Virtua Fighter 5: The Final Showdown Review

After a 5 year wait, Virtua Fighter is back with its latest installment, Virtua Fighter 5 The Final Showdown. With some much needed improvements like online play, it’s easy to see why fans are so excited for its release.  However since a lot has changed in those 5 years, can Virtua Fighter stack up to current fighters or is it a sad reminder of the past?

Let’s find out what’s HOT and what’s NOT in our review of Virtua Fighter 5 The Final Showdown!

HOT

Vast Selection of Characters
In Virtua Fighter 5 you can select from 1 of 20 total characters. Each character has their own unique look and fighting style to set them apart. These vary from Sumo Wrestling to even Drunken Kung-fu, so there is quite a bit of diversity. Despite all these differences, the game is quite forgiving to new comers.

Easy to Pick Up
Contrary to popular fighting games like Street Fighter or even Mortal Kombat, Virtua Fighter 5 is quite easy to jump into. You see unlike those fighting, Virtua Fighter uses very basic commands. Most combos are performed by pushing punch or kick and adding a direction. While it sounds simple enough, there are more advanced moves, so it’s not like you can master the game in a day. If you would like to improve or have better understanding on how to do something, you can check out the Dojo.

Tutorials
While Virtua Fighter is easy to pick up, it naturally has depth like all fighting games. Learning these skills can be extremely difficult, but the Dojo offers an array of training methods. The first is tutorials, which focus on various elements in the game. These include elements like moving, jumping, escaping throws and even how to perform advanced combos. Each stage starts with a small explanation, then gives you a counter to know when you’ve done it right. If you’re not into training, you can also practice your moves here or freely train. The selection should help gamers of any skill level get better, so it’s quite handy if you need some assistance.

Customization
If you constantly play fighting games, then it can get very tiring looking at the same model. With this in mind you can buy item packs, which allow you to customize a characters look. Each pack is character specific and includes well over 100 total items. Some items are recolors or shared across various characters, where as other items are unique to certain characters. Fans of homages will be delighted to know that some characters can be made to look like other characters. For example Wolf can look like Jagi (Hokuto no Ken), Sarah has a Ulala (Space Channel 5) look, El Blaze has a Samba de Amigo thing going on,  and many more for you to discover. Finally if you obtain every set, you unlock a special offline mode where you can fight customized opponents too.

Only 15 Dollars
When a fighting game gets a revised edition, they usually price them around $40 dollars. In the case of Virtual Fighter 5 The Final Showdown, the game is only $15 dollars with the option to buy additional content. This means you can enjoy the game for a small price and maybe deck out your favorite character for a little extra. Considering most people play as one or two characters, it quite the savings for what you’re getting.