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IGN Review of Virtua Fighter 5 Online
Virtua Fighter is the best fighting series in videogames. Sorry Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, DOA, and every other contender. No series has offered greater depth and complexity over its lifetime than SEGA-AM2's Virtua Fighter. The VF series is not for casual gamers who want something that's easy to pick up and play; VF is for those willing to dedicate themselves to learning the fighting system. Before you dive into this review, know my position: Virtua Fighter 4 Evo on PS2 is the best fighting game ever made and one of the best games of all time. When Virtua Fighter 5 was released on PlayStation 3, I didn't feel it was on par with VF4 Evo. But could the changes made to the Xbox 360 version be enough to unseat Evo as console fighting champ?
For those who have never played a Virtua Fighter game, you are in for a treat. VF5 is a gorgeous game with excellent animations, beautiful arenas, and some nifty environmental effects. It is also the best fighting engine you've likely ever experienced. Some would argue that VF5 is too complex for the average gamer. While I agree that it is not the type of fighter you can easily pick up and play, this is a game less about skill and more about time investment. If you just want a fun experience, you can get through the Arcade and Quest modes relying on a handful of combos and some mad button-tapping. But for those who want dedicate the time, there is an incredibly deep and enthralling system to master. Those who only skim the surface of Virtua Fighter 5 will have some fun, but are certain to miss out on most of the things that make VF5 great.
There are seventeen fighters to choose from in VF5 Online (Eileen and El Blaze being new additions to the franchise). Each has his or her own fighting style and combo set. The move lists are so long (and the stances and animations so varied) that it takes considerable time and effort to master a single character, much less the entire roster. Each character is amazingly distinct, both in look and fighting style. You'll even see some striking contrasts in size. Pitting the pint-sized El Blaze against Jeffry is like throwing a Keebler Elf at the Jolly Green Giant. That's not much of an exaggeration. The variances in height and build are remarkable.
Virtua Fighter 5 has many of the elements common in other 3D fighters. There are several tiers of combos ranging from a few quick button taps to high-level attacks that require perfect timing to execute; a myriad of impressive-looking throws that do decent damage to opponents; and even reversals, which is the bread and butter for Tecmo's Dead or Alive series. None of these, however, dominate over the other. VF5 is a very balanced fighter that mixes all elements into one fluid system.
There was only one danger in bringing VF5 to Xbox 360. A fighting system that requires precise and fast D-Pad input is going to put the 360 controller's woeful D-Pad to the test. And in VF5 it certainly does. What I discovered, however, is that precision is not the issue. The pivot-design of the D-Pad actually slows movement compared to the PS3 controller or the excellent HORI arcade stick. As such, you can play and perform well in VF5 on 360, but using the D-Pad is far from perfect. That may frustrate some Virtua Fighter enthusiasts, but honestly most gamers won't notice anything is wrong. If you really love the VF series, you're going to get the HORI stick anyway.
Even with the inclusion of an online mode, the Quest Mode remains the bulk of the Virtua Fighter 5 experience. You take the role of an arcade gamer that plays Virtua Fighter 5 in a variety of virtual arcades around an imaginary city. When you step to an arcade machine, the goal is to knock off whoever is reigning champ on the machine and then hold serve as long as possible against all comers. You do this with a single character -- changing to another character begins a brand new Quest Mode. As you win in the arcades, you'll go up in the rankings, earn gold, and unlock new items. The cash can be spent to buy more items, which you use to accessorize your character.
The fighting engine is unquestionably strong. But there are many areas where, unfortunately, Virtua Fighter 5 proves lacking. The arenas, which offer some minor destructible elements, are nothing more than rectangular rings. While this is fairly standard for fighting games, this is a far cry from the more interesting multi-tiered levels of Virtua Fighter 3tb or even DOA4. For a series that has always been ahead of the curve, VF5 is actually the first in the series that doesn't push the envelope and try for something new. VF5 plays it safe.
The AI is also highly suspect. Quest Mode, which is likely to absorb the majority of your time and attention, is fairly easy to conquer thanks to the weak AI. Even at the higher difficulties, you can get away with hit and run tactics to defeat opponents. Quest Mode becomes less about the challenge of becoming the greatest fighter around and more about collecting lots of items. Granted, the collection element is highly addictive, but it would have been nice to see greater strides taken in improving the AI over the PS3 version.
The most glaring issue remains the presentation. Though VF5 has some incredible visuals, the interface (particularly for Quest Mode) seems two generations old. The optional broadcasters are abysmal and serve only to offer a good laugh with incorrect play-by-play and silly comments. The English voices (which can fortunately be switched to the original Japanese voices) are cheesy and ill-placed in such a high caliber game.
Virtua Fighter 5 comes to 360 with a variety of updates from the PS3 version. Already a fine-looking game on PS3, VF5 looks even better on 360. On Microsoft's monster machine, you get clean lines, excellent lighting, and some great environmental effects (such as mist rolling through the arena). VF5 Online offers the Arcade Version C edition, an update from the Version B used on PS3. The differences between the two are not going to be noticeable by the majority of gamers. Developer AM2 prefers to have gamers figure out the modifications themselves, but it boils down to better balancing and the removal of exploits previously found in Version B. This is simply a more refined version of Virtua Fighter 5. Version C also adds in some new outfits for characters and SEGA has been kind enough to bump up the number of items (used to customize your characters) by 75%.
It's a shame that the online mode didn't offer a bit more. Quest Mode is designed as a virtual arcade and could have served as a place for online gamers to meet and battle. At the very least, it would have been nice to have customizable tournaments to allow for bracketed competitions. Of course, I'll take a basic online mode over having nothing. But compared to Naruto: Rise of a Ninja and DOA 4, VF5's online is shallow. What matters most, though, is that VF5 plays with minimal lag and latency online. There are occasional latency issues, where a button input is recognized perhaps a half second later than it would offline. The case of latency was fairly rare, but has occurred sporadically during my play sessions.
©2007-10-30, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
For those who have never played a Virtua Fighter game, you are in for a treat. VF5 is a gorgeous game with excellent animations, beautiful arenas, and some nifty environmental effects. It is also the best fighting engine you've likely ever experienced. Some would argue that VF5 is too complex for the average gamer. While I agree that it is not the type of fighter you can easily pick up and play, this is a game less about skill and more about time investment. If you just want a fun experience, you can get through the Arcade and Quest modes relying on a handful of combos and some mad button-tapping. But for those who want dedicate the time, there is an incredibly deep and enthralling system to master. Those who only skim the surface of Virtua Fighter 5 will have some fun, but are certain to miss out on most of the things that make VF5 great.
There are seventeen fighters to choose from in VF5 Online (Eileen and El Blaze being new additions to the franchise). Each has his or her own fighting style and combo set. The move lists are so long (and the stances and animations so varied) that it takes considerable time and effort to master a single character, much less the entire roster. Each character is amazingly distinct, both in look and fighting style. You'll even see some striking contrasts in size. Pitting the pint-sized El Blaze against Jeffry is like throwing a Keebler Elf at the Jolly Green Giant. That's not much of an exaggeration. The variances in height and build are remarkable.
Virtua Fighter 5 has many of the elements common in other 3D fighters. There are several tiers of combos ranging from a few quick button taps to high-level attacks that require perfect timing to execute; a myriad of impressive-looking throws that do decent damage to opponents; and even reversals, which is the bread and butter for Tecmo's Dead or Alive series. None of these, however, dominate over the other. VF5 is a very balanced fighter that mixes all elements into one fluid system.
There was only one danger in bringing VF5 to Xbox 360. A fighting system that requires precise and fast D-Pad input is going to put the 360 controller's woeful D-Pad to the test. And in VF5 it certainly does. What I discovered, however, is that precision is not the issue. The pivot-design of the D-Pad actually slows movement compared to the PS3 controller or the excellent HORI arcade stick. As such, you can play and perform well in VF5 on 360, but using the D-Pad is far from perfect. That may frustrate some Virtua Fighter enthusiasts, but honestly most gamers won't notice anything is wrong. If you really love the VF series, you're going to get the HORI stick anyway.
Even with the inclusion of an online mode, the Quest Mode remains the bulk of the Virtua Fighter 5 experience. You take the role of an arcade gamer that plays Virtua Fighter 5 in a variety of virtual arcades around an imaginary city. When you step to an arcade machine, the goal is to knock off whoever is reigning champ on the machine and then hold serve as long as possible against all comers. You do this with a single character -- changing to another character begins a brand new Quest Mode. As you win in the arcades, you'll go up in the rankings, earn gold, and unlock new items. The cash can be spent to buy more items, which you use to accessorize your character.
The fighting engine is unquestionably strong. But there are many areas where, unfortunately, Virtua Fighter 5 proves lacking. The arenas, which offer some minor destructible elements, are nothing more than rectangular rings. While this is fairly standard for fighting games, this is a far cry from the more interesting multi-tiered levels of Virtua Fighter 3tb or even DOA4. For a series that has always been ahead of the curve, VF5 is actually the first in the series that doesn't push the envelope and try for something new. VF5 plays it safe.
The AI is also highly suspect. Quest Mode, which is likely to absorb the majority of your time and attention, is fairly easy to conquer thanks to the weak AI. Even at the higher difficulties, you can get away with hit and run tactics to defeat opponents. Quest Mode becomes less about the challenge of becoming the greatest fighter around and more about collecting lots of items. Granted, the collection element is highly addictive, but it would have been nice to see greater strides taken in improving the AI over the PS3 version.
The most glaring issue remains the presentation. Though VF5 has some incredible visuals, the interface (particularly for Quest Mode) seems two generations old. The optional broadcasters are abysmal and serve only to offer a good laugh with incorrect play-by-play and silly comments. The English voices (which can fortunately be switched to the original Japanese voices) are cheesy and ill-placed in such a high caliber game.
Virtua Fighter 5 comes to 360 with a variety of updates from the PS3 version. Already a fine-looking game on PS3, VF5 looks even better on 360. On Microsoft's monster machine, you get clean lines, excellent lighting, and some great environmental effects (such as mist rolling through the arena). VF5 Online offers the Arcade Version C edition, an update from the Version B used on PS3. The differences between the two are not going to be noticeable by the majority of gamers. Developer AM2 prefers to have gamers figure out the modifications themselves, but it boils down to better balancing and the removal of exploits previously found in Version B. This is simply a more refined version of Virtua Fighter 5. Version C also adds in some new outfits for characters and SEGA has been kind enough to bump up the number of items (used to customize your characters) by 75%.
It's a shame that the online mode didn't offer a bit more. Quest Mode is designed as a virtual arcade and could have served as a place for online gamers to meet and battle. At the very least, it would have been nice to have customizable tournaments to allow for bracketed competitions. Of course, I'll take a basic online mode over having nothing. But compared to Naruto: Rise of a Ninja and DOA 4, VF5's online is shallow. What matters most, though, is that VF5 plays with minimal lag and latency online. There are occasional latency issues, where a button input is recognized perhaps a half second later than it would offline. The case of latency was fairly rare, but has occurred sporadically during my play sessions.
©2007-10-30, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved