The Final Word game review

Tobal No. 1 -- Squaresoft

Squaresoft takes on the fighting game genre in their first title for the Sony PlayStation, Tobal No. 1, features artistic design by Akira Toriyama, creator of the animated series Dragonball Z. You select one of several fighters and duke it out in 3-D hand to hand combat like never before. Standard one and two-player modes are represented as well as a one-player "Quest" and "Training" modes where you can hone your skills to a fine edge.

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Square's first fighting game is very impressive for a company that has specialized in RPGs. The graphics are sharp and fluid. It certainly has the artistic style of Akira Toriyama, who is responsible for the artwork for Dragonball Z and Chrono Trigger. The music and sound effects are pretty good. The control of your characters is different than most fighting games. Keep in mind this is a 3-D fighter. The control pad moves your character around the screen. You have your attack buttons, a block button, and a jump button. It takes a little while to get used to. But there is a quest mode where you are taught all of the techniques in a nice little underground maze. A fun and well done fighting game. Nice job Square! Plus as a bonus, a Final Fantasy VII interactive sampler is included.

R.I.P.
From the moment this game fires up, you can see the influence Akira Toriyama had in its design. The character art is fantastic as is all of the 3-D graphics in this game. Play control takes a few plays to get the hang of, but if you run through some of the "Quest" levels, the basic elements of play will become a cinch. Speaking of the "Quest" portion of this game... this is almost a complete game in and of itself. In short, I really liked this game... a lot. Oh yeah, and as a bonus, you get a free playable demo of Final Fantasy VII, which totally kicks ass!

>>>>> 44.5/50 <<<<<		????	R.I.P.
Graphics		4.5	5.0
Sound		4.0	4.5
Gameplay/Control		4.0	4.5
Longevity/Playability		4.0	5.0
Overall		4.0	5.0
Total		20.5	24.0

(11/96)