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Review: Tekken 5 |
When most people first heard of Tekken 5, they would hear that phrase. No one believed it, but there it was. Spoken by Wesley Snipes himself, no less.
And thus we are thrust into The King of Iron Fist Tournament 5.The latest incarnation of the Tekken series, while showing much innovation, also made a huge backtrack from Tekken 4.In Tekken 4, the series went, for the most part, a totally different direction than Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag, arguably the most popular version of Tekken there is. Interactive backgrounds were added and playfields would slope. In an average round of T4, you could knock someone into a car, break a pillar with Paul’s deathfist or low punch an opponent who was prone on higher ground.
(Side track: Tekken 4 was partly made by Dream Factory, the people who brought you Tobal No. 1 and Ehrgeiz.)
All this seemed good, but when people picked up the game, it was just so un-Tekken-like. Namco heard this and made a new Tekken game as much like Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag as they could. Baek, Bruce, Wang, and Ganryu, all of whom are supposed to be dead, made a triumphant, if elderly, return. Gone were the sloping playfields and “Position Switches” of T4, which depending on your preference, was either a good or bad thing.
In addition to the existing cast, we get 5 new characters:
Jun Asuka Kazama Namco’s method of bringing Jun back from the dead without bringing her back from the dead. (Apparently, not only can females not age past 30 in the Tekken universe, but they can’t be resurrected like the Mishimas can…) Asuka plays almost exactly like Jun, but brings some new power moves to the table as well (which Jun sorely needed).
Wesley Snipes Raven: a black Ninja. Obviously styled after the star of such movies as Blade and Demolition Man, Raven brings many obscure moves to the table.
Feng Wei: a Shaolin monk-like character who killed his master for the Dragon scrolls and beat up Asuka’s dad apparently. He also has some sort of beef with Lei Wulong…
Devil Jin: In Tekken 4, Jin unlearned 90% of his Tekken 3 movelist. Fans hated this (even though they cried over there being too many Mishimas before… 
) so they brought old-school Jin back in Devil form. So now Jin can fight like he did in TTT and also shoot lasers. Yeah, I think it’s gay too.
Jinpachi Mishima: Heihachi’s father. During the course of Story Mode it seems that the only bastard in the Mishima family line is Heihachi, who buried his father under the Hon-Maru dojo. Jinpachi is the final boss of the game and the only 3D character to suffer from SNK boss syndrome. With one hit, Jinpachi can stun you for like 3 minutes. You could get hit, go get a soda, come back, and you’d still be in hit stun (well, not really…). He also shoots fireballs which are highly damaging and intimidating at first, until you realize they can be easily sidestepped.
All the returning characters received upgrades and new moves as usual. King, Marduk and Hwoarang all get air throws, which is a first for Tekken. Anna has even further differentiated herself from her sister, gaining a new triple kick and having her entire moveset made more stylized. Julia also now moves dramatically different from her previous showings.
On the PS2, the two main modes of play are Arcade Mode (which is kind of like Conquest mode in SC2 minus the territory aspect) and Story Mode. For the first time, the Tekken characters actually speak to each other. Many times with amusing results. Personal favorites:
Law v. Paul
Anna v. Lee
Paul v. Kuma
Kazuya v. Heihachi
Marduk v. Anna
Also, the PS2 version includes the arcade versions of Tekken 1, 2 & 3 plus Starblade, which I’ve seen in an arcade once ever. (In Reno, and it cost $1 per credit.)
Finally, the main attraction (at least for me) to any home version of Tekken: the endings. The endings this route range from possible hints at Tekken 6 (already in development) to complete hillarity.
On the serious end, Jin takes the reins of the Mishima Zaibatsu, Wang watches his dear old friend fade away into dust, and Feng finds the Dragon Scrolls he’s looking for.
On the other side: Kuma/Panda inherits the Mishima Zaibatsu, Paul challenges aliens to fight either before or after Law beats him up to avoid paying a bill, Nina & Anna film a movie with either disatrous or arousing results, and in the ultimate: Heihachi straps Jin, Kazuya and Jinpachi to a rocket and shoots them into space.
When all is said and done, Tekken 5 is a great addition to any fighting afficionado’s collection. If you own all the other Tekkens (like I do), then there’s no reason you shouldn’t own Tekken 5. If you didn’t like Tekken 4 because it was so different from 3, Tekken 5 will pleasantly surprise you. If you liked Tekken 4 because it’s so different from Tekken 3, then you probably already own it, but pick up 5 anyway.
The only detractor from Tekken 5 isn’t the game itself, but Namco’s planned series of upgrades: Tekken 5.1, Tekken 5.2, and Tekken 5.3: Hentai Edition where Devil possesses Asuka and gives her a raging demon boner. :spooge
Blowing $50 (more like $40 now) on a new game only to have to blow another $50 for a few tweaks, will surely piss some gamers off. Then again, unless you’re practicing for tournaments, 5.0 will do just fine.
Until next time kids….
BECAUSE TEKKEN IS THE KEY TO LIIIIIFE!!!
