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Review:

4th July 2005:
Tekken 5
The mountain burns the son has escaped and the father has been destroyed - still the tournament lives on. Who will be crowned The King of Iron Fist?
Posted by Chris Snook - PlayStation 2 - UK and Europe

There are few series of titles that stand out consistently above the rest, no matter what platform they appear on. One of those series has been Tekken and now after an absence of four years or so the latest King of Iron Fist is surfacing in Tekken 5.

Things start with a bang as we are treated to a stunningly executed mountain top combat between a truck load of Jack Cyborgs and two of the main protagonists in the game. After a lengthy scuffle the last thing we see that Heihachi is betrayed by Kazuya and we see an all might explosion rip apart Honmaru, even as a shrouded figure viewing from afar reports "Heihachi Mishima is dead…". A great way to kick things off, swiftly followed by a slightly more gentle introduction for all the remainder of the characters as they gear up for the fifth tournament.

There is one heck of a lot of things to do in Tekken 5. There is the story mode, where you guide one of the characters through the normal series of fights. There is the arcade, survival, team and time attack modes, the normal options mode and a few nice bonuses. A 3D action adventure game called The Devil Within, conversions of the first three arcade versions of Tekken and the customisation screen, where you get to remake your favourite character in the image of your choice. Further there are three new characters that are new to the series and the loss of old friends though it should be pointed out that there are eleven question marks on the character select screens.

The meat of the game is as always the Story Mode. Enclosed at both ends with a prologue that sets up the fighters motivations and reasons for big in the KoIF Tournament in the first place, once you attain victory there and an epilogue to complete the story. There is also often a 'grudge' match against one of the other combatants and this does not always take place at the end of the series of the combats. Here is where everything is shown off, the moves, the backgrounds which are superb as are the arena's themselves. It is also at this point that the first real obvious oddity occurs. There is no analogue control. All the action is confined to the d-pad and into a single line of combat, shuffling back and forth and up and down in a manner that takes you back a decade or so and you begin to wonder why when the arenas are so gorgeous they waste them with so little freedom of movement? The other oddity is the difficulty curve. Things start out almost comically simple but after the fourth challenge, things ramp up phenomenally so until the final fight it almost impossible to complete except by the seriously hardcore or perseverant player even on the nominal 'Easy' difficulty.

The arcade mode is quite fun, there is less pressure for one thing and you can pick your fights to advance through rankings. The difficulty levels seem smoother and it can is possible to progress and gain cash to customise those characters, via the customisation screen. Time Attack, Survival and Team modes are as you would expect and each offer another way to hone your skills. Even so using the practice feature is a must to learn those handy tricks and get used to pressing buttons to go anywhere again. The major two interests here though are The Devil Within which is a smartly done and well constructed game that ties in with the Tekken mythos nicely and sees Jin follow on from the events of Tekken 4 as he struggles to combat the Devil Gene. Ironically here the analogue controls are enabled. There is one further interesting touch that will be appreciated, any cash gained whilst playing TDW will accrue towards paying for customisations and it can be almost as quick to do it, further as an Easter egg is hidden on one of the stages, finding it and completing the stage will unlock the old Arcade Star Blade game, which interestingly enough is sued as the load screen before the intro movies.

As mentioned, there is the option of playing the first three arcade versions of Tekken, found in the Arcade history section. A clever little bonus that shows off the advances over the year and gives long term series players a bout of nostalgia. When unlocked Star Blade appears here in addition to the three Tekkens.

Visually Tekken 5 is an absolute feast. With floors and walls cracking with impacts, cute touches including using souped up versions of the original blood and block visuals that again evoke images of old. The backgrounds as mentioned are impressive as are the combat arenas. The combatants themselves are also very, very impressive, with movement and appearance being almost flawless and so they should be as the Endorphin Engine, by Natural Motion provides a powerful and dynamically different experience.

This is complimented by the slick audio, with music tracks ranging from the pumping to the eerie as you crash through each combat, each fitting the setting and mood almost like a glove. The effects are also meaty with crunches, crashed and thuds being rendered in crisp and slick fashion that can make you wince once or twice. Whilst not heavy on voice-work, what is there is again nearly flawless, often in a language which is not English and adds to the ambience as they slip into a spiel or crack off a remark.

With all there is bundled into the single shell T5 will be a game suite to keep people coming back again and again, despite the control and difficulty problems. There is a feeling that you have to try and complete certain things, that you will complete the final combat and the like but it is also a game that allows you to dip in and out of the main modes. Effectively you have five or even six different games to play with depending on your mood, something that raises this above other in the genre.

The previously mentioned control and difficulty issues aside, the gameplay is still potentially the best yet and you can almost forgive some of the foibles, including the shoulder buttons needing to be activated before they do anything, the occasionally inconsistent way the menus operate when confirming or cancelling a decision again an eccentricity but one which can be frustrating. Outside of these, the responses are crisp and there is no lag between a button press and the move taking place, allowing for some nicely executed combination moves, it is perfectly possible to perform a right-left punch followed by a kick to an opponent or pull off a host of other moves. This is a game that is an evolution and a step change, the core remains the same but the outer wrappings have been not only polished but scrubbed and plated in gold. It may not be the best all out combat fighting game but it comes damn close.

Chris Snook

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Review Summary:

Tekken 5 shapes up as being the first of the big beat-em-up releases of the year with a staggeringly weighty package that contains five separate Tekken games to enjoy. Slightly handicapped by an eclectic difficulty curve that veers from cake walk to WTF amazingly rapidly and the lack of any real depth of movement through the arenas due to an old school style control system. Despite this a superb effort and a contender for the crown of best combat fighting game.

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Tekken 5
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