Fazer Review de um jogo da série Tekken é uma obrigação, pois essa se tornou a minha franquia favorita em toda a indústria dos games (sim acima de GTA), e muito disso vem da forma que a própria franquia de leva, sendo um jogo bem balanceado e competitivo, mas que ainda abraça o estranho e bizarro dentro do seu universo.

História
Por ser um jogo de luta pré Mortal Kombat 9 a história do jogo não segue um modo campanha com os personagens, a única forma de descobrir a respeito do enredo e zerando o modo arcade com cada um dos personagens e tentar descobrir quais finais são canônicos.

Agora considerando que já sabemos o que ocorreu na história de Tekken 5, a minha opinião é que aqui a história de Tekken começou a deixar o torneio (The king of iron Fist) de lado, justamente para dar sequência a própria história, pois temos que lembrar que os jogos 3 e 4 tiveram praticamente os mesmos finais e com o desenvolvimento dos personagens em ritmo muito lento. Com isso no final do torneio Jin vence o torneio e se torna o líder da Mishima Zaibatsu, assim o membro mais nobre dos Mishima tem o controle do maior conglomerado do mundo, desencadeando a história no que percebemos em Tekken 6 (Jin começa a terceira guerra mundial basicamente).

Gameplay
Sem dúvidas o ponto mais importante de um jogo de luta, e Tekken consegue entregar uma jogabilidade muito gostosa, que é de fácil aprendizado ao mesmo tempo que é extremamente difícil de ser dominada.

Tekken 5 consegue entregar muita qualidade gráfica para a época e com cenários bem vivos e com uma trilha sonora original bem encaixada (na verdade as músicas de toda a franquia Tekken são icônicas. Escutem!!!!!) Além de colocar muitos modos diferentes, como o Theo evil within que é um modo de aventura com jogabilidade beat em up em que você controla Jin, esse modo é bem vazio e não acrescenta basicamente nada na campanha ou enredo do jogo, e o principal problema desse modo são os cenários totalmente vazios e sem graça, além disso existe como jogar as versões arcade de Tekken 1, 2, e 3 dentro do próprio jogo. Além desses modos temos os clássicos arcade, ghost battle, team battle, survival e time attack.

Considerações finais
Tekken 5 é uma obra de arte das mais puras, basicamente pegando o jogo anterior da franquia e melhorando todos os aspectos dentro da mesma geração de consoles. Além disso o jogo era figurinha carimbada na coleção de muitos que gostavam de jogos de luta em multiplayer, pois a competitividade das partidas sempre estava presente, Tekken 5 criou o molde de todos os jogos que viriam após ele na franquia.

Já no meu coração Tekken sempre terá um espaço reservado, o tanto que já me diverti com essa franquia e tudo que ela proporcionou em minha vida não existe como mensurar. Mesmo sem os consoles atuais eu ainda acompanho e fico ansioso a cada novo anúncio dentro da franquia.

Oh my God it was so close to being my favorite, literally everything was in place for me to say THIS is the best Tekken game ever. Unfortunately, Jinpachi is in this game; and I'm tempted to give it One Fucking Star just for how much that cocksucker wasted my time.

First things first though: as a Soulcalibur fan, I am intensely jealous that Tekken has someone in charge of the series. Having that consistent force is such a vital aspect of any game, let alone a fighting game. His continued presence is why Tekken has managed to be such a consistent series after being rescued from the diabolical hands of Seiichi Ishii. Harada understood that a fighting game should be Fun, and not Shit, unlike Ishii.

Alright, I agree, that is a little mean to the Tekken 1 and 2 team. The fact that they came up with the groundwork and fundamentals that STILL carry this series to this day in what was essentially a Namco tech demo is nothing short of miraculous. A bad director wouldn't have greenlit King, or Yoshimitsu, or the four-button system. So, these are me giving flowers to Ishii as well. Even though I hate playing your games.

Tekken 3 astonished me; it is one of the most pure-perfect fighting experiences you can get. I would put it on a mount rushmore of fighting games along with Soulcalibur and Dead Or Alive 3. If Soulcalibur had a Harada in control of the series; the enormous success of II could have been duplicated and continued.

I am spending this time kissing the ground beneath Harada's feet because I think he genuinely deserves it. The Tekken games have all been extremely entertaining to me even when they haven't been my favorite games in the world. This is why Harada is important for Tekken, and why Itagaki's absence is felt the second you transition from DOA4 to 5.

That is why I feel weird liking Tekken 5 more than 4, for starters. Tekken 4 was a Creative's Game; clearly a very artistically spurred experience that was almost like the auteur's fighting game. As a fan of big swings for the fences and new ideas being presented in tried-and-tested formats, it brings me to pleasure to say: Tekken 5 is just more fun to play.

Enjoying the "Enjoy your slop, piggies" game is never a fun experience, seeing a developer just "give the people what they want" is always saddening, but it just is what it is: this game feels amazing to play. Pulling off strings of combos is shockingly simple, animations key together in ways that make my heart flutter, and the pace of the game is so player determined that you can unleash a flurry of combos and end a match in 10 seconds, or have a defensive struggle where you wait for a slip up and capitalize. It's an incredibly dynamic and player expression driven game. It's REALLY fun to just play it, which is not something I felt about Tekken 4; a game so meandering that it defies belief.

But if I love it so much, why the 3? It mostly comes down to the story mode: which has perhaps the worst designed final boss I've ever encountered in an otherwise good game. Obviously there are Shitty Ass bosses in Shitty Ass games like Hollow Knight or Devil May Cry 2. But those games can't help their misfortune. Tekken 5 is a GOOD game that just happens to have Jinpachi.

I really don't think I'm exaggerating this one. Sometimes I'll bitch about cheating-ass CPUs and worry that some sweaty motherfucker will say I suck. But I scoured the internet and almost everyone agrees this guy is a legendary asslicker. He has a 3-second stun, a teleport, a long-range fireball that does massive damage, and he is not afraid of using all three in succession. You CAN side step the fireball, but you are usually in recovery frames when he uses it. You CAN dodge the stun, but it's startup frame is faster than most jabs. You CAN combo him down, but his bloated character model is so busy that good luck telling what animation he is doing now. It is like the Father, Son and Holy Spirit of sickeningly bad boss design. Fromsoft couldn't dream up something so tormentingly infuriating. The only consolation is that he is incredibly susceptible to jump attacks, and is COMPLETELY stunlocked by Yoshimitsu's specifically. So, if you want to beat this story mode, Yoshi is built for this shit.

I beat the story mode with a good chunk of the cast, due to my own hubris I suppose. Devil Jin was also a pretty shit fight, due to the A.I having very Funny Quirks that allow them to do whatever they want at all times. The A.I in these games has NOT improved one little bit since Tekken 2. They still input read, react to things they haven't even seen START yet, and don't seem to have the same limitations that a real player has. The story mode is a totally sensible difficulty up until Stage 7, when you will start fighting these fucking TASbots. There is no fucking coin slot on my computer, Tekken, you already got my money, let me play the goddamn game.

I can't even recommend skipping the story mode, either, because of Tekken's penchant for ending cutscenes for all the characters, unique story battles with dialogue, and unlocking the always entertaining extra cast members. So, if you want to play Tekken 5 you are going to HAVE to go through Jinpachi. He is the gatekeeper of Fun.

The A.I in general is really fucking bad in Tekken games. It doesn't encourage you to actually PLAY Tekken, but to abuse cheese strats and just try to trick the A.I. Compared to Soulcalibur, where the A.I is definitely no joke, but can still be outplayed using the systems the game gives you, it feels like Tekken punishes you for trying to play it like Tekken.

This really sucks if you want to play Tekken casually, and it seems like a waste of time to even have an Easy mode if you aren't going to let the player take advantage of it. I'm imagining trying to get my friends into Tekken, and getting curbstomped by a superhuman A.I on Easy Mode doesn't seem like it will convince them!

Other issues I have: still no analog support, which means I actually went and bought a fucking arcade stick just so I could do diagonal commands on something other than the gummy D-pad every controller is legally obliged to have. Still can't see what costume you're picking on the character select screen, which is just another little annoyance that makes no sense to me. Tekken 5 is the beginning of the trend that every 3D fighter will have where all the male characters are so chunky that half the screen's real-estate is dedicated to them. Goodbye clean models with clear reads, hello big beefy boys dressed like Oliver Tree.

It sounds like I hate this game, and during the Jinpachi fight I do, but there is still enough here for me to recommend this game even if it is a total headache. I love the new customization menu for characters, allowing you to spend fight money on extra costumes, accessories, and changing their outfit's color. Personalizing your Main is one of life's simple joys, and that Dashing Hunk Yoshimitsu never looked better.

As for the other game modes; Arcade Battle kicks fucking ass. That mode alone saves me from giving this game the most vindictive and petty 1 star I think I will ever give a game. You fight opponents of different challenge levels, ranking up as you do so, and you can select which opponents you want to face as you go through multiple stages. I have no idea where it taps out, as I've only gotten to the 20s in my playthroughs.

Unfortunately, I think the other modes are just whatever. Time Attack requires you to fight Jinpachi and rewards a pitiful amount of gold. Survival is just a filler mode again. There IS another single-player mode that did not work on PSCX2, and if Tekken Force gave me any indication about its quality: I'm not curious about it! The arcade ports of the first 3 Tekkens ALSO didn't work on PSCX2, but that is not the game's fault, and for the record the value for money you'd get for having this game AND Tekken 3 is worth it for that alone.

Tekken 5 is a really good fighting game, it has the Good Graphics, the beautiful stage design, and all the density to gameplay you could want from Tekken. As a single player experience, I found it really frustrating and discouraging, as Soulcalibur exists and gives you so much more on that front. As a game with friends this shit is probably delectable, so I'd recommend it on those merits alone, and also because you get Tekken 3 with it. Fuck Jinpachi.