Tekken 5 Playtest Hands-On

Namco has a positive history of catering to the people and events that surround the hardcore competitive Tekken and Soul Calibur scenes. For instance, it is the only fighting-game company left that is willing to put together a true international tournament around every fighting game it releases. In keeping with this tradition, Namco walked through the doors of this year's Evolution tournament with a roughly 50 percent-complete arcade build of Tekken 5 to let the crowd-filled room's members--who comprised Tekken's competitive elite--dissect the game piece by piece, all while intensely listening to every suggestion, comment, and opinion that was offered. So far, Namco isn't talking publically about a possible PlayStation 2 version of the game, but we were pleased to get a shot at the arcade game all the same.

The machine that Namco wheeled Tekken 5 out in was a black prototype cabinet that contained a 29-inch, high-resolution monitor. The cabinet design featured a style that seemed very similar to the Net City-style of Japanese cabinets, with a height-adjustable control panel that could allow the cabinet to be transformed from the traditional American "stand at" height to a more Japanese style sit-down unit. The control-panel hardware the machines are being shipped with are also about as Japanese as you can get, because they use Sanwa-brand buttons and lollipop- or teardrop-style sticks.

Perhaps the biggest feature on the Tekken 5 unit is its card system. Players will be able to purchase a special IC card from a dispenser that is located on the cabinet, which will contain one character's rank and item information. The ranking system is similar to that of Virtua Fighter 4's, with the exception that you will be promoted based on fighting someone of equal or greater rank (as opposed to only playing characters of a specific ranking to advance).

Also somewhat similar to Virtua Fighter 4 is the plethora of items that can be purchased for your character (roughly 40-50 items per character) from a cast that will probably push toward a count rivaling that of Tekken 3's--after all of the time-release characters have been unlocked. Items can be purchased with in-game cash, which is earned by either winning or losing versus matches, winning in single-player, or achieving certain ranks (to promote competition, winning in versus will earn you the most cash). These items can be combined to edit the appearance of your player's face, upper body, and lower body, as well as three areas of editable color (and some characters may have more).

During the free-play time slot of the event, a Namco representative periodically showed off some of his own edited versions of characters. Included among them was a more-biker-like Marduck, who sported a championship belt over his shoulder, a cool cloak/raggy ninja-style outfit for a new character named Raven, a black tuxedo-sporting Lee (a personal favorite), a commando-style Bryan (with a rifle and radio unit strapped to his back), a ponytail-coiffed Paul Phoenix (carrying, oddly enough, a pack of logs and twigs), and--probably the one character that got the most "oohs" and "ahhs" from the crowd--Kazuya sporting his Tekken 2-style purple suit and devil's wings.

On the topic of characters, there are currently four new additions in the initial lineup for the game. There's Feng, a buffed-up Wushu fighter who seems to have a lot of very strong medium-range attacks; Raven, who looks like a Blade-inspired character with a sort of crossed-arm stance; Asuka, a Japanese female who seems to be a grappler character; and Jack-5 (you should know him--he's related to 1, 2, 3, and 4).

Visually, the game is definitely more than a couple of steps above its previous titles. Character models are naturally a lot more detailed than before, and they animate with additional grace not found in the previous chapters of the Tekken series. We often had the sense in previous games that the characters' limbs would separate from their bodies. In Tekken 5, however, every character seems to be one coherent piece. Everything flexes, moves, and spins with a great mixture of beauty and intensity (at least on par with Soul Calibur 2, in our opinion). One of the cooler sets of character animations present in this early version involves the throw escapes, because every character has his or her own unique escape animation for each different throw. For example, Paul escaping Jack-5's forward 1+3 throw appears to be unique, as opposed to the canned escape animation that characters in the earlier games would all share. As you can imagine, this really adds some over-the-top style to intense confrontations.

The walled arenas, however, are definitely the icing on the cake in the visual department, because they present a greater sense of atmosphere and immersion. One of the more visually stunning arenas featured a traditional Japanese building that burned to the ground around the fighters. In addition to the raging fire effects, both in the foreground and in the background, a wavy heat effect added that little, extra touch to the entire scene. There was also a really cool pirate's cavern-style scene, which, at times, evoked Cervantes' pirate-ship arena, with piles of gold coins and cups jangling and clanking as they shifted violently beneath the characters' feet. Some of the other scenes included a walled-off garden that was overlooked by a mansion in the background; a tropical cliff scene with a set of waterfalls roaring in the background; a weird outdoor scene whose arena is closed in by a giant serpentine statue that cracks whenever someone is kicked or thrown into it; and a rooftop arena with the appropriate downtown metropolis structures in the background.

When it comes to gameplay, Namco appears to be listening intensely to what players liked or disliked in the past incarnations of the series (and the representative was more than eager to hear of any complaints or suggestions from the players at Evolution). The impression we got from our humble playing attempts--in a room full of the world's elite, where we were easily the worst Tekken player--and from asking some of the incredibly dedicated Tekken players who were coming off of their machines, is that as far as the fighting engine is concerned, Namco really isn't going to reinvent the wheel. It is using what worked in Tekken 3, Tekken Tag Tournament, and Tekken 4, though without adding anything major that has not been seen before (unlike in other fighting games, where a sequel might contain another feature that alters the game entirely). It's a step that reminds us of Namco's philosophical approach to Soul Calibur 2, where the company made small tweaks to improve or weaken certain strategies but didn't try to alter the bigger picture--because it knew that the game worked. Stay tuned to GameSpot for additional details as soon as they become available.