Conclusion and final action pose...
Now before I get too carried away with how cool and smooth the combat is, there are a couple of minor niggles, such as the ‘auto-distancing’ which sometimes creeps in. Say you’re punching away, close-up on your opponent and then go for a throw... the game will make your character slide back a step or two before executing the move. Likewise, if you’re fighting on a closed arena and get your opponent up against the edge, you can pummelling away but as they fall you sort of slide out of the way... It doesn’t happen often but because everything else is so smooth it’s all the more noticeable.The Quest mode is a bit of a mixed bag because here is the only place to unlock new stuff for your characters and rank up the various levels of achievement but it plays just like the arcade mode with endless rows of challengers. However, seeing as the Quest mode is essentially a simulation of you walking into an arcade and playing other gamers on Virtua Fighter 5 machines, where you play affects the difficulty of the matches you’ll have. So starting with the easiest arcade you can rise to around 1st Dan after 20 or so matches... then, although you’ll keep getting unlocks, you won’t rank up any higher, you’ll have to move to a new arcade for that.
Click for larger imageBut where Virtua Fighter 5 really shines is when you sit down and play with someone else, (which makes the aforementioned lack of online play doubly galling). This is mano a mano combat at its most visceral, (I’ve been wanting to use that word for ages), and playing against a human opponent rather than the slightly dodgy AI gives Virtua Fighter 5 a whole new dimension and ramps the excitement and adrenaline levels up through the roof as you both frantically battle it out, each with just a little health left...
In fact, if there’s one big niggle I have with Virtua Fighter 5, it’s not actually with the game at all, but with the platform it’s on. This is the first game on the PS3 that I feel suffers through lack of a rumble pack in the six-axis controller. If ever there was a game just crying out to make your hands shake, Virtua Fighter 5 is it.
Click for larger imageBut beyond that, the beauty of Virtua Fighter 5 lies in the balance between characters and moves, how easy it is to pick up and play and how long it takes to master... all of these combine to make a superb fighting game that really does come to the fore on the PS3. Graphically this is no ugly duckling either but you’ll be too busy pummelling the crap out of each other to notice. Right then, time to go practice my Fukko-Shichiseiho with extra Chouchu and a bit of Ouda... whatever the hell that means...
Pros
Masses of characters
A multitude of moves to learn
Easy to get into
Hours of gameplay to master
Near perfect balance
Looks great
Cons
No online play!
Animation occasionally hits a glitch
Arcade mode pretty much redundant
If Virtua Fighter 5 was in an Ultimate Fighting match it would’ve won and then eaten the opposition... twice.
HEXUS Awards
Virtua Fighter 5
