Decent visuals and great sound marred by game mechanics...

U.S. Game Front

Steven Seagal Versus...

Douglas Anderson

Place Of Birth: America
Age: 45
Height: 190cm
Weight: 90kg
Style: Jeet Kune Do (Steven: Aikido)
Occupation: Narcotics Officer
(Goverment Agent)
Hobby: Looking Good
Likes: Japanese Culture
Dislikes: Crime

As I spoke of Lightning Legend, I had THIS game on the back of my mind...and it was only a matter of time before an article made its way to Gaming Sanctuary. What is this game? It is Kensei: Sacred Fist, which is yet another Konami fighting game. However, this one actually made it to U.S. and European territories this time around...hooray! The game is fairly uncommon in and of itself, but that is not what needs to be answered here. The real question is: Is this game worth tracking down? Allow me to once again provide my two cents on the matter.

Kensei: Sacred Fist has practically no plot in which to speak of (much like Tekken). You play it, you defeat the end game boss, you're rewarded with credits and an ending that makes you say "Huh?". Kensei: Sacred Fist is what many would consider a pure ripoff of Tekken, and who could blame them? If it isn't characters like Yugo Sanguji who wears Jin Kazama's red gloves and footwear, it's nearly the entire structure of Kensei: Sacred fist. Heck, even the title should strike out the similarities...Tekken...Iron Fist...Kensei...Sacred Fist. Is it a conspiracy!? Nah, but why wouldn't Konami at least try? After all, Tekken is a great fighting game, so it's only natural that someone would come along and try to emulate it, and I'm fine with this. The thing I don't like is when games fail to meet my expectations.

Kensei has some redeeming qualities; It has pretty nice graphics which move at a blazing 60fps, acceptable sound, and a gameplay system that isn't entirely broken...but that's not saying much when compared to all the numerous, better 3D fighters out there. The graphics look nice (especially some of the backgrounds), but the animation leaves a little to be desired. While many things move fluidly like, um, well, Saya's skirt when she fights, a lot of the animations in this game look really generic, such as when many characters WALK (especially the ninja, Hyoma). Konami and KCET did try to make the game look visually impressive, and I acknowledge this, but a lot of the movements and the fairly generic looking roster of characters don't sit well with me. There isn't a whole lot to say about the audio. It fits the environments well, the character voices are pretty standard (or in other words, they aren't too annoying) and the music isn't particularly memorable. I guess you could say that it's average.

The best part about the gameplay is the fact that you get to play with a blatant Steven Seagal clone named Douglas Anderson whose profile mimics both the "real" Steven and the Steven you see in the movies. He has moves that would make Steven proud (and subsequently a bit bashful, with things like "Sexy Attack" and "Super Great Combo") and is a pretty stylish dresser. Steven is very popular in Japan with his movies and music albums like "Mojo Priest", so it's no wonder developers sought to give him some virtual respect (whether KCET asked Steven is unlikely). Besides that, Kensei: Sacred Fist doesn't have much you haven't seen before, and it has a number of things you don't want to see in a fighting game in the first place.

The game has Tekken written all over it when you fight, from the grappling system to the combo system (though you have to work hard to do anything close to 10 hits). The only problem is that the game isn't nearly as diverse and the game may irritate seasoned fighting game fans due to its lack of imagination. Seriously, Saya has a long combo that can be done with just one button. You certainly don't need to be a pro at fighting games to play this one! Another feature this game boasts about is its many hidden characters...which would be nice if they actually fought different. You'll be lucky if they have two or three different moves from the character you used to unlock them (sans the final boss and a few others). So once the whole "OMG 22 characters!" wears off, you're rewarded with 14 different characters...13 plus the small differences from the other 9 hidden characters which might make one original character. The only other "interesting" thing about this game is the guard system. Unlike fighting games where the character just gets pushed back, this game makes the character have interesting reactions to moves, such as making the character jump back or automatically jump sweeping attacks. It makes the fighting look a little more realistic, but further simplifies the game.

In the end, Kensei: Sacred Fist might look nice and sound great, but it will leave some fighting game fans asking for much more when it comes to the gameplay. KSF is acceptable, but it's probably not a good substitute for Tekken. Unlike Lightning Legend, however, KSF doesn't have cool artwork and a treasure cove full of unlockables...but at least you get to play with Steven Seagal--urhm, I mean, Douglas Anderson. That's almost reason enough to buy it.

- Written by Vyse the determined -