Case Cover
Fate/Tiger Colosseum
Case Cover
Publisher: Capcom
Release Date: September 13, 2007
Number of Players: 1 - 4
Wi-fi Mode: Ad- Hoc
When I was introduced about this game from a friend, he was right about me wanting to get it. Learning it was an action game & not a novel type, it was on my must have list as I was a TYPE-MOON fan. I pre-order the Limited Edition for the hell of it & I was right about doing that as it became sold out quickly.
About the game
Fate/Tiger Colosseum takes some of the characters from Fate/stay night & Fate/hollow atarxia. I think the game takes place after hollow.
The battle for the Tiger Cup is on as everyone has a different use for the cup. The cup grants the winner a wish. Some think it's great, while some thinks it's evil. Everyone is set to get or destroy the cup for personal reasons.
Capcom released two different editions of Fate/Tiger Colosseum. Available are the normal edition & limited edition. If you want to know more about the limited edition, click on the link below. Also, Hori Erio made a PSP accessory set to promote the game:
Contents of Fate/Tiger Colosseum Limited Edition
Contents of Fate/Tiger Colosseum Accessory Set
Graphics
The game design for the Fate characters are unique as they are kind of like SD forms. When I first saw them, I thought they were ugly. It's mainly because of the plain faces & aren't the TYPE-MOON designs that I'm used to. Over time, I managed to get used to them. The cutscenes are mainly in 2D form while the gameplay is in 3D. The cutscenes uses still portraits of the characters & they are pretty flat. For the actual gameplay, they can be a bit choppy at times when they get very close to your screen. There are times where the character has breaks in their bodies. As for the text, they are pretty clear.
Music & Sounds
There is a mixture of real & silly sounds. I like the sound of Sakura's flying pan when she lands a hit. But most of the sounds effects are on the silly side as this game is a comedy. All sounds are played on cue & crisp.
The songs are mainly cute pop. There are some serious ones as well. The songs fit the themes & situations pretty well in the game to create the mood. I went as far as getting the original soundtrack for the ending songs, which I liked. Of course, I got the LE one as it's considered the "complete" version.
The voices are the same ones from the anime Fate/stay night. This is pretty good as I felt the cast there was descent. For the other characters not found in the anime, they are pretty good. I like True Assassin's voice which really matched his "let's get along" character.
Gameplay
The game offers a story mode & versus mode. Pretty much the standard format for action based games. The story mode consist of seven chapters/battles & it's all set battles based on the character's storyline. Winning & battle conditions are set as well.
Because of the heavy amount of Japanese text, it took me some time to find out what's what. Plus, understanding the winning conditions was a problem for me as I kept losing a lot during my first few plays. In the story mode, I was actually playing on hard mode all that time. Once you manage to get some of the functions down, it's smooth sailing from there.
The gameplay is fairly simple. Once you manage to find out the commands, you will be having fun. Luckily for us non-Japanese players, the game has a video tutorial on how to play the game & the commands. Watching this video will have you understanding everything almost. There are basic two attack buttons, jump, block, auto lock-on, & dash. The rest is just using a combination of the buttons which usually involves the basic attack button. The use of Noble Phantasm & area clearing attacks consumes MP. MP regenerates when you successful land normal attacks.
Some characters have two Noble Phantasms while some have one. There are two levels of it & some characters only have one. Ilya only has one & it's a level two Noble Phantasm. Noble Phantasms are only be used when a Tiger Ball is obtained from the field. The MP meter gets bigger when you get the ball as it unlocks the level two Noble Phantasm. Some of them are sure kills while others just take a large amount of HP away or something else that affects your opponent's HP or MP. To use the Noble Phantasms, you need the Tiger Ball in your possession.
I did have some difficulties in the controlling area. I had a tough time blocking & running away after getting up. I found myself getting nailed by the AI a lot.
The winning conditions are the difficult part to understand about the game. There are four different winning conditions: last man standing, holding the Tiger Ball the longest, obtaining the most points, & getting a certain number of points first. Some of the conditions are timed. Also, there are different versus fights: team, one vs. three, etc. Although they are easy to win, the problem is knowing what conditions you are playing as the rules & conditions are written in Japanese. The hardest part was playing one vs. three. In hard mode, the AI really hammers you. I had to use my Noble Phantasm & run to win as I hoped to be the winner with the most points.
The stories are quite funny. However, they can be a bit too long. For non-Japanese players that would have troubles understanding the language, you would find yourself thinking that the characters are talking too much. I'm not sure if the talking is critical or not for the story, so I can't really judge it. However, TYPE-MOON has a history of making their games filled with too much text; some of it are unknown to be too wordy & confusing.
The loading times are reasonable. The loading occurs in between transactions such as going from the story scene to the actual gameplay. The loading times are vary from five to ten seconds. Longest I got was around the 15 second mark. The loading doesn't affect the actual gameplay & continuing a match doesn't require to reload. However, the game does have some moments where it pauses. Most of the time it's the introduction of the chapters.
Saving isn't too bad. The game offers an autosave feature. I accidentally turned it on & I don't know how to turn it off now. The saving occurs after the battle & after the chapter. You can even finish your character's storyline for another time as the game has a temporary save slot. However, if you chose not to continue from the game & play a new one, it will be lost.
Extras, Bonuses, & Secrets
For each storyline completed, you can unlock alternative costumes & additional characters depending on the difficultly mode selected. Some characters only have one costume though & unlocking additional uniforms doesn't give different storylines for the character. I was a bit surprised that Saber Lion is an alternative costume for Saber, not a different character. Also, the game will unlock a mode called Real, which I heard is very hard.
The game doesn't have a gallery, but you can use the stage select code that the game gives you have completing all the characters. This way you can jump to a certain chapter & watching it again. It even goes to the ending.
Replay Value
With 21 characters, this game actually doesn't keep you hooked very long if you are playing the game in story mode. The real fun would be playing with other people in the versus mode. Against the AI is good, but can be boring later on when you get used to their attacks. Unless you want to play it again with different costumes or re-watch the whole story again, this will go on your shelves pretty quick. However, you will need to go through the story mode to get all the characters available. If you play this heavily in story mode, it can be finished in two days with everything unlocked.
Overall Conclusion
Fate/Tiger Colosseum is a fun game to play. It's more of a party game where the fun comes from playing with other people. The game is funny as well & can be understandable if you know a bit of spoken Japanese as all the text in the story mode is voiced. A benefit for people with some Japanese knowledge from listening.
Fate/Tiger Colosseum gets a seven out of ten. The game is fun & quite easy to pick up once you figure out what's what from the Japanese text. The storylines are very funny as well which makes the game more enjoyable. However, the camera is hard to control as you are running as I used some awkward handling positions on my left hand. Another downside is the game getting old fast as it's an action game.
For those looking for the Limited Edition of Fate/Tiger Colosseum, you would need to look hard for it. There is an Asian version & Japanese version. I don't think there is any difference in the two version with the exception that the Asian version is cheaper & has an Chinese or English insert for the instructions.
Last updated on March 25, 2008