
	Platform Playstation 2 Genre Fighting Publisher Namco Developer Namco ESRB T (Teen) Released March 2005

- Story mode sequences - Nice soundtrack - Solid voice acting - Memorable and appealing characters - Customization - Devil Within - Great graphics - Very smooth gameplay - Some of the best stages I’ve ever seen

- Some of the unlockable items in customization are too stiff - Some stages seem like filler

Review: Tekken Tag Tournament (PS2) Review: Guilty Gear X2 (PS2) Review: Street Fighter Anniversary Collection (PS2) Review: Virtua Fighter 4 - Evolution (PS2) Review: DOA Ultimate (XB) Review: Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee (XB)
Newsletter
Be notified of site updates. Sign-up for the Newsletter sent out twice weekly. Enter E-Mail Address Below: Subscribe \| Unsubscribe

Tekken 5

Score: 9.5 / 10

I like fighting games a lot.

I’m a huge fan of both 2D and 3D fighters. My favorite 3D fighter series has to be Tekken. Although Tekken 4 didn’t disappoint me, it didn’t exactly live up to the caliber of its predecessors like Tekken 3 or Tekken Tag Tournament. Tekken 5 changes all that and went back to its roots with a healthy blend of Tekken 4 as well.

I liked Tekken 4. I liked it a lot. In fact, a sample review I made of Tekken 4 is how I got my job here at AE in the first place. Even though I loved Tekken 4, I still preferred Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag Tournament because I found Tekken 4 to be a bit on the slow side. Namco must’ve listened to its fans because Tekken 5 is faster than all the previous games.

In Tekken 4 and even Tekken Tag, I found some characters to be a bit unbalanced. Tekken 5 does a better job of balancing out each fighter and for people like me this is great. No longer will friends of mine bitch at each other and yelling out things like, “Oh, he’s so damn cheap.”

Speaking of characters, there are 32 fighters in total all with their own unique fighting styles (with the exception of Panda and Eddie who are palette swaps). From Tekken’s long past, some of the characters, which were assumed to be dead, like Baek Do San, are back. Wang, Bruce and Ganryu also make a return. The point is that almost everyone from pervious games makes an appearance in Tekken 5. (And if not, you’ll likely find them in the Arcade History mode which includes the first 3 Tekken games.) With more moves than ever, these old characters can, and have, become favorites to newer players. Sorry to inform longtime fans, but returning

Advertisement

- Playstation 2 Game Reviews

- Fighting Game Reviews

- Reviews of Games Developed/Published by Namco

characters do not include Jun Kazama. Speaking of Kazamas, those of you who miss Jin Kazama’s Mishima fighting style moves will be pleased because Devil Jin is now a selectable character and he sports his father’s and grandfather’s style of fighting. He also has plenty of 10 hit combos to master. If there’s one thing I don’t like, it’s that some character’s 10 hit combos can easily be interrupted by a block halfway through the combo. It doesn’t make much sense but it does happen.

Advertisement

The new combatants include Asuka Kazama, Feng Wei and Raven. Like every other character, they each have their own unique fighting style, but their moves really differ in some ways compared to the other characters. This shines new light into what’s already a fantastic game.

Story mode is great, basically nine or so fights in a row, with a few cut scenes and narration to set up the character’s reason for being in The King of Iron Fist Tournament 5. Three or so fights in this mode are set up with unique scenes between the characters before battle and then after beating your opponent, you are rewarded with a superbly animated dramatic, or sometimes very humorous, cinematic. Not all of them are equally entertaining, but are quite worth the effort of completing that mode with each character if one wants to complete value of the game. However, not everyone will like Paul Phoenix’s story. He probably has the most humorous cut scenes throughout the game because of his feud with Kuma. What they basically did is make Paul into a complete dumbass. I’m not 100 percent sure on this, but I think the man even understands the words that come out of Kuma’s mouth and he’s a bear for God sakes.

Control is as smooth as the animations, and that is saying a lot. Combos flow naturally. In switching from Tekken 4 to Tekken 5, there may be a learning curve in getting the sidestepping and jumping to feel more natural. Maybe it’s just me, but ‘up’ didn’t mean ‘jump’ in Tekken 4 did it?

Earning credits, going through the ranks and dressing up your characters is fun. Certainly, a blatant Ripoff of Virtual Fighter 4... but hey.. When I played VF4 I said, “Tekken should rip this off.” Prayers answered. Just not so many things to buy, and not all of them are that appealing or graphically functional. Some added pieces move, but the different haircuts for Devil Jin were motionless, the Devil like hair gel or something. Also, I wished they didn’t make it so that only the first player could use that profile. I know it makes sense, but when all the friends are together both players may want to use custom characters. Also, why couldn’t we dress up Kuma like Yogi Bear?

Devil Within is a 3^rd person beat ‘em up game where players take control of Jin Kazama. This takes place before Tekken 5 as players will uncover more info about the game’s hero. There are some issues with the camera, but it’s not like Namco had to put this mode in so we should appreciate them giving us an extra mode that somewhat differs from Tekken Force mode.

To me, Tekken 5 has some of the greatest stages of a 3D fighter, ever. The surroundings have almost as much character as the combatants do. Not to say every stage will blow you away, a few are just filling in the gaps and adding variety. Coupled with a soundtrack that definitely has its moments, the right choice of characters during versus battle with a friend can completely alter the atmosphere and even the attitudes of the players. Never before has a fight between a sumo and a kangaroo seemed so epic, but in a moonlit field of white flowers with an ominous ballad that breaks out into tense guitar riffs, that battle could very well decide the fate of the universe. The Cathedral is also a very awesome stage. I love hitting people into the stained glass windows and watching the glass shatter. I also love it when sometimes bats come flying up when players are knocked down.

Graphically, Tekken 5 is one of the smoothest games I have ever played. Almost every movement looks believable and the stages, the lighting, the character models, it all looks amazing. It’s definitely in my list of the top 5 best looking games on the PS2.

Any fan of fighters can not go wrong with Tekken 5. If you don’t already own this game, then what are you waiting for? Go buy it, now!

- J’Tonello

(April 30, 2005)