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The fifth entry in Sega’s advanced, realistic fighting game series. Once again, the realtime level of visual detail and character animation has been upped to the most advanced levels, with next-generation lighting and detail on the fighters and environments.

Virtua Fighter 5 is the latest game in Sega’s Virtua Fighter series. It was released on July 12, 2006 into Japanese arcades. Virtua Fighter 5 is due for release on PlayStation 3 on February 20, 2007, and will be a launch title for the European release in March. The Xbox 360 version is due in the summer of 2007 (sooner than August), as confirmed by Sega on December 21, 2006. It’s mean that PS3 fans will stil be able to thumb their noses at the 360-only crowd for a good six months.

Virtua Fighter 5 features beautifully detailed stages from around the world where players face off in fast-moving martial arts battles against one of 17 characters. Two lively new characters join the elite group of fighters, adding two new unique fighting styles for players to try and master. With more skill and strategy than ever before, players are also given the opportunity to learn and employ the new “Offensive Move” technique to take down their opponents from different angles, adding a new dimension to the game and something for both new and old fans to master. Virtua Fighter 5 also includes the ability to customise characters by selecting from four base costumes and a wide range of unlockable accessories and earnable items. As players win more tournaments they will not only earn costumes and accessories, but also prizes and in-game money that will allow them to buy items from the in-game shop.

Playable characters

Akira Yuki : Akira strives for perfection and will drive himself relentlessly to master his techniques. He seeks worthy opponents to fight in order to find flaws in his skills to further attain mastery. Akira is the Assistant teacher of his father’s dojo. This dojo is his stage in Virtua Fighter 4.

Pai Chan : She is a martial arts action movie star in her hometown, and her fighting style is Ensei-Ken.

Lau Chan : In Virtua Fighter 4, Lau entered the tournament looking for a successor. He didn’t consider his daughter Pai, because he didn’t think she was strong enough to continue his legacy.

Jacky Bryant : Jacky fights using the incredibly versatile Jeet Kune Do style, allowing him a wide range of kicks and punches. The most important aspect of Jacky’s game is his combos, which can be utilized to repeatedly strike and inflict massive damage. He also seems to have a brash and confident attitude.

Sarah Bryant : Sarah is the sister of Jacky Bryant, and an avid practitioner of Jeet Kune Do. Sometime in her dealings with J6 corporation, she lost her memory. She enters the 3rd tournament to find and defeat her brother.

Jeffry McWild : Jeffry is an Australian that practices Pancratium, as well as having an intense liking for the sport of fishing. His bigest ambition is to catch the infamous “Satan Shark”.

Shun Di : Drinking during a fight will increase Shun Di’s fighting ability by making new and more powerful combos available.

Lion Rafale : The Rafale family is a very prominent family in France, who were known first for their lucrative success in the aircraft industry.

Kage-Maru : Kage took part in the 3rd tournament to defeat Dural and obtain new parts to help save his mother. Sadly, his mother’s condition worsened and she became Dural completely. On infiltrating the organization he found a new Dural which contained the secret to saving his mother.

Wolf Hawkfield : His VF5 story is currently unknown. However, it has been revealed that lucha libre wrestler El Blaze has some sort of connection with him.

Aoi Umenokouji : Aoi’s mastery of countering and defensive holds is clearly shown in Virtua Fighter 4, being the character with the most available in the entire game.

Lei-Fei : Lei is a monk who practices Shaolin kung-fu. He is part of an elite group of monks meant to get rid of martial art styles deemed too dangerous. Secretly he wishes to be trained by Lau Chan, the man he was sent to kill in the fourth tournament, in his unique style, Koen-Ken.

Vanessa Lewis : As an orphan, Vanessa was adopted by a special forces officer named Lewis, but Lewis died during a terrorist attack.

Brad Burns : In the kickboxing world, a new style is being created. Because of his good looks,Brad Burns has many female fans. What’s more, he likes to go out with such girls at night after his battles and present a charming personality.

Goh Hinogami : His father was a judo expert chosen to go to the Olympics, but, a jealous friend whose career aspirations were unsuccessful murdered him, and Goh became an orphan. Soon after, the Organization found him, and trained him in assassination arts.

Dural : Dural was previously a human woman. Her name was Tsukikage and she was both Kage-Maru’s mother and a Kunoichi.

New Comers : Two new characters were shown at the end of the Virtua Fighter 5 preview, immediately after the logo. The first character was a young girl who uses Monkey Kung Fu named Eileen. The second character that was shown along with the girl has been confirmed as El Blaze. He is a lucha libre wrestler and wears a mask. Blaze is a quicker fighter who uses acrobatic and gymnastic moves to fight and throw opponents; he seems to have some sort of rivalry with the existing character Wolf Hawkfield.

Feature

Players will be able to customize their characters by selecting from four uniquely patterned costumes and a wide range of attachable items that can be placed onto each fighter’s various body parts. Players will not only achieve victory by defeating highly-skilled opponents, but will also compete for prizes and earn in-game money through the match to buy many items at an in-game shop.

One thing that’s interesting is that the PS3 is undoubtedly going to be big in Japan, but in North America and Europe the Xbox 360 has a pretty sizeable head start, not to mention an installed-base advantage. Have you considered the financial benefits to bringing the game to the system (the 360) with the bigger installed-base in North America? I’ve heard that Lindbergh is closer in design to 360 due to the PC-style architecture of the systems. I don’t know if this is true or not, but I’m interested in knowing your opinion on this.

Developher : Sega
Publisher : Sega
Genre : Fighting
Platform : Arcade, PS3, Xbox360
ESRB : Teen
Release date :

Arcade
JPN July 12, 2006

PlayStation 3
JPN February 8, 2007
NA February 20, 2007
EUR March, 2007

Xbox 360
NA August, 2007
EUR August, 2007