Tekken 5
Platform: PlayStation 2
Release: 02.25.2005
The Tekken series has always been one of the top names in the fighting genre. The game tops Street Fighter in that it is more technical and balanced. In most fighting games you can just mash buttons to do damage and the characters are all quite realistic to one another with no extremely great differences. Tekken allows each character their own fighting style and commands, and no two characters (okay maybe a few) are the same; and the ones who are happen to be related.
Enough about the history, let's get to the pro's of the new title. First and foremost, the graphics are incredible. For real: the character models are some of the best I have ever seen, and the stages are equally as well done. The game mechanics rival the scenery. Every character has moves that can take advantage of any position the enemy puts themself in, so you can really learn your fighter. Also, the game encourages using one fighter (moreso in the arcade than home) due to the new ranking system. In the new ranking system, you start as a beginner and work your way up through ranks (Kyu, Dan, Master, Expert, etc.). It is easy to advance at first, but gets harder and harder as you go along. The reason why I say this is more encouraged at the arcade is because you can buy a card, like a credit card, that stores your character's stats and fight money, and to my knowledge you can only use one character with this card. Now you may be asking what fight money is; in the new Tekken you can customize your character with costume additions and color changes that you must pay for with your fight money.
To add a little more fun to all of this, the games Tekken, Tekken 2, and Tekken 3 are included on the home version. What more can you ask for?
-Newman
03.28.2005
©2005 Koma Forest, a division of Road Kill Productions