Luckily Tekken 5 is put together so gorgeously that it's easy to forgive its lack of an online mode. Supporting 480p progressive scan and 16:9 widescreen, the game looks brilliant on any HDTV that can support it. But even if you don't have the hardware to enjoy such things, Tekken 5 is still one of the best looking PlayStation 2 games around. Whether it's the meticulous detail given to the character models, the excellent animations in each character's faces and bodies, or the beautiful environments that have been recreated for the stages, Tekken 5 is seriously good looking. And for fans of Namco's always-killer CG, they won't be disappointed here. It's easily some of the best work the studio has done and makes me wonder if the powers that be will ever authorize a full-length motion picture ala Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. The team certainly has the technology and talent to do it.
Audio
Equally inspiring is the overall audio presentation. More diverse and less repetitive than any of the other game's in the series, Tekken 5's soundtrack has finally beaten out Tekken 2 for the title of "Best Tekken music. The ending themes in particular are done extremely well, and there's a wide range of tunes that fit the cast of characters rather effectively. Happily the sound effects are just as powerful and provide everything you'd expect to hear in a high-quality fighting game. What impressed me most about Tekken 5's aural quality, though, was the voice-acting. Because for the first time in the history of the series, each and every character speaks with full lines of dialog before, during, and after their matches -- and usually in their native languages (well except for Lei and Xiaoyu that is)!
THE VERDICT
After a slow start, 2005 has turned out to be quite an exciting year for the PlayStation 2, and Tekken 5 is one of the main reasons for it. Just like other recent high profile sequels like Devil May Cry 3 and Gran Turismo 4, Tekken 5 has managed to expand on its long-established gameplay mechanics without sacrificing the things that made it great. Better balancing, a ton of gameplay modes, smarter AI, and high-quality presentational elements are tough things to beat -- but Tekken 5 has all of them.
And while I'm just as bummed as you are that there isn't an online mode included in the package, Tekken 5 still packs enough value to be an easy recommendation for fighting game fans of any and all skill levels. Namco's last PS2 Tekken is definitely its best... even if Jinpachi Mishima is a cheap little he-bitch.
System Requirements
Processor: Core2Duo 3.20 GHz
RAM 1.0 GB
GPU 8800GT
Free Space 5.0 GB
Graphic Card 512 MB (1GB is best option)
Screen Shots
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