TGS 06: Virtua Fighter 5 Hands-On

TOKYO--One of the playable PlayStation 3 titles on the TGS show floor is Sega's upcoming conversion of its respected arcade title Virtua Fighter 5. The latest entry in the venerable fighting series is coming to the PS3, now that it's hit the arcades in Japan after a lengthy beta test. The work-in-progress version of the game on display at the show represents a small sampling of what the final game will offer, but it's still a snazzy showcase for the game's refined fighting system and the nascent power of Sony's upcoming console.

The playable version of the game offers two game modes to sample: arcade and versus. The arcade mode includes the entire game's roster of fighters and lets you punch and kick your way through a short series of three fights against a random assortment of fighters on assorted backgrounds. The versus mode lets you take on a human opponent in any of the available stages.

For those lucky enough to have played the arcade game, which sadly has yet to see release in the US, the PlayStation 3 version of the game at TGS offers a faithful re-creation of that version. The game handles well on the PlayStation 3 controller, but we have to say that we're very taken with the arcade stick Sega is prepping for release in tandem with the game next year. The game again makes use of a three-button system (punch, kick, and guard) that you'll use in varying combinations in tandem with directional inputs on the D pad or arcade stick. This simple control scheme should nonetheless carry a great deal of depth.

The fifth entry in the series offers up a refinement of the finely tuned combat system that has been evolving since the original game was released more than 10 years ago. The deep fighting system has been made a bit more accessible than previous entries thanks to a streamlining that's resulted in a more intuitive feel for its low-level play. Though we're still getting used to the various nuances in VF5, we're very pleased with the faster pace and overall tight feel of the combat.

While all the VF fans out there are primarily concerned with all the various changes to the gameplay, we reckon a hefty chunk of folks are just wondering how the game looks on the PlayStation 3. For the record, the game was running on monitors at 720p and looked stunning. Despite the playable game's incomplete state, the visuals are nearly on par with the arcade game. We had the chance to try several fights with a handful of our favorite fighters, including Aoi, Kage, Pai, Lau, Sarah, Shun Di, and Jeffry, as well as newcomers El Blaze and Eileen. Those characters, as well as those we didn't select but fought against, featured a high level of detail and an outstanding depth of color. The animation is as fluid as it is in the arcade. We noticed some variances in texture quality, but it didn't seem like anything too dramatic. All the characters sport a sleeker look that continues to refine the more realistic makeover the roster has received since VF4 and VF4 Evo. Some characters, like Lau, reflect the passage of time since the last entries in the series.

As far as the environments go, the arenas offered an impressive amount of variety of open spaces and more enclosed locales with walls. One of the neat touches we dug was the number of stages that reimaged classic VF stages, such as Shun Di's VF2 raft stage and Jeffry's increasingly elaborate island stage. The frame rate in the game held up quite well and only showed very minor inconsistencies.

Based on what we played, VF5 is shaping up to be an impressive entry in this excellent fighting series that upholds a fine tradition of tight combat and sleek visuals. The game appears to be a good fit for the PlayStation 3 and serves as a solid showcase for what developers can do as they slowly tap its power. Look for more on VF5 in the months to come. The game is currently slated to ship in spring of 2007.