While there have definitely been some excellent Virtua Fighter games in the past. This game may all most be better.
There is an incredible tutorial mode that has FRAME DATA for gods sake. An excellent online mode that on the whole has a very forgiving netcode system which even against the worst opposition's bad connection speed it only slows down the action a little and doesn't just break the match completely.
There are more modes in single player than many other fighters and while everything isn't there for a bargain priced title this game certainly delivers. Considering this game is made by Sega and not three guys in someone's basement it's good to see they have upgraded and updated their animations and visuals so they are on par with modern 3D fighters like Tekken 6 and Soul Calibur 5.
The thing I truly love the most about this game is that when I'm online playing people don't get that crazy feeling like I'm going to lose every three seconds because the other person is SO completely better than I am. VF5 has no REAL bottom tier characters and therefore everyone has a chance. This is really cool and certainly makes the game incredibly fun to play against other human players.
The meat of VF 5:FS is online. But the game does have an excellent arcade mode, score attack, and local versus for anyone without an internet connection. Although if you don't have internet, how did you get the game in the first place? Anyway....
Even with the reduced price and slightly reduced mode list my only real gripe about VF 5:FS is the crappy DLC system. There is NO WAY to customize your character through unlocks or achievements or any of the normal Namco/Sega ways of doing so. There are no earned items whatsoever. You must simply plunk down your money and spend more on DLC than the game itself to get costume pieces for your fighters. You get full access to FAR more pieces than you would in something like Tekken 6. But you have also just paid real money for them rather than just unlocking them through game progress or achievement.
I think this is a TERRIBLE way of doing business and while the core game is excellent and a good deal that I would recommend to everyone it is hard not to notice how shady they are being about the customization feature. While I can understand why they took this approach I think it would have been much fairer to have some premium costume packs and some free ones. Rather than just all paid. Bur if you can completely ignore this part of the game, then you will love Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown and should definitely pick it up.