Developer
Namco

Released: February 25, 2005
Genre: Fighting
Players: 2
ESRB: Teen

10
10
10
10
10.0

Supported Features

The best edition of Tekken prior to this release had to be Tekken Tag Tournament, the launch title that likely sold thousands of PS2 units. Not only did it show off Sony’s next-gen system it was just a fun and challenging fighting game, and nothing has really come close to it since, at least until now.

DOA is certainly a great game but its focus is more on the jiggles and the babes more than the gameplay, and Mortal Kombat has always required the timing of a concert pianist to finesse the controls with any hopes of pulling off a multi-move combo. And then you have Soul Calibur which is an amazing game but loses a bit of focus by merging weapons and hand-to-hand.

Tekken has always been the most approachable and fun fighting game of the lot and for this fifth installment Namco has shattered everyone’s’ expectations on just how good a sequel could be. They’ve taken all the best of the series and removed anything that is unnecessary or distracting to create a visually polished and refined combat experience.

The environments feature limited interaction, or rather destruction as pieces of the wall or floor will break, crumble, or explode on impact, but it’s entirely superficial since once the pieces vanish the unbroken level is still there. Since you can no longer “ring out” your opponent some new moves have been added to select characters that give them special attacks when they are backed up against a wall.

The controls have never been better and those of you who hated the old crouch system will rejoice in the fact that it has once again been returned to the D-pad down. And while the game can be played with the analog stick I simply found I was able to pull off the more complicated moves with the D-pad. Maybe that’s just the old-school gamer in me.

For those of you who take your Tekken (or any PS2 fighting game) seriously, I am compelled to make a plug for the RedOctane Arcade Stick. Ironically enough, this stick arrived for review the day after I had completed Tekken 5, so I have only logged about five hours with it, but I can say without hesitation or reservation that this coin-op joystick will change the way you play Tekken 5 or any other fighting game for that matter. I’ll save the details for the actual review of the Arcade Stick in our hardware section, but suffice to say, with Tekken 5 and the Arcade Stick; you have an arcade in your house.

Rookie fighters, particularly those of you who got away with murder in past games by randomly mashing buttons and winning matches will find a much faster and definitely more serious fighting engine lurking beneath the menus. Combined with the vastly improved AI you aren’t going to be able to pick one or two moves and repeat them over and over on your way to victory.

Tekken 5 forces you to “learn” the moves and develop real skills to flow the combos together. Considering there are now 30+ characters, each with anywhere from 40-100 moves, you won’t be mastering this game anytime soon. In fact, you could pick your favorite character and spend a month mastering all their moves and combos.

And what great moves they are. You have all sorts of punches and kicks that are tweaked based on the direction of the D-pad or enhanced if you are running toward the opponent. You have reversals, grabs, flips, and special unblockable attacks that vary for each character. Pulling up the move list for any character can be quite overwhelming, especially those ten-move combos.

Tekken 5 delivers the cast of 33 characters, 30 primary characters, 2 sub-characters (Eddie and Panda) who are actually alternate costumes of primary characters, and Jinpachi, the boss, who is only playable via GameShark. There is a good mix of male and female characters plus a few novelty characters tossed in like a kangaroo, wooden training dummy, and a grizzly bear.

With so many characters it was most impressive to find a great story that tied them all together. Everyone has their own motivation for being in the King of Iron Fists 5 Tournament whether it be financial, revenge, or something else. Everyone also seems to have at least one personal grudge or foe that they will face near the end of the tournament.

Much of the story revolves around Heihachi Mishima who dies in the opening movie, and that’s all I will say about that. Chances are most of you already know what is going on, but for those that don’t, expect a lot of surprising plot twists and a fantastic boss character with an interesting relation to a certain cast member. The story keeps getting better and broader the more characters you play and new facets are revealed.

Each character is introduced with a visually stunning still-frame, comic book style cutscene. There are one or two intermediate movies, usually exchanges between characters using the game engine prior to key fights, and each character has their own jaw-dropping pre-rendered closing movie. Some are funny, some are sad, and some are quite dramatic, but they are all worth the effort to finish the Story Mode for each character.

Tekken 5 packs in the content with unique stories for each of the 32 characters in Story mode, the Arcade mode that flawlessly recreates the coin-op experience including ranked CPU opponents. You can earn fight money, 100K for each story completion and smaller amounts for arcade play, that you can use to unlock costumes and more clothing and accessories for each character. The money goes fast when you are dropping 100K for a pair of cool shades for Christie or the obligatory schoolgirl uniform for Ling.

Then you have Practice mode where you can learn all those complex moves and combos before putting the smack down on your friends in Versus mode. Time Attack sees how fast you can beat your way through the stages while Survival mode tests your endurance with a single life against multiple opponents.

But wait, that’s not all. If you act now Namco is throwing in the Tekken: Devil Within mode, which is basically a game in and of itself. You play as Jin Kazama in a third-person 3D action beat-fest where you wander futuristic passages and room filled with endlessly spawning enemies. Beat them down and reach the lower levels of the lab to discover the truth of Jin's past and the devil gene. Finishing this mode is just one way to unlock the Devil Jin character. I’ll let you figure out the other ones.

Still not enough? Namco has also thrown in the coin-op versions of Tekken, Tekken 2, Tekken 3 and even their old classic space shooter, Starblade. And if you need more than that you had better be prepared to shuck out the serious bucks cause you’ll want to track down one of the 20,000 copies of the Tekken 5: Ultimate Collectors Edition. If $99 scares you off then don’t even go looking on eBay for this rare edition unless you really want the custom Hori-made arcade stick and a custom six-disc DVD Collector's case to keep every single Tekken game in once place.

Some gamers and critics will likely complain about the lack of online support but frankly, Tekken 5 has more content than I will have time to explore if no other games released for any system this year. Online support would only rob me of what little life (and self-esteem) I have left. I certainly don’t need to have my ass kicked by some 14yr old who lives and breathes Tekken.

The character models are fantastic. I don’t have a polygon count to rattle off but I couldn’t see any hard edges on any surface and the textures are so detailed the hold up under the tightest zoom. We’re talking game graphics that could easily pass for pre-rendered graphics a year ago. And they only look better when they start to move. Teenage boys will enjoy the abundant cleavage and panty shots, but there isn’t a single trace of jiggling, not even on Christie.

I already mentioned the wonderful comic-style intro cutscenes and closing CG movies but they both deserve a second plug. I would be proud to display any of the still images as framed artwork in my home or office and the closing movies are easily on the same level as anything Square is doing with the Final Fantasy franchise these days. Namco needs to seriously consider doing a CG feature film.

High-end gamers will certainly appreciate and enjoy 16:9 widescreen and progressive scan support, and if you can’t support these options you do have another toggle to soften or sharpen the graphics. Tekken 5 on an HDTV rivals anything the Xbox has to offer.

Every character talks in Tekken 5, a first in the Tekken franchise, and while the subtitled Japanese dialogue is excellent, the characters who speak English, especially the Japanese characters who speak English fall just short of excellent. Only one or two characters could possibly be considered as “bad” voice acting.

The rest of the sound package is a mix of combat sounds, shattering rock, cracking floors, and environmental sounds, and while there is no Dolby Pro Logic II mix the standard stereo mix does an excellent job considering the 2D nature of the fights and the arenas.

The other modes will keep you busy for months to come. I’ve already elaborate on all the bonus content packed onto this disc. Quite simply, this is the last fighting game you will need in your PS2 until the PS3 arrives, and by that time we’ll have Tekken 6 to contend with.

Namco has achieved perfection on all fronts; gameplay, graphics, sound, and longevity. Whether this is your first fighting game or just your next, Tekken 5 deserves a permanent home in your PS2 library. Just make sure to clear your schedule for the next few months.