Name one fighter franchise that's better than Tekken!!! I dare you!
By all means, believe the hype (at lease for this game); it does have the best graphics to even grace a ps2. The backgrounds look so real, the fighters' models look semi-real, and you would believe that this was an XBOX game. That's not all; play it on a plasma widescreen TV, and... OH MY GOODNESS!!!! Still, the graphics in this game are something else, with or without progressive scan. Nobody would expect this from a Playstation 2 game (except my mother), so to see one look this good is amazing. Tell me one ps2 game that looks as great as this.
.... Other than that, nothing really changed in the game, and that a good thing in this case. Even with the same old stuff, the game doesn't feel like an okey-doke excuse of the original. Besides, knowing what Tekken fans want out of their game, making big drastic move of this version would a bad idea. Everything that made this game worked (with a little tweaks in speed) can still be found here.
The game features 30 characters, many of which are making their return (Jack, Anna, Bruce, Baek). The new customization feature is pretty cool; you can literally personalize your characters. Hey, with the right stuff, Jin would look like he'll pull out a gun at any moment. And you bet' not take Kazuya sneaks!
Now Tekken has have some pretty awkward modes since Tekken Tag Tournment... by my knowledge. This addition is no different. This version's weird mode is the Devil Within mode, which follows Jin's story about his genes (and some kind of nightmare). This is the only way to get the Devil Jin character without 100 hours of gameplay. But don't expect to go back to it afterwards. Yes, it's that lame (but I don't care for a game's modes). Another is the new arcade mode that's more like a "get money" mode. There's no end to it, but it's good for earing money for the extra costumes for the character.
The game also features a Arcade History mode, which is good. Right off the bat, you get arcade versions of the original Tekken, Tekken 2, and Tekken 3. And the great thing is that they're still fun. The only downside (which is obvious) is that they don't look as good as the game you bought.
Tekken 5 is a grade-A fighting game for the ps2, with the exception of online play. Honestly though, I could get a damn less about online play. I have bad experiences with it anyway. Even without online play, the game is perfect. And at a low price of $20, there should be no reason for any Tekken fan not to buy this. In fact, name one fighter franchise that's better than Tekken!!! I dare you!