Virtua Fighter 5

9.0

Format Xbox 360

Developer SEGA

Publisher SEGA

Genre Beat 'em Up

2 Comments

There is no such thing as perfection. It's something every developer aspires to but ultimately, can never reach. It's the impossible ideal. Bioshock is not perfection. Jessica Alba is not perfection. Even waking up on Friday morning to find you've been given the day off for some whimsical reason, seeing a £500 cheque addressed to you in the post and finding a missed phone call from the ex you've been lusting over since you split, that's not perfection. Perfection simply doesn't exist so while the quest to attain it is admirable, the quest to find it as pointless as returning that phone call is (she was actually drunk and trying to call a cab. Sorry. Perfection doesn't exist, remember?).

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However, there is such a thing as pretty damn close to perfection. That's where Virtua Fighter 5 sits. As far as fighting games go, it is unrivalled as the king of the genre. That's the good news. The better news is this Xbox 360 version the absolute best version of Virtua Fighter 5 possible, making it well worth that torturous wait following the PlayStation3 release. This is the only way to play Version C, where Sega has tweaked the wonky character balance from the previous Version B. There's nothing hugely different that will have veterans spitting their Red Bull all over the TV in surprise but Pai and Shun-Di have been toned down while Sarah and Aoi have been beefed up, redressing the balance. These slight changes mean you have no excuse to go online and scream "cheap!" at anyone who has the audacity to beat you. Which is the other reason this is the ultimate version - you can go online. Find human opposition without leaving the comfort of your tea-stained sofa and tube of Pringles proudly standing tall next to it, in case Sir gets hungry from all the fighting. This is what you want from a modern day fighting game. Balance. Online play. Perfection? We'll get to that in a second.

"But what is it?" you cry, tears running down your curious cheeks. As the name and screenshots suggests, Virtua Fighter 5 is a fighting game. At the heart of it all is a clockwork paper, scissors, stone system ticking away. Attacks beat throws, throws beat evades, evades beat attacks. That gets complicated further by more rules (circular attacks beat evades and throws but are slow) and as you get deeper and deeper into the game's mechanics. What it means is each fight is a battle to unravel your opponent's tactics and counter them in the appropriate way. You have to know every single in and out of your character to succeed. Goh's a judo master who has damaging throws but what if your opponent starts to expect them? Akira has damage and speed on his side but how do you get around the fact that all his attacks are easily evaded? Aoi is an extremely technical character with lots of counters but how do you make up for her lack of damage?

It sounds complicated and... it is. Virtua Fighter 5 isn't the kind of game you can pick up on a lazy Sunday during the Coronation Street ad breaks. Initially, you'll find it a complicated, awkward and fussy play-thing, not listening to your clumsy button presses and stubbornly refusing to do what you want. Which is why it doesn't reach perfection. There is no training mode besides a dojo and 'dojo' is little more than a fancy word for four walls and the game turning a blind eye to your vain attempts to stumble through the moves list. The fact that this has been outperformed by Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution's extensive training mode, a game that's over four years old, says it all. Unless you know what open foot combos, major counters and crumples are, you're going to feel like you've been thrown into the deep blue sea while Virtua Fighter 5 watches you from the deck, shrugging its shoulders. Those who think Offensive Move is pinching a girl's bum have a lot to learn about Virtua Fighter 5 and yes, it will be a struggle.

Yet once you crack the cold exterior, you'll find one of those rare games that continues to reward you as you put the hours in. There's nothing more satisfying than reading what your opponent is going to do and reacting accordingly, dodging his attack and slamming him face first to the ground, making him look like a circus clown. It shows off your absolute mastery of the game itself and that's the key to all fighting games. If the game allows you to read your opponent, to counter his tactic and make him look like an idiot, it'll last as long as there are people around to play it. Virtua Fighter 5 has all of those things and once you taste the sweet satisfaction of side-stepping out of the way of Jacky's somersault kick to launch your elbow into his ribs, you're already halfway to addiction.

The main mode here is the Quest mode, where you plough through opponent after opponent, increasing your rank and earning money to buy items. Really, it's an elaborate game of dress up, as you giving your chosen warrior eye-patches or magic staffs or face masks or umbrellas, depending on your mood. This also plays into Virtua Fighter's unique way of rewarding you as you put the hours in. That rare items can be won in the random Item Battles or unlocked simply by progressing through the ranks gives it that compulsive 'one more go' factor, as you scramble to win the one item you know other players won't have seen before. That you can now go online and show these items off makes this mode even more addictive than it was before. Even gaining the big ranks plays second nature to saving the money for those pink arm-warmers you're after. With small emblems nestling under your name too, there's further incentive to keep hammering single-player - beat an opponent and you'll unlock their emblem for your own use.

If you're prepared to put the time into Virtua Fighter 5, you'll find it gives you just as much warmth and love in return. This applies double for those who have an equally fanatical friend to play this with yet with the online mode providing plenty of competition, even that's a moot point. Is the most balanced, prettiest, deepest fighting game ever made perfection? No but in this case, being the most balanced, prettiest and deepest fighting game is more than enough.

Ryan King