adding to the realism of the graphics and, as with all good beat em ups, there's a shallow learning curve, allowing you to dive straight in to the action whilst providing long term game play for those willing to invest time in the tutorials.

There are hundreds of combos to be memorised in the training section, allowing you to rack up that Chi power and really unleash some satisfying destruction on your opponents.

You'll be impressed by the visuals but for those willing to learn the combination moves there's months of challenging game play on offer here.

April 23, 2003 11:30