Virtua Fighter 5

Virtua Fighter 5 Review

If you like beating people up then SEGA's Virtua Fighter 5 is the game for you. Developed by the black belts at AM2 (Fighting Vipers, Fighters Megamix), VF5 is a true gameplay showcase that deserves more mainstream attention than it will probably ever get. Then again, proper timing can make a big difference in a title's success, and with the PlayStation 3's void of compelling software since last December, Virtua Fighter's chance of grabbing North American eyeballs is better than ever.

And let's face it, our attention should be grabbed. After all, one of the universe's biggest mysteries is why SEGA's excellent franchise has never reached the same American commercial success as its competition. Soulcalibur and Tekken both, for example, are lucrative post-arcade endeavors that see strong sales and good word of mouth years after their release. Virtua Fighter, on the other hand, gets labeled as "the hardcore alternative" and sees most of its action at tournaments or in Asian markets (it's huge in Japan); domestic appearances are usually relegated to diehard neighborhood get-togethers and occasional competitions.

But you can blame us for that. It's a popular misconception among the press that Virtua Fighter's mechanics are too complicated for the laymen. That's a myth. What makes VF so compelling is that it's as multifaceted as you allow it to be. Two beginners can hook up and execute a minutia of combos with fairly little knowledge of the system, but pit those same players against an expert, and they'll see things they never thought possible. Therein lies the stumbling block of the media's (and as a result, the uninformed public's) view of Virtua Fighter -- a depth of gameplay that rewards skill is misinterpreted as "too complex" for general audiences. Hell, I'm no pro myself but I can still see how brilliant the system is from the very start.

Hopefully, Virtua Fighter 5 will open eyes and prove that VF is an all-access beast. As one of the few exclusive (at least for now) PS3 titles in the first quarter of 2007, it has the opportunity to grab consumers it wouldn't normally reach, and it deserves plenty of recognition. Why? Because though it isn't a huge leap over the PS2's Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution, it does offer a number of everyone-friendly improvements that make it the most accessible installment yet. Faster gameplay (think "DOA fast"), reworked combos (several of which chain more naturally), and hearty customization options should get people hooked and fast.

Virtua Fighter's satisfying gameplay can be attributed to one major factor: character balance. Unlike the competing 3D titles mentioned earlier, Virtua Fighter has done a stand-up job of giving users a legitimate chance with every last warrior in the lineup. Sure there are some overpowered moves here and there, but they're minimal at best and are easily recognized after a couple of matches. This means that 90% of the time, good Akira players match up well against good Pai Chan users and advanced Aoi users won't dominate advanced Vanessa players. From a mechanical standpoint, there's nothing more important in a fighter than that.

When playing against another human being, Virtua Fighter 5 is incredibly satisfying. Even when getting your ass handed to you by a superior player, the smooth controls and deep combat compel you to play more. Unfortunately, brawling with the AI isn't nearly as gratifying since the CPU is actually quite tepid. In fact, unless you crank the difficulty all the way up, the majority of your opponents are surprisingly lazy and offer little retort to a series of fists in their face. Constant hit-and-run tactics combined with quick rush/ throw techniques will take out most sub-elite rivals, and will still deal serious damage on even the heaviest hitters.

The weak AI is softened a bit by the inclusion of the addictive Quest mode which simulates the practice of traveling to various arcades and challenging the world's best players. It's surprisingly engrossing, throws hundreds of AI-powered foes at you and serves as the primary way to gain new items for character customizations. The sheer number of modifications that can be made to a single fighter are immense (specific items for 17 different characters with four outfits each mean plenty of unlockables), and the fact that you can save up to 30 unique characters per PlayStation ID means that you can expect an abundance of variety.
Despite my affection for Virtua Fighter 5's gameplay mechanics and customization, however, there are a number of design choices that still leave me scratching my head. The most obvious, of course, is the lack of online support (yeah, like you didn't see that one coming). Though latency concerns were probably this feature's biggest adversary, it's still baffling to see that a next-gen game of this magnitude (on a system built around the idea of network processing) doesn't support an option that several PS2 fighters have had for years. This is an especially painful reality when considering how weak the AI is. Why settle for a CPU-driven Quest mode when there's nothing stopping you from doing it for real?

There are a couple of other concerns I have as well. Versus matches have an abundance of arbitrary menus, for example, and unless you want to load your customized character before every match, you'll have to select "play without data" for each bout. Using a character ID is a bit of a pain too, because you can only save one character per name and don't have a "Master ID" that keeps track of a single player's performance with multiple combatants. The strangest hitch of them all, though, is that players can't take their characters to a friend's house and play against another created character. Plus, you can't save replays from every match type and the music and audio isn't very memorable.

But VF5's presentational elements aren't all bad -- the visuals are more than impressive with cool cloth physics, nice special effects, and some cool background views. The character models look pretty good too and even when running in 1080i (the box only claims 720p, but it goes higher), the animations are smooth and fast.

Closing Comments

Virtua Fighter 5 kicks a whole lot of MMA ass. It offers one of the most intuitive and robust fighting systems ever assembled and the customization options and quest mode are great fun. Granted, its AI isn't very good, it has a couple of interface issues and the lack of online is a major negative, but the mechanics here are so amazing, that it doesn't hurt the overall package as much as it would in other games. Grab a buddy (or five) and play it... a lot!

Another Take

from Hilary Goldstein

Virtua Fighter 5 is a difficult game to judge. The fighting engine is second to none. Just based on mechanics alone, it's one of the greatest fighting games I've played. The level of character customization is exciting and can lead to some very unique looking fighters. But everything else comes up a little flat. The interface is mediocre and the AI is unsophisticated. The environments, which lack good ambient sound and graphical flare, are a bit of a disappointment. So too is the lack of online play. The absence of the network aspects that made the arcade version so cool haunts the gameplay modes. This is a game that belongs online, and part of the overall experience feels hollow without network play. Virtua Fighter 5 gets a lot right and in the places it matters most. You won't find a more technically demanding fighter on any system. Virtua Fighter 5 is a great fighter, but with the dawn of the next-generation of gaming, more is needed to make for a true classic.