The music sounds great, and the fighting effects come through almost perfectly. However, the voice acting needed work. Sometimes it sounds decent and a little nostalgic, like with Sarah’s classic "Better run home to momma now!" taunt. Other lines, however, sound extremely cornball. El Blaze comes across like a superhero impersonator instead of a genuine Lucha Libre wrestler, with dialogue like "My body is the ultimate...WEAPON!" In addition, AM2 includes a pointless commentary option, featuring an announcer who just says things like, "That had to hurt!" over and over again. Just leave him off.
Virtua Fighter 5 features several new modes beyond the standard Arcade offering. VF TV not only lets people record matches for later viewing, but also comes with some pre-loaded for study. Quest Mode presents a rewarding journey for you fighting fans, as you visit Sega-themed arcades to challenge opponents. Through this mode, you build up characters, starting at 10th Kyu and eventually getting to 10th Dan, the highest rank available. Quest Mode starts out relatively easy at first, but gets harder as more of the Dan-ranked opponents rise to the occasion. Through this mode, you’ll earn other bonuses as well. These include additional accessories for each fighter, currency to spend on miscellany items and powerful orbs.
"And now for an instant reply!"
The strongest addition here, obviously, is the online component. Ranked and unranked matches are playable anytime through Xbox Live, with plenty of opposition waiting to pound the crap out of you. Most of the fighters in this community are heavily skilled, so proceed with caution if you don’t know them. If you can withstand the competition, however, you’ll find that each match runs evenly online, with only the slightest issues in timing and latency. Kudos to Sega AM2 for testing this to no end and not releasing the product until everything came together just right. It makes a great deal of difference. Now that’s it been made into a more complete product on the Xbox 360, Virtua Fighter 5 deserves a spot into your game library, period. Not only does it provide hours of fun online and off, but the presentation gives visual purists something to "ooh" and "ahh" about. Until Virtua Fighter 5: Evolution eventually arrives to captivate the fighting world, this is as good as 3-D brawling gets
