Tekken at its finest
Ever since its debut in Japanese arcades in late 1994, the Tekken series has always been one of the most highly regarded 3D Fighting game franchises in recent memory, maybe ever. Especially these days, quality 3D fighting games aren't exactly common, so in that sense Tekken 5 is a breath of fresh air into what some consider a dying gaming genre.
In case your not familiar with Tekken, its a one on one 3D fighting game, pitting the most skilled fighters of the world, each with varying fighting styles and characteristics against each other in locations around the globe. All the familiar faces of the series are back, including Paul Phoenix, Marshall Law, King, Jin, Heihachi, Yoshimitsu and ect. and as per usual Namco have introduced three new characters into the mix. Theres Feng Wei, the Kenpo master seeking an ancient scroll containing secrets of martial arts (in other words, another contestant looking to become more powerful), Asuka Kazama, who enters the tournament in order to find and defeat Feng Wei, who destroyed her fathers dojo (badly injuring her father in the process) and finally Raven, a secret agent on a mysterious mission involving the Mishima Zaibatsu. Each new character fits in with the already varied cast of characters, with each adding an even greater amount of variety into the character selection. As usual, playing with the new characters may be strange at first, but after a few rounds they'll feel like members of the Tekken family (it should however be noted that Asuka Kazama, Jin Kazama's cousin, takes after Jin's mother, Jun Kazama's fighting style, so she can't be considered 100% new, however the fighting style has been greatly updated since Tekken 2).
The game builds on Tekken's trademark rock solid gameplay by balancing out a lot of the elements introduced in Tekken 4. For example, Tekken 4 saw the introduction of closed stages (stages with walls as opposed to traditional open ended stages with no walls), which some players thought made gameplay unbalanced. Namco have fixed the problem by doing away with the uneven surfaces found in Tekken 4, as well as having half of the stages include walls with another half being open ended. Several tweaks like these have been done, all in all the game plays more like Tekken 3 or Tekken Tag then with Tekken 4, which is a good thing (not that Tekken 4 was bad, but it was certainly no Tekken 3).
So while the overall gameplay has been made more balanced, the games new engine also somewhat encourages juggling, adding a new dimension to gameplay. While in previous Tekken games juggling consisted of a launcher then maybe three or four hits in the air, which would take a chunk out of your opponents health. In Tekken 5, the health bars are not consumed as fast, however the new juggling system can mean that juggles can be up to 8 or 9 hits, sometimes even taking off nearly half of your opponents health. These juggles are not exactly easy to do however, as the more deadly juggles often require pinpoint precision and timing, although there are still some damaging simpler juggles. Overall this can occasionally make the game a bit juggle-focused, but it certainly helps the game in some aspects, like making it harder for button bashers to play, and also adding another layer of depth to the already deep Tekken gameplay.
As far as content goes, Tekken 5 offers the same extra modes found in previous Tekken games, like survival, time attack, practice mode and of coarse Story Battle, which this time around includes some breath-taking CG cut scenes for each characters endings. Additionally, Tekken 5 introduces "Devil Within" mode, which essentially replaces the "Tekken Force" mode found in Tekken 4. Basically, Devil Within follows the game's main character Jin and what occurred between Tekken 4 and Tekken 5. The mode features an interested story, but the gameplay isn't strong enough to distract you from the main gameplay for more then about two hours at the most before getting a bit stale.
Tekken 5 also lends some idea's from fellow 3D Fighter Virtua Fighter 4, introducing characters that can be customized with various accessories ranging from sunglasses to samurai swords to different hairstyles. There aren't necessarily hundreds of options for each character, but still the customization offered is nice. Also new to the Tekken series are ranking, starting at 'Beginner' and ending at 'Tekken Lord'. There are roughly thirty rankings in between or so, and getting your character to Tekken Lord will probably take a few hours depending on how good your win: loss ratio is. The problem is that getting your character to Tekken Lord doesn't get you any bonuses or anything like that, but still its a nice little addition that adds another incentive to playing arcade mode.
The audiovisual department has also been significantly improved over Tekken 4, and Tekken 4 was no slouch with its audiovisuals. The graphics in particular, considering the now dated Playstation 2 hardware, are terrific. The environments that you play with are animated well and are nice and varied. Stages will vary from fighting in front of a burning temple (with heat wash and all), to fighting in a moon-lit plain of tall grass. Other stages include an underground fighting club with people cheering you on from behind (sort of like areas in "Fight Club" only much bigger), in a secluded and peaceful garden and even a structure in out of space.
Perhaps just as impressive is the games inspired audio, which features a terrific soundtrack and excellent voice acting. Interestingly, each character will speak in their natural dialect instead of English (so for example, American boxer Steve Fox speaks English, Korean Taekwando fighter Hwoarang speaks Korean, and Kuma the grizzly bear speaks...bear?). This works out for the best, with Asian characters awkwardly speaking English in previous Tekken games, the fighters feel more authentic this time around, and its also used to humorous effect with characters like Panda, Kuma and Rodger. Also as I mentioned, the soundtrack is terrific with tracks that range from Japanese Rock to robotic/techno inspired tracks that suit the stages in which they're played in. Overall, as far as PS2 games go, Tekken 5's audiovisuals are second to none.
And ultimately, the same thing can be said about Tekken 5 overall. There aren't many 3D fighting games nowadays that can compare to Tekken 5, which more-or-less represents Tekken at its best. Tekken 5 offers terrific value for money, with exceptional multiplayer, extra modes and even arcade perfect versions of Tekken, Tekken 2 and even the legendary Tekken 3. Couple this with new characters, incredible gameplay that’s both easy to pick up and play for newcomers and deep enough for veterans of the series to enjoy and excellent audiovisuals, and we have the best 3D Fighting game since Tekken 3.
