The King of Iron Fist has been little more than the Court Jester in recent years. Jonny takes a look at the latest pretender to the throne.
It's been a fair few years, since the release of Tekken 3 on PSone
in 1998 in fact, since Tekken could really refer to itself as "The
King of Iron Fist" - the title for which the characters in the game
compete.
Since that time, Virtua
Fighter 4 Evolution, Dead
or Alive Ultimate and both instalments of Soul
Calibur have left Tekken looking like a tired old battler ready
for his Horlicks.
Both Tekken
Tag Tournament and Tekken
4 attempted to elevate the genre with new ideas, and largely
unsuccessfully, so it's a huge relief that Tekken 5 goes straight
back to what it does best - kicking serious ass and looking great doing
it.
looks choreographed like a stunt-filled fight-scene from a movie
Make no mistake, Tekken 5 does look fantastic - and is easily
a contender for the best-looking game on PS2 to date. The characters
appear huge on-screen, and are massively detailed and brilliantly animated,
while the backdrops are uniformly gorgeous too - my favourite is "City
at Sunset" which is as dramatic as it is beautifully realised.
The real beauty of Tekken is that the fights are so entertaining to
watch and in their own strange way, appear to be real. The moves
are so fluid, the interactions between vastly different characters with
wildly different styles are so solid looking. The way that characters
duck and weave and lunge and jump can often look like they're purposefully
dodging attacks and waiting for their opportunity to strike - it looks
choreographed like a stunt-filled fight-scene from a movie, rather than
a bout that was assembled on the fly.
Tekken
has a very different feel to other fighters, and if you've never played
it, or haven't played it for a while, it does take a little getting
used to. Once it clicks though, its beauty, depth and intricacies are
easy to appreciate. Unlike, say Virtua Fighter, it's quite easy to look
(and feel) impressive without knowing exactly what you are doing, but
the depth is incredible, and will go as far as you're willing or able
to take it.
a cast of thousands
The combat itself is very much in the vein of Tekken 3, and
there are thousands of moves, throws, feints, reversals, combos, juggles
(to keep your opponent in the air with a well times series of punches
or kicks) and more to learn. The thirty characters (which include a
guy with a leopard's head, a bear, and a wooden practise dummy) offer
a huge range of different styles, from wrestling to Shaolin kung fu,
drunken style, boxing, and many, many more. Some characters, such as
Lei, even mesh numerous styles together to create a dazzling and unpredictable
Kung Stew.
The game features a pretty standard Story mode, a superb Arcade mode
(which borrows heavily from Virtua
Fighter 4 Evolution) with a ranking system and customisable
characters, a VS Mode (notable mostly for having an appalling character select screen and very poor user interface - honestly, it's that bad) and
Time Attack and Survival modes which are present, correct, and vaguely
distracting.
the depth is incredible, and will go as far as you're willing or able to take it
"The
Devil Within" is an adventure-style subgame, which would be worth
steering well away from if you didn't need to complete it to unlock
one of the characters. Those who remember Tekken 3's "Tekken Force"
mode will know roughly what to expect and how bad to expect it to be.
Finally, there's an Arcade History mode, featuring Arcade perfect versions
of Tekken, Tekken 2 ver.B and Tekken 3 - all superb
games in their own right able to provide hours of fun - however unlikely
it is they'll get a chance to do so.
You see, as great as it is to have the four finest Tekken games on
one disc - it's kinda pointless, because Tekken 5 itself is the
best in the series and so good that the earlier games can offer nothing
but a mildly humerous diversion as you laugh at how bad 3D graphics
were in the mid-90s.
2005 seems to be a year for high-quality comebacks. Star Wars has finally
had a decent prequel, Resident Evil and Devil May Cry came back better
than ever and even Doctor Who is back on top form. You can add Tekken
to that list now - the best Tekken yet is also the best fighting game
on the market right now. So come and have a go if you think you're hard
enough.
GAME's Verdict
- Best in the Tekken series to date.
- The best fighting game around.
- Visually one of the best PS2 games to date.
- Possibly a little on the short side.
- Occasionally fiddly camera.
- Its charms are easily missed by some.
Review by: Jonny Austin
Review Published: 13.07.05