Virtua Fighter 5

VF has never really been about a detailed story, and rarely engaged its fans with FMV style story sequences in the same way that Tekken has been applauded for over the years. In VF5, there's a newer (and pertinently a much more awesome-looking) 'V-Dural' model, and the shady J6 Corporation's attention has apparently turned from Sarah to Vanessa. Frankly it's all bollocks though, and the creators know it - but to be honest what we'd rather have is a game whose seventeen key combatants, not including the Dural boss, are all unique in terms of personality, design, and most importantly, play style. And VF offers character variety in spades. All the existing VF4 characters return with many superb, well thought out enhancements. I would estimate that about one third of my favourite character's moves in VF5 are completely new - and you can chain stuff together in interesting new ways too, so it feels fresh with all the old guys.

The two new characters, meanwhile, are great additions to the line-up. Personally I have not spent a lot of time using them to be honest, but I am assured that they're worthy additions and any fool can see they're cool to watch. They both bring a cool new fighting style to the series, with 14-year old Eileen practising the unpredictable, dance-like monkey kung-fu fighting and boasting plenty of leaping, evasive and mischievous techniques. El Blaze, the masked Mexican Lucha Libra wrestler, surprised players who expected another wrestler just like big-man Wolf, with his incredibly compact, fast physique, as well as his quirky ability to run all over the ring just like in real 'sports entertainment'. So, by all accounts, we have two versatile and entertaining new fighters to enjoy and master.

In Japan, VF is the highest grossing game in arcades, but at home on the PS3 version, AM2 has been sensible in creating a full-scale Quest mode, similar to that found in VF4 Evolution on PS2. You fight across a selection of different 'arcades' on a map, each with its own player skill level. As you progress, you're invited to take part in frequent tournaments. Your win ratio and ability to beat skilled players determines your player rank, with 28 ranks to get through in total, and also allows you to radically customise the look of your fighter, which can be used back over in arcade mode and versus mode too. Versus mode, for that matter, allows the two players to continue using their various Quest characters against each other and benefit from the same rank promotion/demotion and Item Battles system encountered in the singleplayer game, which is cool, and just like Japanese arcades.

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