Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown Reviews
While there’s fun to be had with the deep combat and competitive multiplayer, Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown is let down by underwhelming graphics, poor sound design and the critical lack of any story.
A lazy and biting remastered, designed for online but with a netcode absolutely not up to scratch. A carefully created online component would surely have made a combat system shine that remains solid and fun decades later, finally bringing the saga back to the giants of beat 'em up. Let's hope Sega has learned his lesson and wants to "get serious" next time.
Review in Italian | Read full review
In reality, Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown is a good title, an excellent even since the recipe has absolutely not changed since 2006 (go, 2012 if we take into account Final Showdown). With a focus on online and competitive, Sega sees in the long term and the potential is huge. Except that here, technically, although it has received a polish stroke, the app does not hold the road in front of the competition.
Review in French | Read full review
Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown is a welcome return of the grand-daddy of 3D fighters. The much needed graphical touch ups help rejuvenate an aging game thanks to better facial animations and cleaner visuals. The gameplay is as solid as ever, handling especially well with the online integration. Unfortunately those who aren’t into the competitive aspect of fighting games might not find a lot to enjoy here. If you are big into the genre and want a more technical fighter, it is highly recommended.
A remastered edition of the 2006 sequel, Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown is still a quintessential example of true 3D fighting.
So, it turns out that Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown isn’t quite as ultimate as the title suggests. It is, however, a solid fighting game that should keep players entertained for tens of hours – providing the online community remains buoyant and matches play out without any hitches. It’s just a shame that more offline, single-player offerings haven’t been provided to round out the package.
Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown seems lacking for a game having the word "ultimate" in its title. On one hand the fighting system is every bit as great as fans of the series remember and with regular online matches and the Room Matches players who love taking the fight online can have countless hours of fun.
Virtua Fighter is still a great game, no doubt about it. And Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown fully re-proposes the old-but-gold original combat system, enhanced by a Training mode that explains in depth everything there is to know about it. What's inexplicable in this operation is the poor care paid to the multiplayer, penalized by an old and poorly performing netcode, which heavily limits a game designed to be SEGA's first step towards esports.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown's one goal was to update this old-school and finely aged fighter for a modern platform. In that, it excels. This is a classic fighting game that holds up to this day. Despite that, though, it's a shame that so many single player offerings had to be cut in order to achieve this vision. Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown is a perfect competitive fighter for the modern world, but for someone looking to mess around with it offline, your options are disappointingly limited compared to previous versions of the game.
Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown delivers a deep, satisfying fighting game experience--provided you're okay with barebones single-player and inconsistent online play.
Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown may not bring many content additions, but its payback alone is significant. The title presented itself in an adequate way for the current generation and manages to combine a good performance with a great visual and sound quality. Its characteristic gameplay is very inviting and nostalgic, perfect for those who wanted to experience nostalgia.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The three button setup of Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown has stood the test of time, providing an incredible amount of depth with a strong emphasis on the fundamentals. It's just a shame that the spotty netcode drags down the overall experience; those looking to seek out new challengers best come with a bit of patience.
Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown is solid and deep, but the outdated netcode needed way more improvement.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown is a fighting game in the Virtua Fighter franchise. It features mainly two-dimensional combat with the occasional movement into the Z-axis. With a wide variety of characters and customizable options, does Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown stand out from the crowd? Find out in this Rapid Review.
Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown appears to be a test to see if a revival would be feasible for this series to modern consoles. There seems to be a push to get this game in as many hands as possible to gauge interest and show that Virtua Fighter can still put up a fight. Thankfully, the updated systems, balances, and visuals make this a worthy fighter, but a lot rides on the competitive modes.
If you have PlayStation Plus, there’s no reason not to check out Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown. Even if it fails to hook you, free is a good price. If you don’t have Plus, there’s very little reason to get it, however. This is especially true since Plus is required to play online, and there’s almost nothing to do if you aren’t playing online. While it is a shame that so much content from past games isn’t here, this is still one of the best playing fighting games ever made. That’s no small accomplishment. For those who don’t love facing live opponents over and over, though, this may be more of a curiosity than a new passion. Still, I’m just glad to see Virtua Fighter back in the fight. Hopefully, the next time the series makes a return, it will be with a new title.
The gameplay has not been altered since the original release 10 years back but since the fighting game mechanics were top notch at the time, all of the great action and battle systems are still intact. All of the graphical enhancements such as stages and user interface were upgraded so there’s our eye candy. General online playability have also improved and unlike the original old-gen console versions, there are no region restrictions in match making, but the delayed netcode would greatly decrease some of the combat experience if the players are geographically too far apart. The single player and tutorial modes also seem a little lack luster and we hope for a patch to be deployed soon as they’re available.
Review in Korean | Read full review
Your enjoyment of Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown is going to depend on a few factors. If you're more of a competitive online fighter, then you'll appreciate the focus on that scene. With the game's inclusion on PS Plus and PS Now, there's an even better chance for the online community to last for some time, since so many people will have access to the game. Those who enjoy local versus play won't find any mechanical differences, but at least they don't have to worry about wearing out their PS3 system or controllers every time they want to sneak in a few rounds. Single-player fighting game enthusiasts will feel the sting the most, since Ultimate Showdown takes away a few modes. Overall, the game is just as solid as it was back in the PS3/Xbox 360 era, and the hope is that this title will go multiplatform and spark enough interest that the publisher will start looking at doing a proper sixth game in the series.
As a game, Ultimate Showdown does little to convince you to choose it over the newest Tekken, Dead or Alive, or Mortal Kombat game. But given how well its core gameplay holds up with its various enhancements, it’s certainly worth a look for fighting game fans looking for something a little different.
Despite having a few flaws, such as missing modes and the lack of being able to invite friends for some online bouts, Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown is a solid title. If and when Sega addresses the online issues, this will be a title that everyone will be playing, there's no doubt about that. Now if it was only available for the other platforms, it would be even better.