Imagine walking into an old but still running dojo as an enthusiast in the 21st century – the gear’s polished, the mats well-worn, but the master’s still there teaching the same old kata. That’s Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage: a faithful martial-arts machine, doing what it always did best, but sharper and refreshed with a few modern tweaks.

What Works (The Good Stuff)

• The core combat of VF5 has been slowly refined through R.E.V.O., making the past few releases feel more like a new season balance patch more than anything. It has stayed true to its roots as a grounded but refined fighter that feels refreshing in the face of its modern counterparts’ more loaded systems
• SEGA has finally caught this title up with the inclusion of rollback netcode. It now displays your connection rating as well as your ping, delay frames and rollback frames but we still don’t have a  WiFi indicator. Matches now feel a lot better at a moderate 2-frame delay on a normal connection with around 3 rollback frames. Performance will still depend on your internet situation, of course, but my past few online matches so far have been solid and smooth.

• The highly requested Quest Mode is now back as World Stage. For those unfamiliar, this was VF5’s offline single player mode that allowed you to unlock customization parts by winning fights. You can spend your time here or in the newly revamped training mode while matchmaking. While that may seem tedious to some, long-time fans will appreciate that old school feel of getting new things by just playing the game. 

• The best new addition for me is the release of the game’s boss, Dural, as a DLC character. This marks her debut as a playable character without having to use cheat codes. While she is the Shang Tsung of the game, featuring mostly an amalgamation of the roster’s moveset, she offers unique strings and properties to fully round out the experience.

What Doesn’t Quite Land (The Caveats)

• The biggest “huh” for the non-hardcore or casual crowd is the lack of meatier single player content. Arcade mode is pretty much thin as there are no story modes or character endings. While World Stage offers a lot of challenges to win, it’s also a bit of a grind that doesn’t really differ much from a standard arcade mode run. As such,if you’re not in it for a customization run, the game mostly feels like an online-first product.
• Extras also feel a little slim. Not all of the customization parts from the OG game return. There are some new  costumes via cosmetic DLCs, but with them strictly being behind specific bundles, there are  fewer bells-and-whistles than expected – especially compared to modern fighters. If you’re not a fan, it might even seem like a last-ditch cash grab as they build up to Virtua Fighter 6.

My Verdict: Fun, Fierce, but For the Few

If you’re the type who lives for frame-perfect counters, honest neutral, mastering spacing and side-turn advantage, or simply looking for a break from the current meta’s metered comeback mechanics, then this might be the fighting game for you. While it is just a layup until Virtua Fighter 6 comes out in a year or 2, it offers a grounded but technical fix for any old school fighting game enthusiast.

Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. is now out on Steam. Get it here.

RATING – 4 out of 5

THE GOOD

• Dural and the latest balance changes make for some good hours of discovery
• More customization options are always nice
• THE version of Virtua Fighter to play right now

THE CATCH

• It’s good for nostalgia and a break from Tekken, but otherwise, not much else.

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