Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Rocks"

Tekken 5 is needless to say the fifth installment in the Tekken franchise. Tekken has always been a good series, reaching its peak of greatness with the release of Tekken 3. In 2002 when Tekken 4 was released the series didn't really take a step backwards as it did just move at all. For those of you afraid of that for Tekken 5, you have nothing to fear.

Gameplay, 9. If you've ever played or even seen the gameplay for any Tekken game before, you'll know how this game play. The main Story mode has returned and has been improved upon with more cutscenes and a better final fight, against Jinpachi. Naturally the Vs. Mode returns. The Arcade mode has returned, but Namco has changed it quite a bit. You go on for as long as you want fighting opponents with their own user names and each fight you win you get some money out of it. After winning a fight you may choose which fight to go to. The Time Attack mode has returned just the same as it always has been. You basically play through the game as fast as you can. The Team Battle mode is also back, this is where you choose 1-8 different fighters and fight another team with the same number of people. The Survival mode returns, this is where you fight for as long as you can until you get K.O.'d. The Practice and Training modes are back for your learning purposes. The only mode that does not return is the Tekken Force mode. It has been replaced with Devil Within. Devil Within is quite different from Tekken Force; first off you have to play as Jin, the mechanics of this mode are very different, having a platformer kinda feel to it at times. One other interesting new addition to the game is the bonus arcade games they give you. In Tekken 5 you are allowed to play the original arcade versions of the first three Tekkens. Although these arcade versions aren't as fun as the Playstation versions of their respective games they are a welcome addition and make for some nice nostaligia. There is a shop where you can buy things for characters to wear.
Tekken 5 plays great. The fighting has been so improved vastly that it plays better than ever. More moves and more interesting combinations and styles increase the replay value of the game. Some of the changes aren't that good unfortunatly. The new Arcade mode isn't that fun and the only reason you might play it is for the money to buy stuff with. Devil Within isn't much more fun than Tekken Force was and the latter wasn't exactly the best mode to begin with either. It's too bad there isn't an online mode, but that's quite forgivable since you would probably spend more time fighting your friends than people online anyway.

Graphics, 10. Graphics like this are about as good as it gets for the Playstation 2 and these are the best graphics I have ever seen for a Playstation 2 fighter except for maybe SoulCalibur III.

Sound, 9. The music for the game is decent. The voice acting is very good, as are the sound effects like the one you hear when you lay a punch on someone.

Value, 10. There should be no reason this game shouldn't be worth a lot of game time to you. Many great modes to play, characters to earn, accessories to buy, and a lot of moves to learn should keep you coming back for more for a long time.

Difficulty, Just Right. Except for the Survival mode and the arcade bonus games I think you can adjust the difficulty for most modes.

Tilt, 8. This is probably the best fighter on the Playstation 2. If you still are collecting games for your Playstation 2 and want an amazing fighting game, then get Tekken 5.