The Video Game Reviews Community (HonestGamers)
Forums | Blogs | Register | Login | Users | Staff | Links

3DS
Dreamcast
DS
GameCube
iPad
iPhone/iPod
PC
PlayStation 2
PlayStation 3
PSP
Vita
Wii
Wii U
Xbox
Xbox 360
All
Follow Us

Advanced VG
Advanced VG (TGCD) game cover art
Genre:
Fighting Action

Developer:
Giga
Publisher
Region
Released
TGL
JP
07/22/1994
Your Account Options
You currently have no privileges related to this game profile because you are not signed into an HonestGamers account. Please log in, or click to register for a free user account.

More Reviews by Zigfried

One Chance (PC)
One Chance is a bad game for obvious reasons. The graphics are poor, the music is repetitive, the guy walks slowly, the story is silly, player interactio...

Canabalt (PC)
I view people who subscribe to the holy book of Canabalt the same way that Orson Scott Card intended readers to view Xenocide's Qing-Jao: as obses...

Splatterhouse (PlayStation 3)
Once upon a time, all this blood and nudity would have been daring. I remember gasping in awe when playing the originals . . . of course, those were marketed t...

Rad Mobile (Arcade)
I remember drooling over magazine screenshots for Rad Mobile, known back in 1991 as "that 32-bit arcade game WHOA MOMMA". I remember actually playing

Super Sprint (Arcade)
Most players will quickly realize the true nature of the deceptive diagonal path and avoid it. True racing experts will keep trying -- and failing -- until the...

Best Turbografx-CD Games
Akumajou Dracula X: Chi no Rondo (Turbografx-CD) artwork
Akumajou Dracula X: Chi no Rondo
Average Rating: 10.0; Reviews: 3
Gate of Thunder (Turbografx-CD) artwork
Gate of Thunder
Average Rating: 10.0; Reviews: 2
Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire (Turbografx-CD) artwork
Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire
Average Rating: 8.5; Reviews: 2
Ai Cho Aniki (Turbografx-CD) artwork
Ai Cho Aniki
Average Rating: 7.5; Reviews: 2
Last Alert (Turbografx-CD) artwork
Last Alert
Average Rating: 6.5; Reviews: 2

Looking for a good read?
Check out a selection from our database of more than 8000 reviews! Masters has weighed in on Last Alert for the Turbografx-CD and figures it rates 5 out of 10. What do you think? Read the review, then be sure to leave feedback or chime in with one of your own!

Systems > Turbografx-CD > A > Advanced VG > Staff Review

Sign up for a free user account and you can leave feedback for this review or even submit a game review of your own!

Review by Zigfried
September 05, 2005

Deep into Advanced Variable Geo's story mode, young Yuka Takeuchi (female, 17 years) fights her clone. Although Yuka struggles in noble pursuit of glory and fame, her clone lives only to murder. During an emotional post-battle cinematic, Yuka's clone describes her lonely life... and passes away without ever knowing the warmth of another's smile. Alas, poor Yuka-clone! No matter what you ever did, pain and regret inevitably followed! Why weren't you allowed to wish for happiness? If you were fated to experience only sadness and failure, why were you even created?

Trying her best to hold back the tears, Yuka removes Yuka-clone's red glove and places it on her right hand. With this Memorial Fist, she will make the wicked genetic manipulators pay for playing God!

Before you let Advanced V.G.'s pretentious patina of pathos touch your heart, know this one small detail: Yuka is a martial arts waitress, fighting against other waitresses in... a waitress battle tournament. Melodramatic nonsense about clone life and death has no place in a fighting game starring bunny women who fart flames from their bushy-tailed rears. Asuka 120% understood this. Asuka 120% worked not only because it's genuinely good, but because it's a lighthearted romp that fits the loose playing style and goofy character designs. With its sloppy control and absurdly pretentious "plot twist", Advanced V.G. makes the entire chick fighter genre look exactly how judgmental gamers would expect it to look: bad.

Before Advanced V.G. gets all weepy near the end, it actually tries to be a "wacky" game with "crazy" characters. I spent most of my time stone-faced, wondering who decided that parading a bunch of stereotypes across the screen qualifies as comedy. It certainly doesn't qualify as ingenuity: there's the strong girl, the bunny girl, the rave dancer girl, the glasses girl, the ninja girl, the waitress girl, the other waitress girl, the other other waitress girl, and the other other other waitress girl. Despite being overloaded with waitresses, none of them are even half as cool as Guilty Gear's Jam Kuradoberi. Even worse, you're forced to listen to all of these vapid caricatures say a lot of nothing during unskippable cinematics and unskippable pre-battle conversations.

As for the fighting itself:

  • The control is somewhat stiff, though I've played worse.

  • It lacks a cool combo system or power gauge.

  • Fireballs sometimes harmlessly pass through opponents.

  • The later enemies are so cheap that you're forced to develop degenerate tactics just to scrape by.

  • One of the final bosses has a barrier shield, making him immune to projectiles.

  • That same boss hits you with lightning bolts whenever you get near him.

  • Another boss is COMPLETELY INVISIBLE.
I've concluded, after a long and painful experience, that Advanced Variable Geo is a bad, bad fighting game. But it could be worse. The waitresses could all get raped when they lose, like they do in the original PC version. Fortunately, TGL has removed all of the sex so that people who buy 2D fighting games starring nothing but big-breasted girls won't be offended.

Cut the crap -- get Asuka 120% Maxima Burning Fest instead. It controls like a dream, it's got diversity, and you can actually play through its story mode with more than one character.

//Zig




You can click the tabs on the above bar to choose whether you wish to read comments from visitors who have posted on Facebook, or from registered site users who have left feedback on the forums. Please leave a comment of your own if you have anything to say!


Info | Help | Privacy Policy | Contact | Advertise

eXTReMe Tracker
© 1998-2012 HonestGamers
None of the material contained within this site--from reviews, guides, cheats and editorials to message board posts--may be reproduced in any conceivable fashion without permission from the author(s) of said material. This site is not sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, or any other such party. Advanced VG is a registered trademark of its copyright holder. This site makes no claim to Advanced VG, its characters, screenshots, artwork, music, or any intellectual property contained within. Opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily represent the opinion of site staff or sponsors.