Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown(PS3 Review)

               Virtua Fighter V Final Showdown is one of the best fighting games I've EVER played. This is mainly due to it's deep complexity even given it’s three button combo system. It would be seem impossible for VF5:FS to stand up against games like Super Street Fighter 4 or Ultimate Marvel versus Capcom 3. But it does, and handily. It also doesn't hurt that in it's core iteration(without DLC addons) the game only costs about half what those other games do.  But even without taking this into consideration it is still an amazing fighting game.

               Virtua Fighter 5 has an incredible tutorial mode that has many incredible additions: a full command run down of the moves(you don’t even have to land them, score), a trainer where you can turn on frame data, and even a more general tutorial if you are unfamiliar with the way Virtua Fighter games work in general.  This mode is certainly head and shoulders above anything that’s out right now.  Even Skullgirls and SoulCalibur V don’t do as good a job in training a potential player.  There are two new fighters this time so you might want to take tutorial mode for a spin with one of them if you have enough experience with the others to just jump right in.

             An excellent online mode that on the whole has a very forgiving netcode system which even against the worst opposition's bad connection speed it only slows down the action a little and doesn't just break the match completely.  The thing I truly love the most about this game is that when I'm online playing people don't get that crazy feeling like I'm going to lose every three seconds because the other person is SO completely better than I am. VF5 has no REAL bottom tier characters and therefore everyone has a chance. This is really cool and certainly makes the game incredibly fun to play against other human players.  The meat of VF 5:FS is online. But the game does have an excellent arcade mode, score attack, and local versus for anyone without an internet connection. Although if you don't have internet, how did you get the game in the first place? Anyway....

            There are more modes in single player than many other fighters and while everything isn't there for a bargain priced title this game certainly delivers. Modes like License Challenge, Score Attack, and Arcade.  Will certainly keep you playing if you can’t seem to find a descent match in competition online.  Considering the lack of marketing this game has received this is all too possible.  The fighting game community as a whole seem to be championing the game however, so hopefully more people will be playing online soon.

           Even with the reduced price and slightly reduced mode list my only real gripe about VF 5:FS is the DLC system. There is NO WAY to customize your character through unlocks or achievements or any of the normal Namco/Sega ways of doing so. There are no earned items whatsoever. You must simply plunk down your money and spend more on DLC than the game itself to get costume pieces for your fighters. You get full access to FAR more pieces than you would in something like Tekken 6. But you have also just paid real money for them rather than just unlocking them through game progress or achievement.  I think this is a TERRIBLE way of doing business and while the core game is excellent and a good deal that I would recommend to everyone it is hard not to notice how shady they are being about the customization feature. While I can understand why they took this approach I think it would have been much fairer to have some premium costume packs and some free ones. Rather than just all paid. Bur if you can completely ignore this part of the game, then you will love Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown and should definitely pick it up.  Personally, I will be playing this game for a long time to come 8.5/10…