True, VF4 does have it's moments. I haven't actually found them, but can all those people who it's so damn great all be wrong? :? I played it and didn't like it. I found the characters boring, the fighting system weird and the arenas uninspiring. But that's just me. I'm not gonna tell you "this game is the best!" or something, but let me tell you what I think about a few fighting games so you can get a bigger selection the next time.
* King of Fighters (except Maximum Impact): These ones have been balanced over and over and over, and you find a game on pretty much every system you can think of. _(not sure about PC, but every console at least.) They are "only" 2D fighters, but there's nothing wrong with some old-school games.
* KoF: Maximum Impact: KoF turned 3D, to some success. The final boss cheats his a** off, and that pretty much ruined it for me. But the characters are really cool, and fighting interesting and very balanced, and the arenas looks amazing.
* Mortal Kombat 1-4: 2D, old school, simply brilliant. Well, not MK3 and 4, but they are still fun if you're into this series.
* MK: Deadly Alliance: The kombat gone 3D, again to some success. It's still Mortal Kombat deep down, but and some of the characters really work in 3D. Others again don't. No names mentioned. (you know who you are, Cyrax.) :lol
* MK: Deception: Now we're talking! Except the final boss cheats a lot, but who cares? The Konquest mode from DA have expanded into a game of it's own, and you get both Chess Kombat and Puzzle Kombat (some sort of 2-player Tetris with a twist and fatalities). They are worth the money alone. I've even somehow managed to play Puzzle Kombat almost as much as actual kombat. It's weird, but in a good way.
* Soul Calibur 2: Almost as good as they get. Almost.
* Soul Calibur 3: The best just got better.
* Street Fighter 2 (normal version): About as good as a 2d fighter can possibly get.
And speaking of fighting games, how come the final bosses always cheats? Take Maximum Impact as a great example. As you fight, you can fill up three "power bars" or something to unleash powerful attacks. The end of game boss has an attack that spends two of the three bars, and yet he uses it three times in row? And of course, each attack removes at least 50% of your health, and he almost never misses. Even if he misses once, he zaps you twice more. It's just sad.