Tekken is back. Really back. Don't believe me? Let me tell you a story. The first night Tekken 5 was out, I took it over to a friend's house. We had been playing -- just the two of us -- for an hour or so when more of our friends showed up. They could hear us hooting and laughing in the main room, so naturally they all came to see what the fuss was about. Upon looking at the screen, one of them says, "What is this, Tekken 22?". The others gave out a light chuckle and quickly lost interest in watching.

This didn't bother me though. Why? Because I knew I would win them over. I told the main heckler to pick up the controller and give it a try. Some 50 odd rounds later, everybody in the house was gathered around the television to have another go at the new game that took them all by surprise. This is Tekken 5 and it is good. It's REAL good.

Watching somebody play Tekken 5 can sometimes be like watching the best fight scenes from your favorite action movies. Imagine a fight from a movie where one character throws a punch, and the other one bends backward to avoid it. Then imagine the attacker making a second attempt with another punch, only to have the defender grab their arm and counter by sticking an elbow in their chest. This kind of thing happens all the time in Tekken 5. It really looks awesome because, at times, the fights almost seem choreographed. A big part of this has to do with how fluid the animation is. Take returning character "Steve Fox" for example. Using Steve, a trained player can duck and dodge all over the place, narrowly avoiding attacks, but staying in tight enough to the opponent to land counter-blows. Watching something like that in action is really impressive because it looks so real and completely natural.

Another thing that helps bring you into the Tekken world are the new stages you fight in. Remember how bland they were in Tekken 4? Parking lots, airport runways, and a shopping mall. What the hell? Tekken 5 brings beautiful locations to life with incredible design, fantastic lighting effects, and character. Lots of character. Moonlight Wilderness is probably my favorite stage. The setting is a wide-open field in the middle of the night. There are white, feathery flowers everywhere that come up to most characters' waist. In the background are the ruins of an old castle or temple, with a large full-moon lighting up the whole thing. Everything, characters included, have a light blue shade to them to make it all even more convincing. A light wind keeps the flowers and a few nearby trees a little animated. If somebody takes a fall, flowers are knocked loose from their stems and gently float away in the wind. This is the kind of detail that puts you right there in the game. You want to play Tekken 5 just to visit the locations because they are all very memorable and just plain fun to look at. They are all pretty varied too. There is a polar paradise complete with playing penguins all around you, a garden with exotic flowers growing everywhere, and even a rooftop level. Yes, I am aware that the rooftop level has been done in just about every fighting game. It has never been done this good however. It looks a lot like a scene right out of "The Matrix." I don't know how they did it, but somehow, Namco made fighting on a rooftop interesting again. Maybe it's the way the sun is setting in the background, or the way this is reflected in the windows of a building across the street. Maybe it's the long clouds that linger in the sky. Whatever it is, it looks great. I honestly did not think the PS2 was capable of graphics this gorgeous.

That rooftop in particular is a good example of the game's sound too. The music is as memorable as it was on the PlayStation in the original Tekken almost 10 years ago. Trying to describe it all is kind of hard because like the characters and stages, it's all so varied! So, as that rooftop can have grinding, crunching guitars to make your pulse race, the polar paradise has a lighter tone that reflects the good-natured penguins playing nearby. Moonlight Wilderness has a dramatic synth piece that creates a sense of urgency, yet the burial grounds have a tense, eerie sound with traditional Eastern instruments that deliver a different experience entirely. In fact, those burial grounds remind me a lot of recent offerings from Hong Kong movie studios for some reason. "Hero," "House of Flying Daggers," "Crouching Tiger," and the like all come to mind when you watch a fight unfold in one of Tekken 5's best stages. It also helps that the voices and sound effects are well executed. Skin slaps, bones crunch, and the battle cries get you all riled up like they should. Just try not to imitate "Law" too much or your friends might not invite you back.

If you have played Tekken games before, chances are you have a character you are best suited to play effectively with. Chances are, they're in Tekken 5. The character roster is like a compilation of everyone from all the Tekken games with the exception of a few goofballs that most people won't miss anyway. Did anybody really play as the robot in Tekken 4? Didn't think so. But, for the most part, they are all back and better than ever with new moves and new exploits. And let me also say that the outfits are very well-designed. Tekken 5's characters are just oozing with "cool". A few of the guys have really cool-looking suits, some of the girls are ultra-hot and/or ultra-cute, and then some of the other guys just look badass in general. Take King's alternate costume for example. I want that. That's my halloween costume this year. Or maybe Jin's alternate costume would look good on somebody. They're not just characters in Tekken 5, they're trend setters, damn it!

It should also be mentioned that all versions of Tekken 5 for PS2 come with complete arcade versions of Tekken, Tekken 2, and Tekken 3 as well as a side game called "Devil Within". The arcade games are great. Arcade perfect right down to the way they say "good morning" as if you were firing up the machine each morning in your local arcade. Devil Within is somewhat lacking though. It's hard to knock a game that is just included as an extra, but I'd be surprised if most people do anything more than play it for about 20 minutes before never bothering with it again. But that's not really why you buy Tekken 5, so I see no reason to talk more about it. The story mode, versus mode, and arcade mode are the real reasons to buy it.

The story mode and versus mode are pretty self-explanatory, but the arcade mode deserves special attention. If you ever played Soul Calibur 2 in an arcade, you may remember the quest mode where players fought virtual representations of other people's characters. You could gain or lose rank and watch your character become more and more difficult to beat by other players as you moved on. Or maybe you are familiar with Virtua Fighter 4's arcade mode where you traveled to different virtual arcades to take on the top players for rank. Tekken 5's arcade mode is kind of like that. You start out with Beginner rank and move up in class after fighting so many rounds. At the same time, you earn money to buy new costumes and items for your character to wear. It is a bit more simpler than other games' offerings, but it is still a very welcome addition for people without a lot of friends to play with all the time.

Buy Tekken 5. If you like fighting games, are a sucker for good graphics, or just want to see what all the hype is about, go try it out. Chances are you will really like it and feel good about owning a PlayStation 2 all over again.