Virtua Fighter 5 Preview

E3 2007 Preview

SEGA’s Virtua Fighter series has been kickin’ ass and takin’ names for some time now, with the past few entries representing some of the deepest and most complex experiences you’re likely to find in a fighting game. The most recent entry in the series, Virtua Fighter 5, is currently reigning as one of the best fighting games you’ll find, and certainly the best available on the PS3.

Now, the game will debut on the Xbox 360 console later this year. However, instead of simply being a straight port of the PS3 game, the 360 version ups the ante with some improvements to the formula here and there, as well as online play, a component sorely lacking from the PS3 version. Due to this addition, Virtua Fighter 5 on the Xbox 360 will be the quintessential version to pick up.

Virtua Fighter 5’s online play will be a pretty robust feature, offering leaderboards, ranked matches, and many elements to make it as fleshed-out an experience as possible.

The game will feature achievements that are geared towards the single-player experience, with points gained for beating the game with each character, “hitting a guy with glasses” and so on. The game will also enable you to copy your homemade character to a memory card to take to your friend’s 360 to pit against his creation.

While specific downloadable content will definitely be in the game, the specifics on it are pretty slim. Chances are these will entail more customizations to your character.

Even graphically the game has been cleaned up. The aliasing jaggies that were apparent in the PS3 have been cleaned up, and the experience generally looks a lot smoother on the Xbox 360.

Even without the online component, Virtua Fighter 5 would be a must-play for Xbox 360 fighting fans. However, with the ability to fight it out over Xbox Live, the deal is only further sweetened. Look for Virtua Fighter 5 on the Xbox 360 later this year.

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