By Jim Shea
How time flies when you’re kicking ass. The Tekken fighting series made its debut a decade ago in 1995 when it first hit arcades around the nation. A true contender to Virtua Fighter-the first 3D fighting game-Tekken’s simple, yet deep combo system got players pumping quarters and soon got them to cash out money for console games for the Playstation system. This fighting game quickly evolved to one of Playstation’s trademark game and now it has outdone itself with the release of the latest Tekken game, Tekken 5.
While Tekken 4 was impressive, it wasn’t the most memorable game in the series. However, Namco put a lot of effort into Tekken 5, as they give you “more for your money.” Not only do you get Tekken 5 itself, but Namco also added Tekken 1-3 to the disc, which are immediately available when you start up Tekken 5.
Tekken has really evolved with Tekken 5, as you’ll no longer see some of the characters pulling off the same moves. Now, each character has their own individual moves with the count ranging up to 100 moves for each one. The fighting is much more balanced this time around as the stages offer more leverage while attacking, yet you don’t have those cheap “ring-outs.”
The story mode is better than ever, but now there’s more replay value with the arcade mode, as there’s an all-new ranking system where you can upload your ranking later on against other players. What’s brand new as well is that now you can customize your character with costume changes and add-ons.
While taking a closer look at the story mode, the cutscenes are extremely well played out-some of them are quite humorous, while others can be dramatic. You’ll be intrigued to find out what happens to the bigger characters like Kazuya, Jin and Asuka, but it’s entertaining to play with characters such as Roger, Mojukin and Law.
Just about all of your favorite characters can be found in Tekken 5. Along with returning favorites from the first four games, you also have brand new characters-Feng, Asuka and Raven-that are very well worth playing. Don’t forget, you got a fighting kangaroo, a fighting bear and a fighting block of wood. In all, you get just about 30 fighters to choose from.
Probably the best part of Tekken 5 is the final boss. You’ve seen bosses from other games like Devil Kazuya, Ogre and Heiachi, but none of them compare to the truly terrifying “Jinpachi.” This guy is what a video game boss is suppose to be-meant to give you headaches, but not impossible to beat. Another boss in Tekken 5 is what fans have been anticipating for, Devil Jin. With these two characters alone, you can see how great the character design is in Tekken 5.
Just as though you couldn’t ask for more, you also get this action-adventure game starting Jin Kazuma in “The Devil Within.” Although it’s not a deep game itself, “The Devil Within” is a nice change of pace from constant brawling, but once you beat this game, it’s not really worth going through again.
On the other hand, Tekken 5 is definitely worth playing again and again. You’ll be able to unlock additional characters in the story mode, you’ll be able to boost up your ranking and earn points in the arcade and survival mode, and you have plenty of features when you’re playing against your friends.
In closing, the Tekken series is just like fine wine-it ages quite nicely. While Tekken 4 may have displeased some loyal fans, they’ll be immediately turned on by Tekken 5’s features and playability. Once again, it all goes back to the gameplay – fans new to Tekken will find it easy to pick up with its simple combo system, but veterans will dig deeper into the wide array of moves they can pull off. With all of this, you should be ashamed if you’re a Tekken fan and don’t own this game yet!
Final Grade: A-

Tekken 5 has more characters, better bosses and also includes Tekken 1-3. (Image courtesy www.amazon.com)