Seeing and getting a chance to play the forthcoming PlayStation 2 version of Tekken 5 today was kind of like running into an old friend and catching up on old times. That is, it felt good. Tekken 5 is looking great. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any footage of the game, otherwise we'd just show you and let the game itself do the talking. As it stands, you'll just have to trust us. This is a gorgeous-looking fighting game that clearly stays true to the roots of the classic series. In fact, in many ways it seems like a sincere thank-you to longtime Tekken fans, many of whom have probably grown up right alongside this landmark franchise. Tekken helped put 3D fighting games on the map. It built on the original Virtua Fighter's gee-whiz factor with rock-solid gameplay and over-the-top moves and characters, and all these years later, the series is poised to reassert itself as the cream of the fighting game crop.

The King of Iron First Tournament is back, and it's never looked better.

The thing is, even if you're not a longtime Tekken player, we think there's a good chance that Tekken 5 will have what it takes to draw you in. It takes a certain special kind of fighting game to do that, and Namco just happens to be responsible for many of them. Think back to Soul Calibur for the Dreamcast, for instance. As one of the Dreamcast's landmark games, Soul Calibur drew in hardcore fighting fans as well as people who had never even tried such a game before, through a combination of amazing good looks, appealing characters, and incredible depth that didn't overwhelm a fundamental pick-up-and-play appeal. While it may seem like sacrilege to draw a comparison to the legendary Soul Calibur, our relatively brief time spent playing Tekken 5 brought to mind that experience. That's because Tekken 5 downright wowed us with its incredible visuals, and it seemed to fit like a glove once we got our hands on the game for a few good rounds.

If you've played Tekken before, then you'll be in for a familiar experience with Tekken 5. The fundamentals of the gameplay are true to the series' classic installments, which means you'll be spending most of your time in traditional best-of-three-round matches, playing as one of dozens of different characters at a time and trying to beat the daylights out of whomever (or whatever) you're up against. The game's four-button control scheme remains as intuitive as ever, and the colorful character roster--which includes several never-before-seen fighters as well as dozens of other characters hailing from the past 10 years of Tekken--presents a tremendous amount of variety. Practically every real-world martial art or fighting style is represented here, along with a few decidedly unorthodox fighting techniques.

The game opens up with a shocker--Heihachi Mishima, longtime villain of the Tekken series, gets double-crossed and apparently blown to high heaven. It's sad to see his smiling face not gracing the character select screen, but it's great to see returning favorites like Kazuya Mishima, Jin Kazama, Marshall Law, Paul Phoenix, and King back in action. Tekken 5 also introduces several completely new characters: There's the badass ninja Raven, the schoolgirl-who-can-beat-you-up Asuka Kazama, and the muscle-bound kung fu master Feng Wei. These colorful fighters fit in well with the rest and feature their own arsenals of dozens of different moves.

Here, Steve feeds Xiaoyu a knuckle sandwich while dozens of penguins look on. You're next, penguins!

Like previous Tekken games, this one just as easily lets you pick up and start mashing on buttons for impressive results as it lets you hunker down and start trying to master some of the advanced techniques. A comprehensive practice mode is available, letting you see and test out the move set for each and every character. Or you can just hop right into the story mode or the arcade mode for single-player action. Story mode lets you fight through a series of bouts as any of the characters, but it gives some nice context to the proceedings, thanks to a unique intro cutscene for each fighter, some intercharacter squabbles along the way, and ending movies for everybody. You'll also unlock hidden fighters by playing through the story mode with different characters.

Arcade mode may have even more staying power, though. In a nod to Virtua Fighter 4, you'll actually gain experience with your fighter as you play successive arcade mode matches. So the opponent AI will gradually ratchet up to become much more dangerous and aggressive, hopefully at the same rate as your own skills improve. To make things even more interesting, for each match that you win, you'll earn "gold," which you can then spend on customizing your favorite fighters. The customization options seem to be extensive and, in many cases, very amusing. You can get some of the fighters looking nothing like their old selves after purchasing a few choice frills. These customization options are just for show, but it's still going to be fun to collect all the different available outfits and extras.