Fighting Vipers

*Originally Written: 8/06/2000, Rewritten: 3/05/2002

As you may know by now, Fighting Vipers is a take off of the Virtua Fighter series of fighting games. It features an insane cast of characters and an emphasis on being over the top. To get an idea of what Fighting Vipers is like, think of the exact opposite of Virtua Fighter and you've got a pretty close description. Unlike Virtua Fighter, Fighting Vipers features a crazy cast of characters, fenced in arenas, and all out over the top atmosphere. An example of the craziness? Look no further than the secret character, good ol' Pepsiman! Yep, the spokesperson for Pepsi in Japan actually makes an appearance in Fighting Vipers as a playable character. Sadly, due to Sega's ties with Coke in the Us, he had to be removed from the Us version.

To get a better idea of the atmosphere in Fighting Vipers, you can imagine a fighting game where the combatants are fighting it out in a caged arena. Did I mention that these combatants aren't your typical fighters? They range from a kid that enjoys beating people with his skateboard to an Axl Rose wanna be that will bash your head in with his trusty guitar. You get to select from 8 characters at the start with a total of 11 after some unlocking.

Something else that adds a nice style to this game is the armor system. Every character wears armor which consists of an upper and lower section. After a section takes too many hits it shatters. Then, that area of your body is more susceptible to damage. With no armor on, you can move and attacka bit faster. The caged arenas that I mentioned above are another thing that add to this game's style. There are no ring outs, it's just you and your opponent fighting it out in a cage. The cages aren't just there for show either, not only can you slam your opponent into them, at the end of a match if you smack your opponent into them hard enough, they will smash through! It's quite cool seeing your opponent go flying through a cement wall or out of a glass elevator. If your're skilled, or lucky enough, you can actually knock someone up and over the walls without breaking them. Sometimes they can even get stuck on top of the wall. Apart from all these differences, Fighting Vipers still plays like your standard fighter. It features all the modes you'd come to expect.

Fighting Vipers shares the Virtua Fighter control setup. In other words, A button is guard, B button is punch and C button is kick. I, for one, like this setup and have no problems with it. It takes a bit to get used to blocking with a button, as opposed to holding back, but you get used to it. Also like Virtua Fighter, you can set it up so that X, Y, and Z buttons act as a combination of the A, B and C buttons. The controls are responsive and moves are easy enough to perform. If you have a handle on virtua Fighters control system, Fighting vipers will be easy as pie.

Graphics are quite good for the time. There is a little polygon break up, but nothing distracting. The backgrounds are alright, nothing stunning. Think of fighting in a polygon cage with a 2D background. Can't exactly blame SEGA due to the system limitations. For the most part, I've got no real problems with the graphics. It's your standard 3D fighter. On par with Fighters Megamix, but not quite up to Virtua Fighter 2.

I really like the music. It can best be described as rock of some sort. However, I'm not that good at classifying music as I listen to what I like, I do not limit myself to genres. So, please try and hold in the laughter if I am off. Anyway, the music really fits the mood of the game. Oh and the game features the Pepsiman theme, which is awesome. That garners some "cool" points from me for throwing it in. Sound FX are your standard bangs and slaps. In the end, the music is good and the sound fx are the usual.

Good news for importers, the game is 100% English. The only thing in Japanese is the instruction manual. So why should you get the import version over the likely cheaper Us version? One word: Pepsiman! As I said earlier Pepsiman was completely removed from the Us version of the game. They didn't even change his name, they just completely removed him! I've also heard that one of the female character's outfits was censored in the Us version.

Fighting Vipers has the same replay value as the many games in its genre, not much to a lot, depending on if you play with other people. If you've got friends who like fighting games, then the replay value, like most fighters, will raise considerably. Apart from the versus mode, there are a few characters to unlock. That's about it. So, unless you are fond of playing a fighting game by yourself, over and over, or you've got friends to play with, Fighting Vipers has little to no replay value.

Overall, Fighting Vipers is a fun, wacky 3D fighter that, like many in the genre is low on replay value if you play by yourself. If you've got friends to play with, or don't mind a lack of secrets it wouldn't be a bad idea to pick it up. It's a good fighter and all, but like most, there isn't much to keep a single player busy. If Virtua Fighter wasn't your thing because it was too complex, Fighting Vipers might be for you, as it is an arcade style game with fast and furious action. Think of it this way, Fighting Vipers is to Virtua Fighter as Marvel Vs Capcom is to Street Fighter 3.

©2001 Ed Finnegan

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