Tekken 5 for the PS2 is an impressive graphical feat that also delivers everything that makes the Tekken series so great

User Rating: 9.6 | Tekken 5 PS2
By perfection1000 | Review Date:
Tekken 5 is an outstanding fighting game that fans of the genre shouldn’t miss. The game also happens to render Tekken 4 completely obsolete because it introduced a handful of position-change moves that weren't terribly well received. Tekken 5 takes a back-to-basics approach and removes those moves, making for a game that feels and plays more like the classic Tekken 3 did. The main single-player mode of play in Tekken 5 is the story mode. This mode takes you through a handful of fights, starting with some still frames and voice-over to help you understand what each individual fighter is fighting for. Along the way, you'll square off with some fighters that are tied to that story, giving you some pre- and post-fight dialogue. When you reach the story's conclusion, you are given some static screens with text and a full-fledged, prerendered ending for each character. Tekken's prerendered endings have always been one of the most memorable aspects of the series, and this collection of occasionally serious but often hilarious endings are among the series' best. The arcade mode is where you'll earn your gold, and it's sort of an endless arcade-style battle against the game's artificial intelligence. Tekken 5 pits you against AI players of different ranks that have actual ring names, as if they were based on actual players. As you play arcade mode, you'll rank up each individual character through multiple classes. The character roster in Tekken 5 contains a great mix of old favorites, some of whom haven't been seen for years. The obvious entrants, like Kazuya, Paul, Law, King, and Nina are present, and they're joined by other occasional players, like Bryan, Baek, Anna, Lee, and Xiaoyu. Tekken 4's new introductions, Steve, Marduk, and Christie are back, and three new characters make their first appearances here which are Raven, Asuka and Feng. They also fit nicely in with the other roster members. When it comes to image quality and character models, you'd be hard pressed to find a better looking PlayStation 2 game than this. Tekken 5 looks simply astounding--way above and beyond what you would think the PlayStation 2 is capable of. From the fight arena that surrounds you with bloodthirsty onlookers and their van--which happens to be hanging from a hook a few feet above the ground--to the inside of a temple that happens to be on fire, you'll find a wide variety of amazing stuff here. Support for widescreen displays and progressive scan support only helps to make the image look that much better. But make no mistake, Tekken 5 looks incredible regardless of the mode you run it in, and the quality of the visuals of course helps make the action itself that much better. Tekken 5's soundtrack is much more varied than that of its predecessors, and this variety meshes very well with each individual background in the game. There's also a load of speech in Tekken 5, and it's all really good. Each character speaks in his or her own native language, which is a great touch. It's also really funny in some cases, such as when you have Kuma speaking in subtitled bear growls that the other characters can somehow understand in a weird, Lassie-style sort of way.

If you want a fighting game for the PS2 there is nothing out there as brilliant as Tekken 5. The game is definately one of the best fighting games in years so if you have a PS2 then you definately need to check out Tekken 5.

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