Customer Reviews

Virtua Fighter 5

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This game is great overall. As a long time fan of Tekken, I must admit I came in very skeptical, even hated the game after the first hour or so, however, after playing it more and giving it a legitimate chance, I'd recommend it to anyone.

What's Good:
A good array of fighters, each one very unique, you never feel like Fighter X is just a palette swap of Fighter Y.

Physics engine is finally at a point where the game is not an absurd juggle-fest, this has been my biggest critique as long as I've known about the game.

Grapplers can actually grapple! Thanks to "buffering" and 0-frame throws the game is not rediculously unbalanced between the strikers and grapplers.

Graphics are spectacular

Great variety of arenas

The Bad:
Characters do not have stories

No FMVs

A.I. ranges from rediculously easy to rediculously hard

It takes forever to unlock items

Overall, I highly recommend this to PS3 owners, but I will be honest, once Tekken 6 comes out I probably won't play this as much.

Scrubs and button mashers beware. You'll start this game up play for 15 minutes without doing anything worthwhile and go "THIS GAME SUCKS!" and return to your mortal kombat or Dead or Alive. You're just too impatient to learn a quality fighter. You can't just pick this game up and be knock heads. You have to train a bit. Each character has a distinctive style and all the major martial art styles, even some that aren't real martial arts (luchadore and american wrestling) are represented. This game is the most well balanced fighter as well. Unlike most fighters with 2 or 3 really good characters and a mediocre remaining cast, Virtua Fighter 5 contains the most well balanced character roster of any fighter. Attacks that open up the potential for big damage aren't safe and can be punished by evade or after guarding (Usually by throws, Unless the opponent buffers escapes (It can get deeper still).) In the most popular fighting game in America, Tekken 5, big damage moves are safe on block and can lead to boring overly defensive gameplay, with each player dashing back just waiting for whiffed moves. In VF5 if you turtle you're going to get punished. This series isn't for everybody, but it is for those that want the deepest 1 on 1 experience in fighting. The game really shines when playing against other experienced players.

If you think a fighting game needs a storyline or CGI movies then plz pass on this game. The main point of this game is playing to your potential.

This is an immensely entertaining game. Perhaps the most impressive aspect is the range of skill levels it accomodates; huge, immediate fun for the casual gamer yet impressive depth for those who take their Virtua Fighting seriously. Coming from a family with extensive Real World Martial Arts experience, it is fascinating to explore the strengths and weakness of the various characters. Just as in the real world of martial arts a small, skilled opponent can take out a big brute---but you better practice! The game is very well-balanced; any character can be a stud or dud, depending on your skill level.

After a long day at work, what could be more fun than powering up the PS3 and beating the tar out of "Jeffry," the obnoxious Australian Pancratium expert? I tell you, he deserves every thumping he gets!

Some magazine reviews have bemoaned the lack of on-line play. In a perfect world, yes, on-line would be a nice addition. But this is the ultimate fast muscle twitch game. Often the winner is determined by a last-moment, split-second kick. The quality of game play would suffer over the internet. So enjoy Virtua Fighter 5 for what is is: a gorgeous, highly replayble adrenalin-pumping slugfest.

SEGA's Virtua Fighter carries a legacy that only the blue hedgehog can rival. Akira, Wolf, Sarah - you've seen them in one form or another, whether it's the blocky polygonal models from the original or the immaculately detailed PlayStation 3 ones. Does this legacy fall far from the tree?

Virtua Fighter 4 was a critical success on the PlayStation 2, with a global average of 91% in its original form and 91.4% in the revised form, Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution. In fact, it sits just under Soul Calibur 2 (91.6%) as the all-time highest-rated PS2 fighting game. History lesson aside, Virtua Fighter 5 does little to improve upon its PS2 predecessor, but it really doesn't need to. Fans of the PS2 game will find two new fighters and improved gameplay and graphics to boot. Cover boy Akira is joined by his entire set of Virtua Fighter 4 peers and newcomers El Blaze and Eileen. El Blaze, a luchadora, uses fancy wrestling moves while Eileen hops around a whole lot and utilizes what I considered cheaper hits than other characters. My personal favorite was the bald monk Lei-Fei.

Fighting is a breeze for newcomers and series vets alike. I can't say how grateful I am for this, because Virtua Fighter 4 wasn't so accessible and as a result I personally didn't appreciate it as much as my critical peers. On the PS3 pad, X serves as a punch button while Circle kicks and Square blocks. The triggers act as shortcuts for combinations of those three buttons, making special moves easier to execute. Combos are simple and flow together well, giving Virtua Fighter 5 a feel that is more similar to Dead or Alive than other fighting games. Fights tend to last longer than in other games, since the default settings require you to win three rounds, not two out of three, but three rounds, meaning close fights extend into five rounds.

Quest Mode is where it's at in this game; the mode is essentially a recreation of the experience of traveling to different arcades and challenging players on a machine. To start you create a profile and choose your preferred character, and then the Quest world is open to explore. There are several different arcades with "players" of different skill levels, so there is a feeling of progression as you go from one arcade to the next, improving in your ranking and piling up wins. Winning matches and tournaments in the different arcades will earn you money and items to customize your character and beef out your profile. Not only is it addictive to collect items and personalize fighters, it's very difficult to stop trying to improve your rank and dominate different arcades.

Unfortunately, Quest mode is the only attention-grabber. The Arcade and Versus modes are very generic and don't offer anything you haven't seen before. There's a VF TV mode, which is entirely worthless-it lets those with HDTVs and HDMI cables appreciate their expensive commodities by watching two CPU-controlled characters battle. Virtua Fighter 5's biggest flaw is its lack of PS3 online play. With Quest mode being such a focus and character customization being a bit part of that, I find the lack of at least some sort of online profiling to be inexcusable on SEGA AM-2's part. After all, A.I. opponents in quest mode don't recreate the tendencies of human players very well, and it isn't even until elite ranks that the CPU becomes difficult or utilizes techniques that force the player to study the fighting system beyond a few different combos.

At least Virtua Fighter 5 shows off the PS3's power for the most part. Arguably there isn't a better-looking game on the system. Every character is fleshed-out-literally, in fact-with detail down to their skin textures and hairstyles. All of the different outfits are colorful and react realistically as the players animate. I was very impressed with the animation in general; Virtua Fighter 5 stands right beside Dead or Alive 4 as the fighter with the most visual fluidity. The only complaint I have from a technical standpoint is that the overall sound of the game is slightly muffled and doesn't blast out of the speakers like I think it should.

Virtua Fighter 5 should be your next PlayStation 3 game if you enjoy fighting games and can deal with its "more of the same, but improved" syndrome. Quest mode could easily have you hooked for thousands of matches and have you searching for band-aids for gamer's thumb. The lack of online play hurts its overall longevity, but perhaps this will be attended to with the Xbox 360 version's summer 2007 release.

Virtua Fighter 5 is extremely addictive because there are so many things to do. The fighting is very well balanced that is easy to pick up but hard to master. I really liked the quest mode where you fight other characters and earn money and prizes. Choosing costumes and accessories for your character is fun and time consuming since there are many options to chose and buy from. New characters like Eileen are extremely fun. The characters are all really good and fun to control. The fighting is very fast paced and smooth. The only problem that I can think of is that it can get a little bit repetative playing the same characters over and over again. But the versus mode is very fun with a friend. Also, online mode would have been nice, but there is too much to love with this game to give it a lower score. VF5 is a definite buy for anyone looking for a really good game for the PS3;this game might be able to save the console from failing.

No problems with this at all. Game worked perfect! Was not as fun as expected. (thought the graphics would be much better. Not bad though.

This was the first game I bought for the PS3. I have loved the Virtua Fighter series more than any other fighting game since I first played the original Virtua Fighter in arcades. For just $20 it seemed like a great deal (and it was). As another reviewer mentioned, it's definitely worth having for the affordable price tag.

That being said, this game fell a little bit short of my expectations. This is going to sound very strange, but the graphics are both better and worse than Virtua Fighter 4. They're better in the sense that the game is hi-res, fits my widescreen LCD, and is more detailed. However, as they say, the devil is in the details; it seems that the game has lost of visual quality and finesse when it was reworked for the new graphical format. A lot of the character models look worse and in many instances cheesy. The rings and backdrop are gorgeous, but they too seem to have suffered aesthetically. It really seems like the developers tried to "overdo" the graphics and ended up creating a game that looks worse than VF4; it is a little more flashy (or dare I say gaudy) and a little less realistic. Some people will like this. In any case, play them both and you will see what I'm talking about.

As for the content, I have mixed feelings about the new characters. I think Eileen is great and totally worth her weight in the game (she probably doesn't weigh that much, though), but "El Blaze" is one of the most retarded things ever to be found in the entire series. Having a lucha libre character is actually a decent idea, and the end result could have been very nice, but for some reason it just didn't work out here. Every time El Blaze appears in the game, you will cringe. I also thought that Brad and the blue guy were stupid characters when they were introduced, but even they are better than El Blaze. In fact, Brad actually seems better in VF5 than he did in Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution. If you ask me, the creators of VF are doing a poor job attempting to integrate more "Western" style fighters; many of these recent additions are bland and uninteresting, and they probably don't correspond very well to actual martial arts trends in the Western world (not to say that the game is supposed to be realistic, but it does have better realism than practically all other fighters).

Which reminds me--if you've never played the VF series before and are just looking for a fighting game, you might appreciate the game's relative amount of realism.

This game appears to include all of the great features that were introduced in VF4:Evolution. You can skip the monotonous Arcade mode and go for the Quest mode, which lets you fight more varied opponents for rank and prizes such as character customizations. Unfortunately, I daresay that VF4:E does these better than VF5 does.

Overall it's a great buy and a solid PS3 title to keep on your shelf. I'm still convinced that Virtua Fighter is the best fighting game on any platform (sorry, Soul Calibur), so if you want a fighting game for the PS3, this is it (Tekken fans, prepare to launch your rebuttal).

IF you have a PS2, then get Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution instead; you'll save some money, and I honestly believe it is a better game than VF5 and possibly the best fighting game I've ever played. It's fair to say that VF5 is just VF4:Evolution with updated graphics (and alas, if only they had just done that!). If you are playing on an HD display (eg widescreen LCD), then definitely choose VF5.

This game is good for 19.99. But my biggest complaint is the no joystick support! I don't like using a dpad to play fighters. The graphics are great and gameplay is fun. Fans of series will love this one. If you don't want to spend the 60 for Street Fighter 4 or Soulcalibur 4 this is a top notch choice.

Virtua Fighter 5 out shines it's predecessor by miles even though it doesn't have the tutorial mode from the 4th Evolution Ed. This game has improved graphics and faster game play.

I am more of a Tekken fan per se, but I wanted a next generation fighter for the PS3 and this one is pretty much it.
I have DOA for the 360 and was never really all that impressed with it as a fighter but I have heard that the VF series has always been great.
I have not played it a great deal since I just got it but overall it is pretty nice. The fighting engine is fast and responsive and very similar to Tekken. The texture maps are the most impressive thing since they look real and are nothing short of amazing!
The moves are numerous and the AI is very good since you can not reuse the same tricks over and over again to win consistenly.
Not bad since I have never been a VF fan but I am impressed!