Virtua Fighter 5

He Said:

I'm not a huge fan of fighting games, but I definitely do have fond memories of Street Fighter II back in the good old days. After Street Fighter III came out, I basically fell out of fighting games all together. Virtua Fighter was never on my radar at all. In fact, I remember trying to play the original VF and being completely confused. Not like Street Fighter at all!!

Anyway, a few years ago some friends of mine introduced me to Virtua Fighter 4. At first, I played just to be social, but pretty soon , I was really having fun . . . and getting my butt kicked at the same time! Playing VF was a truly different experience when playing with people who know the mechanics of the game and can help you figure it out. Well, the in game tutorial helped too.

After I got into VF, I did try some other 3D fighting games. Let's see . . . I tried Soul Calibur, Dead or Alive and Tekken. I think those are the big ones. I liked some of them, and didn't like others, but I really think VF has ruined me for those other games. The main characteristic of the VF series, in my opinion, is the fact that you can't really just mash the buttons and expect to get any results. In comparison with other games in the field, it is not friendly to new users (hence my frustration the first time I played). Some of the new characters do seem to more "mash" friendly, but a character like Akira takes a lot of time and patience to master.

VF is not a flashy game. There are no fireballs or supernatural spirits or anything like that. It's probably the most "realistic" game in terms of the physics, so you won't be falling from hundreds of feet as part of the battle. The real appeal to this game comes from the tactics and strategy of the battle. You use just three buttons: punch, kick and block. Using various combinations along with a dodge mechanic and a counter mechanic you try to out-think your opponent. Someone could argue that all fighting games are like that, but VF really puts it on a different level.

Virtua Fighter 5 carries on the tradition of the VF series. The characters all return and it's absolutely beautiful in high definition. In addition, the XBOX version on the game has online play, and it actually works! Okay, some of the purists out there a complaining about the frame count and whatever, but that's not me.

If like fighting games and you've never tried a Virtua Fighter game, I highly suggest you give it a test drive. It's cheap now, too!

Breakdown

He said: Yea

If you want this game:

xbox360 - Virtua Fighter 5
ps3 - Virtua Fighter 5