JOINT REVIEW: Tatsunoku Vs. Capcom: Doctors Vs. Zombies!!

 tatsunoko-cover

A Zombie’s Perspective:

Capcom’s latest addition to the vs. series puts their wide line-up of characters against an anime company that I have never heard of. Although the Tatsunoku side consists of a good group of interesting character’s I’m sure American sales of this title will be hurt by the lack of recognition.
Upon booting this game I didn’t think too much of it, pretty standard intro (although their theme music is MUCH better than SF4). Basic character select screen, and away we go picking our two and beginning the combat. Round 1, Arse-Bot vs. a beginning Zombietron. Needless to say I lost several times, but slowly began to pick up on the combo system and how fluidly the game allows you to move from point to point.
Playing on a standard Wii-mote the folks at Capcom have given a very easy control scheme, forward and 2, forward and 1, and the list continues with all directions.  This for most learners was pretty easy, but I gotta say, when the battle gets intense, it’s hard to make sure you’re hitting the correct combos when you only have six button choices. Taking these and add few combos like the usual DFP for Ryu’s Hadoken, and the game quickly falls into the standard fighter category with mostly solid controls. Using a classic controller it then begins to play like the Capcom fighters from the SNES days, which once again is easy to adjust and just as fun to work with.

Where I think this game shines as opposed to some of the other members of the vs. group, is the attentiveness to balance the game has. Every character has a strategy, and every character has a weak point you can exploit to win. (ask Mexicus about the upper-cut super counter). That being said through the hours we battled, Tatsunoku seemed to have the advantage in speed, power, and over-all character quality. It simply felt that taking a Capcom character against the futuristic weapon-toting Tatsunoku crew could be considered a mistake. But I still found myself pulling out the wins when it really mattered.  It was nice to see even the giant characters namely px-40 and Lightan (also known by the BSR crew as “The Waffle Iron Dude”) were limited in speed, and you could choose only them, instead of your usual two choices.  AND THEY WERE BEATABLE, unlike the sentinel MVC2.
All-in-all, Tatsunoku is a solid line up of good characters, interesting arenas, and a great time blasting away at your friends.  It has a good technical side for the hardcore fighting kids.  This game is worth a buy, it will even be featured in Evo this year. I say high-five to Capcom for giving Wii owners a game to compete on!

The Zombie Score:

  • Graphics: 8.5
  • Audio: 8
  • Controls: 9
  • Replay: 9.5
  • Zombie’s Overall : 8.75
  • The Composite : 7.75

The Doctor’s perspective! (In other words the correct perspective!)

Dr. Cyborg here, Just got done with a bout on the newly released Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom! The new fighter from Capcom exclusively for the Wii. I found this to be a game that needed to be done for a long time, as this is the first fighting game I’ve purchased for the Wii. (Excluding Smash Bros. which doesn’t count at all, you idiots!)

To preface, I’m a big fan of both Street Fighter in general, and all the Marvel Vs. Capcom games. TVC, is a sort of blend of these games, but not really like either. Thankfully it has the same type of look as SFIV, but the dual battle system of MVC. The biggest variation from both titles is the controls. You can play with a Game Cube controller, the classic controller, or with the Wii remote itself. I’ve found I like the classic controller the best. But that isn’t what separates the controls, it’s that they’ve designed a whole new system. Now rather than having 2 or 3 kick and punch buttons, they’ve combined the buttons. So now your light, medium, and hard buttons throw different types of attacks in different situations. For example, if Ryu is in the air and you press your hard button, it will be a kick, but on the ground holding forward it might be a punch.

It sounds complicated, but in all actuality it simplifies things. I think it makes the game playable to a larger audience, but it’s still complicated enough that if you aren’t skilled, you are going to get your ass kicked. I find myself sentimentally attached to the old system, but I like how easy it is to learn a new character with this decrease in controls. Honestly it’s intimidating to try a new fighter in Street Fighter IV, but in this game every character has their own strengths and weaknesses, but has basically the same controls as everyone else.

To wrap things up for doctors, I’m just going to spout off a few sentences! There’s plenty of playable characters in this game, but I wish there were a few more. (Most notably Ken.) I’ve only played through the arcade a few times, and the computer can be pretty challenging. All of the characters endings seem to be pretty ridiculous. The online play seems awesome if it isn’t lagging out too bad. I find this to be highly enjoyable, but easily not the best Capcom fighting game on the market. (I’m now much more excited for Super Street Fighter IV.)

Overall I’d give it a 7.75/10 (Completely different than a Zombies 7.75)

P.S. Q: What do you call a lame brain that couldn’t think their way out of a super market? Give up?

A: Zombies!

Dr’s rule suckas!