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Tekken 5
"The definitive
fighting games returns and 10 years after its birth, the series is far
from retirement!"
Now ten years since the
birth of the Tekken legend, the announcement the world has been waiting
for is made. A secretive new leader commissions Iron First Tournament 5
and the world's most hardcore hand-to-hand brawler returns to devastate
the console fighting seen. The most definitive fighting game of the
console age returns in what promises to be one of the most thrilling and
entertaining fighting games to date and impulsegamer was on hand to test
this theory.
Although Tekken 5 features a plethora of new mini-games, improved
gameplay and graphics, the heart of this fighting game is still the Iron
Fist tournament that has the player taking on the role of one of the
lead characters in the game. As with the previous installments, the
gamer must fight a variety of random characters that all lead to the
boss character and of course a little bit more information about the
character themselves. Once again Namco injects a healthy dose of over
the top dialogue and some corny character acting to help immerse the
player into the world of Tekken plus some unlockable goodies.
Although the majority of our old favorites return in Tekken 5 such as
King, Nina and Law, Namco have also decided to introduce three new
completely new characters to the mythos that include Raven, Askua and
Fengwei. Raven is based on Wesley Snipes' character from Blade and
Demolition Man, Asuka is the super cute school girl cousin of Jin Kazama
and Feng is a character shrouded in secrecy who has entered the
tournament to find a sacred scroll owned by Misima Zaibatsu himself.
The beauty of the Tekken series is that anyone can pick up a controller
and hit on a few techniques to see them through for a while but if you
really want to take things serious, the player must memorize a variety
of different combinations that will help get them through the Iron Fist
tournament. Fortunately these maneuvers can be accessed through the menu
system of the game by pushing the pause button whilst in-game. With that
said, Tekken 5 should take the master gamer a few hours to master the
combinations of their characters that will give you a good solid of
around 10 - 15 hours of gameplay, provided you have a few stops along
the way.
As
mentioned before, Tekken 5 contains a plethora of extras that include
some half-hearted entertaining mini-games but what really makes Tekken 5
the price of admission alone is that the original three Tekken games are
also included in this bundle. This is a great trip down memory lane and
really shows the gamer how far gaming has progressed through the last
decade. There is also a game called Devil Within that is an action
platformer that also boosts the playability of this title.
The Devil Within puts the gamer in the role
of Jin Kazama who tries to uncover his past and learn about the devil
gene. The story takes place in a lab and it is presented in a
third-person view. Jin battles his way through an army of robots on his
way to find out the truth. As he goes along, his Devil gauge will
increase. When this gauge is full, Jin can transform into Devil Jin,
where he becomes more powerful but his health declines over time. Devil
Within provides a nice distraction but you won’t find yourself going
back to it often.
Graphically, Tekken 5 is a visual treat on the PlayStation 2 and is
easily the best if not THE best fighting game on the market (visually)
that contains some extremely realistic textures such as skin tones, hair
and cloth detail. All the characters have been professionally rendered
through an insidious amount of polygons for that extraordinary realism
and match that with some beautiful background environments and you have
a fighting game made in gamer heaven. Namco have also added a variety of
special effects such as realistic fire and mist to help increase the
atmosphere of this title.
The musical score of Tekken 5 features a "rock n roll" style of music
that goes hand-in-hand with the action of the title and match that with
a plethora of sound effects such as kicks, screams, punches and falls
and it's almost as if you are watching a real street fight. Each
character also has their own professional voice actors that lend to the
personas of the fighters.
In
conclusion, Tekken fans are in for a real treat with this game that not
only prove that PlayStation 2 is still a contender but the world of
fighting games has now a new benchmark. The only thing Tekken 5 loses a
point for is that online play is not included in this awesome title,
however with improved graphics, new gameplay modes and new characters,
there is little in Tekken 5 to complain about and I would recommend this
title to all lovers of fighting games. Check it out!
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