Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown Review
Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown offers some of the best versus fighting on the market.
The Good
- Some of the richest, most complex fighting gameplay around
- Solid online gameplay with well-done netcode
- Option-packed customization DLC offers a lot of value
- Offers some of the best tutorial and training modes in modern fighters.
The Bad
- Single-player mode is weak compared to previous iterations
- No way to earn customizations without DLC.
The modern renaissance of fighting games that began with the release of Street Fighter IV has had many positive effects on the genre. It has brought new players into the fighting game fold, and the increased audience allows for classic series that may have fallen by the wayside to be revived and put in the hands of new players eager to see the diverse breadth of experiences the genre has to offer. The original iterations of Virtua Fighter 5 released in 2007 struggled to make an impact: the original PlayStation 3 release lacked any sort of online play, while the Xbox 360 version debuted amid numerous other high-profile releases. Despite positive reviews, the original VF5 didn't make many waves.
Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown takes a different approach. Rather than being a full-priced disc release, it's a 1,200 MSP downloadable game available through Xbox Live Arcade. Instead of emphasizing the single-player quest modes of the original release, the game is geared toward competitive play, with a robust online matchmaking engine and in-depth training and tutorial modes. You don't earn items to customize your characters in-game; you buy downloadable customization packs that contain hundreds upon hundreds of items, costumes, and colors for each fighter. To top it all off, the game engine has received a significant overhaul, making the game more accessible to new players while adding depth and gameplay tweaks that longtime VF fans will find refreshing. The result is a package that, while somewhat lacking in certain respects, represents a tremendous value.
At first glance, Virtua Fighter is deceptively simple: there are only three buttons (guard, punch, and kick), no super meters or other gauges, and rings of varied size and shape to fight on. Once you begin playing, however, the game's depth gradually opens up. The three buttons, used in tandem with certain joystick movements, open up hundreds of different commands for each character, with each individual skill having numerous unique properties and potential uses. Every character has a wealth of different strikes, holds, throws, and counters of varying heights, speeds, and damage properties. The skills are based (sometimes rather loosely) on true-to-life martial arts, so don't expect the flashiness of massive fireballs, energy swords, or divekicks from across the length of the screen.
The more-grounded basis of Virtua Fighter doesn't make the game any less exciting, however: matches are fast-paced, tense, and involve more up-close-and-personal beatdowns. The smoothness and detail of the individual character animations accentuate the thrill of combat; the sheer satisfaction of landing a particularly complex and damaging combo or a rarely seen, off-the-wall throw is immense. Characters also come with unique properties that affect the way they play: tiny luchador El Blaze can dash speedily around the ring, drunken master Shun Di gains improved moves when he's plastered (yes, really), and gargantuan sumo Taka-Arashi's massive size renders him harder to knock down and hit with combo strings, to give a few examples.
There's a lot to each character in Virtua Fighter, and thus the learning curve is a bit steep. Thankfully, Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown offers robust training and tutorial modes to help both new players who are learning VF for the first time and longtime fans who might need to adjust to the gameplay changes from the original VF5. The tutorials start from the very basics of attacking, dodging, and guarding, and continue all the way to the new throw-escape system and advanced movement techniques.
Training mode, meanwhile, offers numerous ways to analyze and practice your newly learned skills, including numerous detailed input displays (complete with frame data for advanced players) and notations on how and where moves strike you or your opponent. The training dummy can also be set to react in a plethora of ways, including switching up command strings at random so you can practice anticipating and countering troublesome mix-ups. Replays of offline and online matches can also be saved, shared online, and carefully analyzed with similar tools to the training mode.
if theirs no ipohne versoin then i refuse to by this gane i boycott seruoisely iphone is the future of games and if u dont suppart it with ganes then ur compeny will probelly go under and look at steet fighter 4 on iphone its by far the most superier verosin of the game
tehtimeisnow ..... get out.... now
tehtimeisnow Obvious iTroll is obvious.
tehtimeisnow
I seriously hope you're trolling....
tehtimeisnow
I can neither take you seriously nor respect what you say for the following reasons:
1: The iPhone is NOT the future of gaming.
2: You don't know what the F you are saying.
3: You do not have the good sense to capitalize the first letter of each sententence, spell words correctly, and use punctuation where required.
tehtimeisnow Nice try now getout
lolz epic fail... no video review... gamespot is not trying to help promote Virtua Fighter like they love to polish the shaft on Gears and Halo.
wheres the video review?
VF is a fantastic game,no doubt!
What troubles me is the shallow single player part.
Ones will start to focus on online matches and what will happen is...you wish your Pai would look unique...man i LOVE to make my charas look different to other ppl charas.My main complaint:
15? for the game,which is awesome
2x15? for the 2 item packs,which is the cheapest option to get them all
Overall price 45?!
Why is the game not on a disc featured with ALL stuff at once for a retail price?
sladakrobot There's a deal on PSN where you get the game and all DLC for $30 (VF5 FS Complete Edition), that's really not too bad if you are in desperate need of extra colors and clothes.
jer_1 Lets hope this deal will appear on XBL too since i dont have a PS3.Thx for the info.
The depth to the vf series is staggering!! tekken is so shallow by comparison. the only reason other fighting games went on was there simplicity
VF was the starting evolution to the Tekken fighting engine. I won't forget this game since it's first release and for me personally this is way better combat than any overhyped and overpowered games. If you really want a decent fighting style game VF is the real deal.
Even with series like Tekken, Street Fighter, Soul Caliber, DOA, M vs C, this is still my favorite fighting series. I never enjoyed a fighting game like VF. VF5 is awesome.
If EA can do It why Not SEGA
KaSeRoR Your comments show how clueless you really are. Your Tekken was a Bland copy of VF and still is. "Never can get into VF" dude you play Tekken they copied the moves from VF then through in some moves from SF and called it tekken two lol . Tekken for Life wtf I'm Sure your the guy thats still playing MW. VF series Love It.
Never can get into VF... VF3 was evolving the game a bit, but still the same ole BLANDNESS of moves and character movement! Looks pretty though... Tekken for Life!
>=)
"BUY ARE GAME!" "Then buy our content" ......yawn.
ScouseLemon
"BUY A BOOK" "Then learn how to read and write"......yawn.
This game is not a "re-release" because if you play VF5 you can see that Final
Showdown could easily be named VF6.
I'm talking about a complete gameplay overhaul and certainly a much better deal than SFxT or Soul Calibur 5.Also,you don't need the dlc to enjoy the game,dlc
is only necessary for VF junkies like me.
This is the deepest of all fighting games out there.
Virtue Fighters AWESOME!! Loved the Series...Havent played this one Though but im Sure as hell gonna gt it soon :)
Hadn't played it before, but I love it. I wouldn't have got it if it weren't free through Playstation Plus, and I can say that I really would have missed out. It's easily worth $15 for non-Plus members with an affinity for the fighting genre or equivalent Obscure Transaction Points on XBL, and it makes me feel that much more stupid for buying SFxT and Soul Calibur 5.
I love it <3
It's a great game, great value. If you don't like the DLC, don't get it.
Cool game but not good for those new to VF and don't plan to spend a lot of time doing versus.
Zidaneski Actually the controls have been simplified to a certain degree, and the tutorial mode is great for new players
If you do not like VF, fine. Lets get something straight though. $15 gets you the entire game--every mode and mechanic. For extra $ you can change the way your characters look. I spent $30 and got the game with the full suite of character customs. I will never use 70% of them--I am a VF geek. Some people that kick the S#!T out of me online do not seem to care for changing their characters appearance. To each their own. Just buy it and let SEGA know we want VF6!!!...and panzer dragoon, JSRF2, Fighters Megamix, etc.
streetmagik Fighters Megamix 2! :)
BradBurns I WANT FIGHTING VIPERS 3!
somatzu
YES SIR!!! Hell , throw "Last Bronx" in there while we are at it!!!
How did this score so high? It's a non physical copy of an old game that they're charging $15 to play, and you can't even customize your character or see others' without getting the full $40 version. That's the most expensive Greatest Hits digital-only re-release I've ever seen, I don't care how many new hairstyles they added.
istuffedsunny
Your an idiot
streetmagik hey now everyone is entitled to their own opinion no matter how wrong t hey are.
istuffedsunny umm re release? I could spend hours telling you the hundreds of changes from VF5 and the hundreds more customs available instead I wont....Ignorant indeed
istuffedsunny " I don't care how many new hairstyles they added."
Then $15 for the game minus customization is there for you.
And I agree with dragonps there's so many changed in FS compared to VF5 vanilla.
ugh casual fighting game fans. You need to play this game to appreciate it. not just watch videos.
so, hold on, this is a free to play model game, thats not really free to play but designed to milk you with dlc and its donkeys old, and it gets an 8.5? sigh
LeMeAtOm First it's $45 with all DLC so it is $15 less than a retail version game. Second you don't even need to buy the DLC to enjoy it. Third this is a revised version with 2 new characters that was released about a year ago.
LeMeAtOm yeah dlc is completely not needed. Just if you want to customize your character no biggie.
LeMeAtOm Wow........I mean don't buy the game then? I mean to me, VF5 and KOFXIII are some the most balanced fighters out there IMO. By them scoring this game a 8.5, it goes to show that it doesn't matter how old a game is. If it's core mechanics are still solid and fun, then this would be able to hold it's own in the years to come.
Offer a bare bones game with solid mechanics and a robust suite of multiplayer options while at the same time charging next to nothing for the game and allowing people to buy what they want as DLC?
Well at least it's better than what Capcom v. Tekken did. Now let's see it come to PC. I've always enjoyed VF and I don't know how I feel about this move, but I can't say I'm surprised. It's a bold move that may be the way fighters go about doing things in the future.
starfox15 It's not a bad model. I wouldn't mind paying fairly little for the game and pick and choose other cheap customization features afterward.
At least it wasn't full price with the customization offers extra as well (like most games would have been)
starfox15 1200 ms-points is "next to nothing"?
001011000101101 I don't see why ppl complain about 15 bucks when they would spend 60+ on a game.
001011000101101
Compared to the $60 for the mediocre SFxT and SC5 cost when they were released, $15 for an actual great fighting game IS next to nothing.
where is the video review?
If it weren't for the fact that they had over $20 in DLC day 1 I might have supported this title. As it stand they can kiss my @** with that day 1 DLC BS.
CeZar_87 Or you could pay $60 for stuff you don't actually want. Just a different optional charge method. Actually get more than you more worth compared to other fighters. VF has some deep gameplay hard to cheat and win if you don't know what your doing.
CeZar_87 Plus other dlc after the $60 like Capcom.
CeZar_87 Just like the others who've complained about this games DLC, you don't need to buy the game's DLC to enjoy it.
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Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown
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- Publisher(s): Sega
- Developer(s): Sega AM2
- Genre: Action
- Release: Jun 6, 2012 (US) »
- ESRB: T