What the hell is wrong with the world today? It used to be that my job was relatively simple. About 95% of the time, you hear about a game a few months to three years before it's released, you see some kind of a pre-release version of it, and you know whether the game is gonna be good or bad. Of course, you can't say anything bad about it until it's time to review the final product, but most of the time you have a pretty good idea whether you're about to bask in the glory of one of the software industry's finest accomplishments, or wallow through the backed-up septic system of a game gone horribly awry. Most of the time it's something in between, but you still know what you're up against beforehand. That's the way it has always been - it's a simple, reliable system, and it keeps us media types from getting too awfully confused. You think reviewers form their opinions while they're playing a game? Ha! Our opinions start hatching the moment we hear of a new title - we only use the final product to justify those opinions.
That's why I have to find the people at GTE Entertainment and Argonaut Software and beat them about the back of the skull with a blunt obtuse-angled object. They're screwing up the whole system! It used to be that you could rely on your instincts. You could trust your gut and common sense to show you what was good and what was dreck, even before a single box had been opened. Now these guys come along with their little FX Fighter game and their cocky little attitude and screw up a perfectly good system that has taken decades (or at least months) to perfect. Where do they get the nerve?
You see, FX Fighter was supposed to be a bad game. It was supposed to be worthless, yet another flop on that long gray line of titles waiting to go to the great bargain bin in the sky. First of all, it's being put out by GTE Entertainment. From light bulbs to games--whoa, that sounds promising! (At least they didn't call themselves GTE Interactive. You can now be legally lynched for using the "I" word in several neighborhoods in Los Angeles.) Second, I checked out a (very) early copy of the Super Nintendo version of FX Fighter at the Winter CES, and it was like watching coffee percolate. Thirdly, GTE released a demo of the game that was completely non-playable--WARNING! I hadn't even seen anything close to a final copy yet, and FX Fighter was already sporting the legend SUCK-O-RAMA in twelve-foot-high letters.
I sat down to play FX Fighter for the first time with this evil little grin I get when I know that I'm about to rip a game into quivering bloody chunks. As I played, I got this strange unexpected feeling, and after a few minutes my puzzled little brain finally pinned it down - the game was good! It wasn't supposed to be good, but it was all the same. What I had anticipated as being a useless example of corporate greed turned out to be a good little fighting game. (Now that I think of it, my award-winning system failed me once before, but you read all about that in the Outpost review.)
FX Fighter is a cousin to Virtua Fighter, which means that all the arenas are created in 3D, and the action is shown from several three-dimensional camera positions. This is more interesting to look at than the standard side-scrolling fighting game, and it's good that FX Fighter has this 3D system to spice up its looks because the polygonal graphics aren't all that hot. They get the job done, but don't expect them to walk off with any awards. Although FX Fighter may sacrifice a bit on the graphics, it makes up for it in play value. The game is fast and has a good feel to it, although I did sense a couple of very minor bugs with the control system. A Gravis GamePad is definitely the way to go with this game, although the keyboard controls are adequate and won't keep people from playing two-player games for want of a second pad.
Where FX Fighter really triumphs is in its characters. You choose between eight fighters here, and they're a pretty diverse lot. The character animation is quite good, even if the characters are rather crudely drawn. But the best part of the fighters, as is true with any good fighting game, is the selection of special moves specific to each fighter. Most games give two or three special moves to each character, maybe four if they're feeling especially generous. In FX Fighter, the fighters have between nine and fourteen special moves each! Most of the moves are quite simple and easy to pull off, so you can acquire a good arsenal of special moves without spending 20 hours a day practicing.
If your a fighting game enthusiast trying to sort the gems out from all the garbage on the PC platform, you need look no further than FX Fighter. GTE Entertainment and Argonaut Software have succeeded in doing what so many other companies have failed at - creating a fighting game for the PC that's worth playing. With its fast exciting gameplay and its gargantuan horde of special moves, FX Fighter is a pleasant surprise.
