IGN visited the arcade on Saturday afternoon and found a consistent line of some 30 people waiting to play as well as dozens of additional onlookers. Play required a 500 yen investment on a player card that can only be used for the test version, in addition to 100 yen per match. Four playable arcade units and one VF.TV unit (more on that below) were set up on the basement "battle arena" floor, known as a gathering spot for Japan's biggest Virtua Fighters. Sega will be holding the location test until Sunday, so if you find yourself in Tokyo, head on over.
As with most games on location test, VF5 seems to be close to completion as far as interface, visuals and animation are concerned. These location tests are usually done in the final phases of development as Sega attempts to gather feedback for tweaking the gameplay. At the location test, Sega was handing out surveys asking for player opinions on the title. While the language barrier kept us from providing feedback to Sega, we sampled the game and can provide some English feedback to you.
VF5 maintains the basic control setup of VF4, with an eight-way joystick and three buttons: guard (G), punch (P) and kick (K). Sega's made some big changes to the basic gameplay systems, however. The main gameplay concept attempts to take the series away from straight head-on attack and defense. Sega has prepared new motions for the characters, allowing them to properly attack and defend from the sides. Previous installments, while including attacks from the side, had your characters snap back into a standard face-off position, making for unnatural movement. In the below image, snapped from Sega's promtional VF poster, the left shot shows a conventional attack with the right showing an attack from the side.
In addition to this, all characters now have a special movement command, achieved with Down-Towards or Up-Towards in combination with P+K+G. Using this, you can more easily get around your opponent. In this image, you can see what happens when this new move is used following a powerful move that cancels an opponent's block:
On top of these changes are updates to most character motions and a greater sense of speed difference between characters. As a result of the speed adjustments, smaller, faster characters, who are more capable of changing position, should stand a better chance against stronger, slower characters.
The trial version had all the old VFers from VF4 Evolution playable. Out of the two new characters promised for the game, only El Blaze was selectable, and some of the braver players put him to the test. El Blaze may be masked like a Japanese wrestler, but he's a lot smaller than the VF's more powerful fighters, like Jeffrey and Wolf. In fact, as his name would suggest, El Blaze is actually a fast character, with speedy punches. Sega describes him as a character who has, in addition to refined punches and throws, a number of "tricky" moves, adding a new type of play strategy to the VF series.
For the game's stages, Sega has gone with the four-sided arenas featured in VF4, continuing the path that the series returned to following the experimentation of Virtua Fighter 3. We were able to get a glimpse at eight of the stages in motion:
Arena: A fighting arena with the fight taking place on a glass floor. Spectators can be seen surrounding the arena and below the floor.
City: Our media collection has pictures of this city stage. Puddles of water on the pavement reflect the fighters. A few spectators are visible from certain angles.
Palace: A bright chandelier glows in the background of this indoor stage.
Terrace: A ring set outside what appears to be a high class party. The ground seems to be wet. Party guests are visible in a building in the distance.
Great Wall: The classic VF Great Wall stage looks better than ever, with a sun setting in the background, people lining the fight and breakable floors.
Deep Mountain: The background for this stage consists of a covered bridge snaking through a snowy mountaintop covered in mist.
Temple: This stage takes place in a garden with Sakura trees. Sakuras fall to the ground and are kicked up each time one of the characters falls.
Broken House: This stage has high walls, with marks of construction. Hit the walls, and pieces of wood break off.
In addition to this, a game poster listed a stage known as "Statues."
Presentation changes abound in VF5. While the interface hasn't changed all that much, the game is now presented in 16x9, using high definition flat screens that we expect will add thousands of dollars to the price of a VF5 cabinet. The monitor pays off, as aside from some unrefined floors in a few stages, VF5 looks like a true next generation fighter. Lighting and atmospheric effects are the game's strong point, be it a setting sun in the distance, character reflections in puddles on the ground, or mist in the mountains.
We're sure you've seen the screenshots by now, so you know how detailed the VF5 characters are. During pre-fight previews on VF.TV (more on that below), Sega brings the camera in close to the character models, revealing fine details, right down to Jeffrey's chest hair and the veins of Wolf's arms. Character motions, as explained above, have been improved dramatically, as has the physics system used for the clothing. We particularly like the movement on Vanessa's jacket, which occasionally gets caught after flipping up.
As mentioned in our previous look at the game, Sega is using a new costume system for VF5. All the characters start off with A and B costumes. Each character has a C and D costume as well, although these need to be unlocked. The game also promises lots of items and accessories that can be added to your characters.
The new costumes and customizability, while we didn't get to try them out, should allow for players who invest in a player card to make a more personalized fighter. And there's even greater incentive to do so now thanks to the VF.TV kiosk. This kiosk, which is powered by a Lindbergh arcade board and includes its own high definition monitor, acts as a community center for VF players.
VF.TV is set up like a television station, complete with scheduled programs, a program guide and commercials. The program guide is shown in the bottom left side of the screen, with listings for every thirty minutes. Programs at the test center included a short interview session with Virtua Fighter creator Daichi Katagiri. Katagiri commented on how good the game looks, but wouldn't reveal details on the second new character. A "Spot Ranking" program was set to air at 3:30; while we couldn't wait around to check it out, we presume it displays rankings for the game. In between programs, viewers are treated to commercials for Sega's latest home products.
The Battle Hour program, shown every half hour, seems like it will be the main draw of the VF.TV system. This is basically a replay theater. The VF.TV board is hooked up with all the VF units in the arcade center and stores the replay data of previous fights. Prior to the start of the replay, the characters appear via stylish introductions. As you watch the fight, rendered in real time in a window, the statistics of the two combatants are shown below the action. The left side of the screen shows the fight that will follow as well as the program guide.
And here's the best part: a digital announcer gives commentary on the fight as you watch! The announcer sounds like something you'd find in a sports game, announcing different attacks that the characters have just performed, and shouting out an excited "KO!" at the end of a fight. It was a bit tough to hear, but the announcing seems to be pretty natural.
VF5 is on test at only one arcade currently, so the Battle Hour was limited to just regional fights. When VF expands to other arcades, Battle Hour programs will expand to include nation-wide fights as well, with the replay data sent over the internet. Watching VF.TV could become a new addiction for VF fans.
And with it, VF5 could become a new addiction for arcade goers just as all previous VF installments have been. Sega's still got about half a year development time on VF5 before the game hits arcades, but we're anxious to give the title another go, as long as we don't have to wait in a line behind 30 people.