Virtua Fighter 5: Huge Hands-On & Media!

Kikizo gets hours of quality time with AM2's stunning sequel - detailed impressions, fresh details, artwork, screenshots and gameplay footage inside.

Page: 1  2  3 

Over the weekend, Sega and AM2 decided that Christmas should be arrive a little earlier for Virtua Fighter fans. Not only has VF.net -- Sega's integrated network for all things VF -- been running a special December campaign, but on the 26th and 27th of November, there was a special location playtest for Virtua Fighter 5, the latest in the world-renowned series.

While the game isn't slated for release until April 2006, AM2 took this time to show players what has been done thus far with the game, and Kikizo was there to catch all of the action.

As you may know, VF5 is running on the new Lindbergh arcade board system. It's an incredibly powerful piece of hardware, and while we have tried games such as Power Smash 3 before, graphically, it doesn't even come close to what's being done in VF5. What Sega has done with this game in just a few short months of development is nothing short of stunning. The game features incredible lighting effects in just about every stage.

VF5 is arguably as visually impressive as MGS4

Take Lau's Great Wall of China stage, for example. Not only do you have actual spectators watching your fight -- the Wall itself is being repaired during the fight -- but you'll see the sun peak out over the horizon, consuming the figure of player 2 as the round starts. In Wolf's new stage, a cage is suspended over the air while an entire stadium cheers the combatants on. In this stage, you have light sources from all possible angles; spotlights, neon lights that encircle the stage, and even lights from below your feet illuminate the characters from different angles, and bounce off every surface in the environment, showing off the raw, technical power of the hardware.

There was only one place to be this weekend for VF fans, as
one of Tokyo's Club Sega held the first VF5 location test.

As for the characters themselves, you may have seen some of the AM Show screenshots that were shown on the official Virtua Fighter site (and reproduced in above) as well as other shots of several characters. All of those images are actually real-time models; the game features a level of detail that has been only seen in one other game thus far: Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4 demo for the PS3.

The difference in character height is now much more noticeable, and the widescreen format looks fantastic.

The difference here is that this game is running with full physics and in real-time, whereas the MGS4 is a scripted event. When you see a close up of Wolf's victory pose, you'll know what we're talking about. His skin is full of details, such as muscle tears and sweat, while his clothing features realistic textures. His gloves actually look like a pair you'd wear to the gym.

Fighters continue to age, most obviously Shun, Lau and Lion.

This is even more evident with Shun, who's aging rapidly. His skin wrinkles in all the right places and looks absolutely scary at times with battle scars visible on the top of his cranium. Most impressive of all is the monk, Lei Fei, who actually sports welts and bruises on his knuckles when the camera draws close to him.

We've captured a few decent off-screen grabs, but these six aren't really as good as the others.

Since Virtua Fighter 4, Sega has been relying heavily on the use of the internet as well as its integrated network to make things more interesting for games, and to keep the arcade scene alive. With VF.net, players were able to customize characters, join teams and much, much more, and now, VF.net is getting an upgrade, into VF.tv.

Page: 1  2  3 

NEXT PAGE >>