Whatever was thought about Tekken 1, 2, 3 and 4 is now obsolete. It doesn`t matter anymore which character is chosen, which arena is fought in, or who the opponent is. A turbulent, satisfyingly violent fight is guaranteed with Tekken 5 - King of Iron Fist Tournament.
Although the third instalment of Tekken was hugely successful, Namco took a dive with what followed. Both Tekken Tag team and Tekken 4 were unnecessary backslides for Namco.
Namco lost a lot of ground (and fans) to a particular title from SEGA, while experimenting with the above-mentioned instalments. On a positive side, perhaps SEGA`s "Virtual Fighter 4" acted as a wakeup call for Namco and the Tekken series.
Tekken 5 puts the game and the developers back on the map. New characters (Feng, Asuka and Raven) are introduced, bringing the number of game characters to over two dozen. The game`s graphics have received a major facelift and upgrade, it has a killer soundtrack - featuring tracks ranging from straightforward electronica, to pumping psychedelic trance and a menu packed with features that will keep interest piqued for weeks. Tekken 5 has most certainly reset the benchmark in this gaming genre.
The story line has not changed much and retains its epic yet humorous twist. It revolves around a couple of main characters, giving background, history and reasons behind them entering the tournament. It increases satisfaction somewhat to have a sense of "I`m fighting for something" when playing a kick-butt fighting game like this.
The vast improvement of graphics makes its mark in both the character design and the fighting arenas - well complemented by the fluency and fluidity of the fighters` movements. The new characters take getting used to, but once mastered, they are rather useful, especially when playing a one-on-one team battle.
The controls have not been changed - a very clever decision in my opinion, considering titles like Mortal Kombat lost a large amount of support by adding too much. Sometimes, simpler is better. This does not detract from the creativity in fighting style of the characters, however, nor does it restrict one from beating the opponent into a pulp.
T5 is making an impact on the gaming world with the quality of the graphics, sound and gameplay. Additionally, the game comes with fully playable versions of Tekken 1, 2 and 3 (for those of us that are nostalgic) plus, an entire third person, puzzle based, beat up everything that walks game called "The Devil Within", where the player is Jin Kazama. For the "old-school" gaming nuts, Namco has also included an un-lockable version of the 1991 revolutionary 3D space shooter "Starblade".
If there was such a thing as a "Best of..." game compilation, this would be it. It`s almost like one of those 5-in-1 Nintendo cartridges.
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