Intro:
    Pan past a planet looking like Saturn, fades into a view
of a castle, where a king watches as the fighters prepare for
battle. I like this intro. Its nice, well done, and not overly
dramatic. But, the music is slightly below what I expected. Oh
well. Lets get into the game.

Options:
    Okay...you can set controls however you want, a big plus
for any fighting game. There are 3 attack buttons, as well as
a guard and a jump button. Combinations of block and attacks
also yield different results, so there are many attacks, dont
let the 3 buttons turn you off. There is a practice mode where
you can beat on a nonmoving character that keeps getting up.
I like this feature as it allows you to test future FAQ's 
without the computer attempting to ruin your training. There
is also the quest mode, where you wander through a dungeon 
fighting monsies. When you beat a dungeon level, voila, you
get another character. Nice feature...adds a bit of playability
to the game.

Character Selection:
    Here is where the game begins to shine. 8 characters are
initially selectable. So why does it shine? Because all eight
of them are likable. After trying each one, there is not one 
character I dont like. The power guys effectively knock people
around and the fast guys blitz opponents well. Dream Factory
did their homework, these characters rock.

Graphics:
    High res, 60 FPS. After that...I dont care. BUT, Tobal adds
some shading, very good light sourcing and a very small amount
of texture mapping. Despite what the screen shots look like, 
this game is poetry in motion. It makes Tekken 2 look very bad.
Tekken 2 is a great game, but full of graphical glitches and
awkward movements. Tobal is smooth as glass, as clean as a baby's
butt, and quite frankly a beautiful game to watch. Very very very
little polygon errors. Also...the camera pans are very subdued.
This means that if you kick an opponent at the screen, the camera
may not move fast enough. The result is a really cool view of the
player careening at the camera. Still..everything is fluid, at a 
level rivalling or beating VF2. AND, most high speed moves BLUR!
At a distance they appear as streaks, but get up close to the
camera and pause it and you can see the blur...its exceedingly
cool to see a polygon blurred....

Sound:
    Boo hiss. If there is one thing about this game that is entirely
average it is the sound. The grunts are varied a little, but after
a while still get repetitive. The music ranges from average to above
average, but quite frankly games like Toshinden 1 + 2 have spoiled
gamers with excellent music for fighting games. Still.. the music is
not annoying, just not grabbing, and it quickly fades into the back
of your mind...as you begin to admire the complexity of...

THE FIGHTING SYSTEM:
    THIS is where a fighting game should be judged. Not by its poor
framerate (Toshinden2), not by its glitches in graphics (Tekken 1 + 2)
nor by its load times (SFA). The complexity of the fighting system is
what makes VF2 just a little bit superior to Tekken2. Well....how does
Tobal stack up?
    Quite simply, it tops em. And I'll explain why before anyone jumps
for my jugular screaming about VF2 or Tekken2.
    Blocking. Yep...thats it blocking. No other fighting game has EVER
depicted blocking right. If someone tries to sweep kick you, and you
block it in previous fighters, the blocking character gets slid back
a little. This leads to the 10 hit combos in Tekken 2 being a reflex
fest....block upo up up down up down down up...okay now I can do MY
10 hit. Thats how most fighters work...but not Tobal.
    Here is an excerpt of a match a played yesterday.

    FIGHT! Okay...I start to attack first, I begin a combo that lunges
with the left leg and then follows through after a step forward with 
a right kick to the midsection. The computer blocks the first kick, and
instead of doing the rest of the combo I pressed, my character stumbles
back off the block, the computer seizes this chance to grapple me, 
after a quick shoving match, I manage to uppercut the computer away, 
knocking his off balance, so I begin a triple high kick combo. The 
computer recovers in time and the first kick rebounds...spinning me 
back the opposite way, I press the combo again, and instead of starting
anew, my character uses the spin off the block to do the triple kick
combo spinning THE OTHER WAY. This one connects, and down the computer
goes. After he gets up, I decided I want to end this quickly. I run up
to the computer and run straight into a overhead kick that slams my
face into the mat. Ouch. I get up and try a sweep kick, it connects, 
but it only hits the front leg and the computer stumbles, correcting
his balance with a drop of the hand to the floor. 

    Anyways, by now you should get the idea. The blocking/counter
system blows away any previous fighter. AND, the movement is real 3d.
Up moves you up on the mat, and down moves you down. This results
in a match where the combos can CURVE. Yes, if your enemy tries to 
go around you while you are punching, your character will not blindly
charge in a straight line, but correct his direction with each punch.
Each combo can be changed to the situation, and the number of moves
is excellent. Quite frankly, this is the best fighter I have ever 
played in terms of gameplay.

Other Goodies:
    Head tracking. Torso tracking...yeah, you heard me, the torso
swivels along with the head...I didnt even notice til in practice
mode I was trying arm grabs and noticed as I went to the side, my
target was turning his torso to face me. Uncannily cool. Oh....and
the torso hits a limit and than the head tracks as far as possible
before it hits its limit. Really nice effect.
    The ring may appear small, but the fighting style and 3-d ness
of the game allows it to be avoided easily, although players of
bigger mass can easily shove around players of smaller mass. :):)
    A style feature to note is that everyone has colored boots and
gloves...I assume pads issued by the emperor...:)

Overall:
    This is a must get for fighting game fans, and might even turn
a few heads of people who dont normally like fighting games. Anyways,
the import is good...with the lack of japanese symbols VERY apparent.
What I mean is, this might as well BE a US game. 
    Truth be told I got this import because I wanted to see the FF7
preview, and enjoy just about any decent fighting game. I went for
the little pearl and I found a 20 karat diamond. This game makes all
the other fighters look exceedingly 2d and outdated. 

My rating: 9.5 out of 10, with sound being the only place to improve

Kortez