Every gamer I
have ever known has had a desire to someday work in the videogame
industry. It is easy to understand why so many people want to contribute
to the industry that has brought them so much joy, but most people do
not understand the time and dedication it takes to actually make a
videogame. As we progress through school, most of us realize rather
quickly that we arent programming whiz kids or gifted artists, so
unless one of our other talents can relate to the videogame industry
(like writing), we have to give up on our dream. For those of us who
still want to try our hand at game design but lack the skill to do it
the old fashioned way, games like Fighter Maker and RPG Maker are the
next best thing. They allow you to create your own characters and worlds
and create games that are only as good as the amount of time you put
into them. It can take hours and even days to put everything together
properly, so these types of games definitely wont appeal to everyone.
Fighter
Maker 2 is the latest in this genre of "create your own game" games and
allows gamers to create their own fighters to use in a 3-D fighting
game. You can edit character models, create move lists, and edit the
animation for everything your character does. The timeframe from a basic
character model to a running, punching, ass kicking machine can run
anywhere from a few hours to a few days. The process is also rather
complicated and can be very tedious at times. The clunky interface and
poor preview controls fight you every step of the way and make a process
that is already extremely difficult even more so. This is a game that
you definitely have to read the instruction manual very thoroughly
before you begin or youll simply become lost. I said it before and Ill
keep saying it: Fighter Maker 2 is not a game that everyone will enjoy.
It is intended for people who have a bottomless well of patience and an
obsessive love of figuring everything out to the very finest detail.
The only
game of recent memory that has tried to tackle the same sort of
character customization and animation editing as Fighter Maker 2 is WWE
Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth. Fighter Maker 2 has the advantage in
animation because you can string moves together to create your own
combos as well as the ability to edit individual moves frame by frame
until they are exactly what you want. Smackdown has the superior
character editing tools, however, and is definitely a lot easier to use
than Fighter Maker 2.
Creating
a character in FM2 basically takes three steps. First, you use the body
editor to choose how you want your fighter to look. Next, you can use
the animation editor to edit moves frame by frame. Finally, you use the
sequence editor to assign move commands and to link moves together to
create combos. Each of these modes shares similar problems that
seriously hinder your progress, though.
The most
annoying aspect of creating a new character is that there isnt an easy
way to preview your character. It would have been easy to use a system
similar to the one that Smackdown uses where the shoulder buttons rotate
the camera and zoom in on the character, but in FM2 you have to stop
whatever you are doing and enter a separate preview mode. Once in the
preview mode, you have very limited camera control. For editing moves
and animations, the camera angles are fine, but trying to edit your
characters appearance, particularly the face, is a pain because you
simply cant see what you are doing well enough. The worst part of these
clunky preview controls is that you have to use the preview mode a lot
when you are making a character and you have no other choice than to
just put up with it.
Part of
the reason why you have to use the preview mode so much is because you
really cant see much in the editors themselves. Sure, the character is
onscreen and all of the changes you make are made in real time, but it
is nigh impossible to see through all of the menus that you have to go
through to change things. The menus arent much to look at and the text
within them is blurry and too small. For an experience that relies
entirely on the visuals, it is surprisingly hard to see what you are
doing in FM2.
Like I
said above, the character editor in Fighter Maker 2 doesnt offer nearly
as much stuff as the latest Smackdown. The options for clothing, facial
features, and accessories are rather limited, but you should be able to
find what you want. One thing worth noting is that there are several
cases where the top of a certain clothing style is available but the
bottom part isnt anywhere to be found. FM2 lacks the body morphing of
Smackdown, and that is regrettable. Fighter Maker 2 allows you to make
up to four different looks for your character that you can select from
at the character select screen, which is a pretty neat option. Overall,
Fighter Maker 2 simply doesnt offer enough character creation options,
but since the real draw of FM2 is the animation and sequence editors,
the puny assortment of cosmetic editing features is forgivable.
Using the
animation and sequence editors is fairly simple once you have gone over
the manual and know your way around the menus. Editing animations is
rather tedious, but there is nothing that can be done to speed the
process up. The sequence editor is a lot more fun to use because you can
create your own combos and even determine things such as damage, the
command input, priority, and the time frame for things such as combo
delays. It is possible to create moves and combinations that are
seemingly ripped right out of Virtua Fighter and Tekken. Finishing off
the creation process and actually using your new character is an
extremely rewarding feeling that no other game can touch. That is, of
course, if you are patient enough to actually finish what you start.
Once you
are done tweaking your character, you can put it to use. Sadly, the 3-D
fighting engine the game uses is very disappointing. Fighter Maker 2
uses a control setup similar to Virtua Fighter 4, but lacks the bells
and whistles and overall depth that make VF4 great. Not only are the
controls overly simplistic, but the gameplay itself isnt even as good
as 3-D fighters from four years ago, and nowhere near as good as the
perfected tours de force we have today. There is a half second delay
between pressing a button and seeing that move performed on screen.
Also, the fights have no flow to them because almost every combo, other
than the ones you make yourself to specifically combat this, ends up
with a powerful move that throws the opponent all the way across the
stage. I want to perform intricate combo strings and thoroughly destroy
my opponent as fast as possible, not spend most of my time slowly
chasing my opponent around the arena.
The poor
fighting engine in Fighter Maker 2 is the thing that will ultimately
turn people away from it. I, personally, cant see the point in spending
several days perfecting a character to be used in a game that I dont
even like. The whole point is to make a fighter that you actually would
want to use to play the game, but for most of us, FM2 simply doesnt
offer an interesting experience to deserve our time.
The sound and graphics in Fighter Maker 2 are average at best. It is
unfair to expect every game to look just like VF4 of T4, and it is
obvious that most of the developers time went towards the creation
tools, so the graphics are acceptable. There is sound in the game,
supposedly, but I cant remember anything other than the simple grunts
and groans of combat. Other than the ugly menus, the graphics and sound
get the job done and that is all you can ask in a game like this.
Overall, Fighter Maker 2 is an extremely complex set of character
creation tools connected to a sub-par 3-D fighting game. If you have a
lot of patience, an eye for detail and/or a desire to someday work in
the videogame industry, try it out. If you can not only get through the
long creation process, but also enjoy the fighting game underneath,
youll probably be playing and enjoying Fighter Maker 2 forever. For the
rest of us, well just keep using the prepackaged warriors of other
games. At the very least, we can use the superior character editing and
simplified animation editor of Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth to create our
own little slices of game development heaven. If you are just looking
for a fighting game, you can do a lot better than FM2. Anyone up for a
game of Tekken 4?