Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15439 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Microsoft
• Released on: 2003-05-09
• Rating: To Be Announced
• Platform: Xbox

Amazon.co.uk Review
From a few of the guys who gave us the 2-D classic Mortal Kombat comes Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus, a gorgeous 3-D fighting game that dares to be a bit different from the norm.

In the world of Tao Feng the Pacific Northwest is called New China. Two rival factions, with six members each, fight to gain two mystical tablets that grant awesome power. On the side of the Pale Lotus we have 90-year-old Master Sage, attractive Jade Dragon, a hothead appropriately named Fiery Phoenix, cat-like Fierce Tiger, level-headed cop-by-day Divine Fist, and the enigmatic and metallic Iron Monk. The bad guys, called the Black Mantis, are: Wulong Goth--looking crazy in a praying mantis costume, the mystical Fatalist, the alluring Divinity, the scary Geist, and a hulking brute named Exile. Each fighter has his own fighting style, powers, and core strategy, and the game design is such that you have to relearn the game with each new fighter.

The slower pace of the fighting in Tao Feng might put off genre fans looking for something more frantic. The controls are simple and include a few innovations. For example: pushing back on the game pad blocks, but too much blocking might result in losing the use of your limbs. The rest of the buttons are two basic punches, two kicks, all modified by the direction you press and the use of the shoulder buttons and jumping attacks. You can even taunt your foe, which, like hitting them, charges your Chi bar. Chi can be unleashed in a devastating attack with the white button, and this attack is also modified by how you use the direction pad. The result is a fluid game of blocking, striking, and stringing combos, and occasionally taking advantage of your Chi powers to take out your opponent.

There's a Quest mode that challenges you to beat the other faction one at a time for pieces of the mystical tablet. Survival mode has you trying to beat as many opponents as possible with a single health bar. Versus mode lets you stage a battle in any arena you like and for multiple players there's a tournament mode. The game looks great and features arenas filled with hazards and breakable objects. The only problem with the game is that some animation bugs didn't get squashed before the game shipped--when executing attacks characters sometimes instantly jerk into a new stance. Fortunately the underlying gameplay is strong enough that a player can forgive such faults, and concentrate on the gory action instead. --Bob Andrews

Manufacturer's Description
Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus is the perfect blend of fighting realism and stunning special effects. Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus delivers a classic battle between good and evil as two ancient Chinese clans of superfighters, each seeking to uncover the secrets of immortality, battle for dominance. Hand-to-hand combat is furiously intense with amazingly realistic fighting and stunning special effects. Arenas are highly interactive and destructive. When the fight ends, players will witness the devastation of battle.

Customer Reviews

Good
***

I bought this earlier this year and paid a tenner for it and it's OK.

Not the best game we have, but not the worst either.

Well worth the tenner and at that it was a good buy, but it is hard to say if we'd have paid much more.

A good addition to your collection if you can get it at a good price.

***

Not bad at all..
Tao Feng is a rather nice little fighting game that happens to be the first release from developers Studio Gigante. Although the lack of cinematics and other fluff belies its first release heritage.. the actual gameplay and in-game presentation is flawless.

With only 12 character to choose from.. its just as well that the vast majority are pretty cool to play. The usual fighting game archytypes are all here.. wise old chinese dood.. check. Bruce Lee avenger type.. check. Large wrestler type.. check. Well endowed high kicking females.. check check check!

Via the somewhat plain looking menu interface, you can choose to play in Quest (Story), Survival, Verses, Team Battle, Tournament or training mode. More multiplayer modes would have been nice.. like a tag team mode.. something to spice things up a little.. but alas Tao Feng is very much a 'what you see is what you get' traditional fighter.

Graphics and sound are both excellent, with highly detailed, superbly animated characters and some genuinely interesting backdrops. There are plenty of innovations too, such as the visible cuts and bruises that appear on you character throughout a match. Some backdrops have scenery that will actually hurt a character (like hot coals in a fireplace) so you never feel as though your fighting in a static backdrop. Sometimes the animation isn't as fluid as perhaps it should be, and the routines handling camera angles could do with a bit of work, but on the whole its looks fantastic. Every time they lose a round a character is seen picking themselves up of the ground, dusting themselves down, and girding themselves for more action.. a small touch admittedly but it really gives a feeling that the characters are giving it their all.. a far cry from the bloodless niceness of DOA3.

The control system is nicely intuitive, and play is generally more strategic than merely 'mashing buttons' (although that does work to a degree). Its relatively easy to take advantage of special attacks off walls and poles.. to spice things up a little, theres also some magical attacks and the possibility of debilitating limb damage occuring if you block too many blows.

After playing Tao Feng for a short while you suddenly get an overwhelming sense of Deja-Vu. The OTT cheesy characters.. the slightly dodgey (stylistically, not technically) poses.. the magical attacks.. the large blood droplets.. using the back button to block.. erm.. Mortal Combat anyone? The only things missing are the fatalities and a few extra arms on one of the female characters.

Overall, Tao Feng is great fun in either single or two-player modes.. and offers up a good alternative to Japanese manga styled fighting games. Its longevity is perhaps limited mostly by the lack of characters.. we're simply used to having more choice these days. In something as simple as a fighting game it also helps to have plenty of unlockable stuff to keep you playing. Unfortunately TF has only one extra arena and one extra unlockable character. An excellent game to rent and possibly a good purchase if you like your fighting games gorey and wierd.

Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus
When i first played this game, i had to admit that it looked beautiful and had some of the best graphics on the Xbox. The special moves are very polished and you can even see reflections on the floor and walls. You can bruise the enimy, tear his clothes and make him cough out blood making the fight more rewarding as well as swinging from walls and poles. The only reason a mark was taken of was it can be a tiny bit sluggish in places unlike Dead or Alive 3. it may also take a while to learn to pull off combos. However while this will be no classic, this is a game worth checking out for fight fans, will entertain for a long time and is loads of fun.