THE GOOD:Arcade-perfect graphics & sound. Lots of hidden mini-games and other extras. Very high replay value.
THE BAD:
Somewhat quirky controls. No online play. High difficulty level. Unbalanced CPU AI.
SUMMARY:
The 5th installment in the Tekken series is once again primarily an arcade-to-PS2 port of the game. The storyline really hasn't changed from previous Tekkens-many fighters have been invited to compete in The King Of Iron Fist Tournament 5, but this time there are reports that Heihachi Mishima is dead and the Mishima Zaibatsu is in shambles as a result-this plays laregly into the game's back story.
The graphics are virtually arcade-perfect. The character models show almost realistic levels of detail and the frame rate is extremely smooth. The backgrounds look awesome and also change to reflect interaction through gameplay. Sounds are also dead-on, between all the character voices, music, and sound FX, topped off with an excellent announcer who also lends very high credibility to the narrations in Story Mode. The only complaint is in the one "fight club" background, all the hooting & chanting quickly gets annoying. Controls are one of the game's few stumbling points-you can use the control pad on the PS2 controller to play the game, yet you can't use the analog thumbsticks, which results on sometimes clunky controls when trying to move your character. This is also very odd because the game supports most, if not all, arcade stick controllers as well, and in the "Devil Within" minigame you can use the analog sticks to play that game. Gameplay is fast-paced yet highly technical: What sets Tekken apart from other fighters is that each attack button controls one individual part of the fighter, so you have 2 arm/punch buttons and 2 leg/kick buttons so you can attack independently using any of those parts. The actual gameplay is standard tournament fighting but doesn't feature special moves and projectile attacks like most other fighting games. A few new modes were added to the home version, including a Story Mode for each character, a modified Arcade Mode where you can increase your character's ranks (you had to buy special data cards to do this in the arcade), Time Attack (like the arcade original), and a new minigame called "Devil Within". This 3D action/adventure game allows you to learn more about Jin's past while doing lots of fighting and puzzle solving-while not totally awesome it's a rather interesting diversion and can help you unlock main game content. Retro fans will enjoy the "Arcade History" section, which includes the original arcade versions of the first 3 Tekkens (This version includes the "Ver. B" of Tekken 2) and you can also unlock Namco's polygon space shooter "Star Blade" as well. All the games are full versions with operator-adjustable options but unfortunately your high scores & settings are not saved. The game is also fairly difficult, especially if you've never played Tekken before-you can't just go button-mashing all the time and hope to win, plus the CPU AI is rather unbalanced at times. Sometimes you'll win in 10 seconds, other times it won't give you much of a chance to win. And even with adjustable difficulty levels, it's still too hard for beginners, even on Easy level. The only other complaint is there's no online play, which kinda defeats the purpose of Arcade Mode's ranking system.
While these shortcomings are a bit significant, they do very little to take away from what is perhaps the best fighting game available on PS2. While it may be a little hard to find in stores, the effort is worth it especially now that the game is cheap enough to be found in bargain bins. Even if you're not a Tekken fan the game is at least worth an extended rental or even a purchase because between all the characters, unlockables, and classic games included, there is all kinds of replay value in this title. If you have either Tekken 4 or Tag Tournament, 5 is still worth buying for the new characters, features, and overall gameplay improvements. In short, if you enjoy fighting games and have a PS2, Tekken 5 is pretty much a must-have title, it's still that good.
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