3D FIGHTING GAMES THAT DON'T SUCK!

EHRGEIZ	SQUARESOFT	PLAYSTATION
MORTAL KOMBAT 4	MIDWAY	PLAYSTATION
POWER STONE	CAPCOM	DREAMCAST
STREET FIGHTER EX	CAPCOM	PLAYSTATION
RIVAL SCHOOLS	CAPCOM	PLAYSTATION
PSYCHIC FORCE 2	TAITO	PLAYSTATION

Yes, they really do exist!  Here are a handful of recently released 3D fighting games that I consider much more entertaining that the overhyped button smashers that are most commonly associated with the genre.  Not all of these games are terrific, but hey, at least they're not Tekken.

Midway really knows how to put the "more" in Mortal Kombat, don't they?  I have to give them credit, though... Mortal Kombat 4 turned out much better than the last few games in the series, and the newest gimmick in this already gimmicky fighter actually works to its advantage.  The polygonal characters are much more flexible than the memory-hungry digitized sprites in previous MK games, and I do mean that literally.  There are loads of hilarious Steven Seagal inspired holds where the fighter grabs his opponent's limb and snaps it at the joint (ow!  That's not supposed to bend that way!).  Even the fatalities have improved because of this increased freedom of movement... Quan Chi yanks off his victim's leg and bludgeons him to death with it, and when Scorpion sets someone ablaze, the poor sap wanders around blindly, arms flailing, until he drops to the ground in a charred heap.  Past that, little else has changed... it's still the same old Mortal Kombat, with the simple but incredibly fast gameplay casual gamers have enjoyed for years.

Me, though, I prefer the classic gameplay of Street Fighter, and it doesn't get much more classic than Street Fighter EX + Alpha, with or without the crisp 3D graphics.  Believe it or not, EX plays more like the Super Street Fighter games than the Alpha series, despite the addition of Sakura.  The designers left out all of Alpha's defensive moves and replaced them with new attacks that give the game a more strategic, combo-oriented edge.  Players are now awarded with super meter boosts instead of points for scoring the first hit in each round or countering an opponent's attack, giving them an incentive to fight much more aggressively.  This translates into more intense battles, with both players fighting tooth and nail to earn that extra advantage which could ultimately win them the battle.  Another great feature is the ability to chain super combos together.  This takes more skill to use than Alpha's multiple level supers but the payoff is much higher, especially if you can take down an opponent with three perfectly linked super combos. The graphics, though polygonal, stay true to the Street Fighter series, with brightly colored characters and very flashy special effects.  Most of the backgrounds are just a simple square playfield with a still picture cheesily tacked onto the horizon, but Doctrine Dark's sewer stage is impressive, with a stream of (surprisingly clean!) rushing water that partially obscures both characters' feet. Whenever the stream is disturbed, tiny droplets leap into the air and vanish out of sight, a nice detail that really brings you into the battle.  I can't really describe the music... some of the tracks are really obnoxious, but after you hear them a few times you just can't get them out of your head (kinda like most 90's pop tunes!).  Finally, there's the control.  It's every bit as precise as the 2D Street Fighter games, but you're going to need a good controller to really appreciate it.  The best way to go is to pick up a Playstation to Saturn controller convertor, but if you can't find one of those, there are always the Dual Force joypads by Mad Catz and High Frequency (the Toys 'R Us brand).

OK, I admit it... my anti-Tekken bias soured me to Ehrgeiz at first.  Playing the demo at Toys 'R Us didn't exactly help matters much, mostly because some punk kid kicked my butt before I could get the hang of the game.  It wasn't until my friend insisted I try Ehrgeiz again that I finally came to appreciate its qualities.  Ehrgeiz is the first truly 3D 3D fighting game... instead of being locked into a head to head confrontation with your opponent, you have free run of the beautiful playfields, allowing you to attack your foe up close or at a safe distance.  The close quarters combat is still a bit too Tekkeny ("Waiter, take this back... it's too Tekkeny") for my tastes, but all the characters have special distance weapons ranging from handfuls of shuriken to the world's deadliest yo-yo.  You can even charge these up and really let your opponent have it... that is, if they don't reach you first!  With a few alterations, this could be a great Dragonball Z game. Unfortunately, since the show's creator is already involved with that other Squaresoft fighting game (you know the one...), that'll probably never happen, but there are some celebrities hiding in the game, namely, three of the most memorable characters from Final Fantasy VII.  And speaking of RPGs, there's one included on the disc... it's a little bit like Gateway to Apshai (or Fatal Labyrinth, if you prefer), although the combat interface is much more exciting.

Ehrgeiz introduced some revolutionary concepts to your standard one-on-one fighting game, but it also had some serious flaws.  The biggest one has to be the game's arenas... they look marvelous, but they're also flat, cramped, and pretty empty, resulting in some pretty no-frills battles.  Power Stone for the Dreamcast remedies this by dropping its fighters into enormous rooms chock full of interactivity... there are vases to throw, building supports to climb, and weapons to pick up, keeping each fight lively... and often very comical.  After a few minutes, you start to feel like you're trapped in a Jackie Chan film, fighting to stay alive with the aid of every chair, table, and wall in your path.  If you get tired of running, you can always turn the tables on a fiesty opponent by scooping up three gems hidden throughout each round.  Catch 'em all and you become your superpowered alter-ego... and your pursuer gets an instant yellow stripe down his back!  As for the graphics... hmm.  It's a Dreamcast game by Capcom... would you expect anything less than the best from this combination?  You can still see polygons on the characters if you look really hard, but the rooms are incredible, with superb attention to detail and gorgeous light-source shading.  The control is even better... just point the joystick and your fighter will actually (gasp!) run in that direction, something you don't usually see in ANY game with a 3D perspective.  This makes Power Stone perfect for parties, because your friends can pick up the game in a matter of minutes, without having to learn any complex controller motions.

Rival Schools is probably my least favorite of the games on this list.  You'd think a game with graphics this good and panty shots this plentiful would have to be a winner, but Schools has a lot of serious problems that you wouldn't expect from the creators of Darkstalkers and Street Fighter Alpha 3.  There are an enormous selection of attacks and defensive manuevers for each character, but many of them just don't work well together, if at all.  The tag-team feature is more bothersome than anything, especially when you call out your partner for a team up attack at the end of a very close match, only to have her fill up your burning vigor gauge when what you REALLY needed was a devastating attack to help guarantee your victory.  Even worse, you're always much too close to your rival for comfort, because your punches and kicks have almost no reach, there's not enough backward to the backward jumps, and the characters- even the tiny girls in the even tinier skirts- just don't move quickly enough.  Rival Schools looks terrific... it's as bright, colorful, and lively as your average Japanese cartoon, but I'm afraid this is one of those times when looks just don't cut it.

Psychic Force 2 is a lot more original than Rival Schools, but it's almost as disappointing.  While the other games on this list anchor you to the ground, Psychic Force 2 gives you and your opponent full run of an aerial battlefield, surrounded by invisible walls to ensure that only one of you will live to fight another day.  Although you can throw punches and kicks, it's much wiser to keep a safe distance from your opponent and pelt him with energy bullets, plasma rays, and flaming swords.  These attacks drain your character's mental energy, so make them count... your enemy isn't just going to wait around and let you recover after you've launched that barrage of boulders at him.  Because of this and the fact that the battles take place in mid-air, Psychic Force 2 reminds me more of the classic Space War and its unofficial sequel Star Control than your typical fighting game... and this could have worked wonderfully if it hadn't been for a few problems.  First of all, the control is overcomplicated... it's very easy to forget what the shoulder buttons do in the heat of battle, resulting in your charging right toward a fireball rather than absorbing it with your psychic shield.  Secondly, the graphics are indistinct... the characters are rather small and have a tendency to camoflage themselves in the dreary backgrounds.  Finally, there's just not enough emphasis on strategy... some of the fighters are so powerful that you'll never be able to defeat them no matter how good you've become at dodging their attacks.  I played a few games against a friend, and quickly realized that there's very little you can do against Might and his flaming sword... you can repeat the move over and over, pausing briefly to recover your strength, and there's absolutely no way your opponent can counter it.  The hideous character balance alone ruins what could have been a wonderful two player experience.

None of these titles convinced me that the third dimension was a necessary or even important part of the fighting game experience.  Nevertheless, it was fun to take a break from Marvel vs. Capcom and see for myself what these games had to offer.  Although each game had its flaws, I can't say that I regretted playing any of them.