izigame.me

I can't believe I can't recommend this.
like, I CAN recommend Virtual Fighter 5 - the game's awesome. then and now. I was so hyped for this, but I just didn't bet that the "R.E.V.O." wasn't a stylization of "Revolution" but instead apparently an accronym for "Reject Evolution Championship Series". this is some bare, bare-bones ONLINE thing - it's not Virtua Fighter 5. there is no quest, there is no offline 1v1 AI, there is no solo content focus whatsoever. this is all about banking on some likely short-lived (and apparently frequently shoddy) 1v1 online experience.
it sort of reminds me of how Street Fighter V launched - how gimmicky and lamely Tournament and E-Sports focused it was. and look how well THAT turned out. L-A-M-E. (Capcom still haven't lived its disastrous launch down - last year they out of nowhere just flat appologized for it, nine years later.)
I just can't believe you can't test your skills with custom matches against the AI! like in absolutely every other fighting game I've ever seen, even the intensely shite ones. this is such a standard feature. and what, no QUEST?? for VF5's "Ultimate Edition of this legendary game"???
you've got two options for offline solo play: randomized Arcade Mode and Training. L-A-M-E. I'm sorry, but that's radically lame. I can't LEARN online. I'm supposed to learn this game while fighting 20-year vets? or fiddle with settings in training against an infinite-health bot? gimme an "L". gimme an "A". gimme an "N". gimme an "E". what's that spell? Lane? what? oh, I messed that part up. how embarrassing.
it's just that same online-only focus that's been sinking so, so many brands lately. what do they just not get? are they really all so keen on being the next Concord? or Suicide Squad Kill the WB Games Corp?
whatever, Virtua Fighter 5 is great. but this is the "Ultimate version?" no, I'm sorry, that is literally a lie. it's missing maybe half the content of the first version from 20 years ago. look it up. that's not exaggerating. and my copy of 'Ultimate Showdown' on PS4? it CAME with the day-one DLC skins from the 30th Anniversary. it cost less, too.
it just keeps happening, doesn't it? the industry seems to really want to fail, and other than this annoying crap it's not even US who pay the price of their continuous boobery - we can live without SEGA and Virtua Fighter and "Concord". it's *them* who can't live without *our* business. how'd they forget that? and worse, how do they KEEP forgetting that?
whatever, go ahead and clown down in the comments. I won't deny any angry Virtua Fighter devotees the chance to rip this review apart. so clown on, you crazy clowns.
alright, all ready we'll all clown on
no, don't you worry, we'll all frown on
alright, already we'll all clown on, alright
don't worry we'll all clown on

JUST TO BE CLEAR! VF5 in itself is an excellent game, always has been, and the fact that we not only have a balance patch more than 15 years later, but also the addition of Rollback, should be a reason to celebrate, and is going to make it the premier way to play it from now on, even after the next one comes out...
But boy... is this package terrible, to the point that some aspects even suffer from false advertisement.
Just a quick list of the most important issues:
- Customization: This is the part that is straight up false advertisement, In the description it clearly states
"Custom Combatants: Enter the ring with one of 19 playable characters. Master each of their unique fighting styles and customize them with distinctive costumes and items."
That part is completely false, since ALL of the customization is part of the 30th Anniv. Edition. I was expecting having at least the base customization (or a paired down version of the PS3 VF5) but... there's nothing. And I'm not exaggerating, there's ZERO customization if you don't pay the extra.
They might as well not advertised having customization at all... They should've hidden the Customization button if that was going to be the case.
- Game modes: there's a clear lack of game modes compared to previous versions.
While it is normal for modern fighting games to not include all content from previous entries, and mainly focus on online, there's NOTHING here to compensate for the loss of them.
For example, while Tekken 8 doesn't feature a Treasure Battle like recent entries, it's still full of singleplayer content: Story Mode (including for DLCs even if you don't have them), Arcade Quest (in which you can grind the main online cosmetics), Tekken Ball, etc.
In this one you lose Quest Mode (and all the customization items attached to it), and you gain... Rollback netcode? Well, let's address that too.
- Matchmaking: It has been absolutely horrible.
I play plenty of other fighting games online, so of course I have the bare minimum in terms of connection. Wired internet, stable 300mbps speeds; and netcode on every recent game I played has been flawless, we really are in the best moment possible to play these games online.
But with this one, even if I choose to only accept five bar connections, only receiving Best connection matches, and having Rollback settings set to Performance, every single match has been an unplayable 300ping 5-20F of rollback. I know matchmaking tends to be the first thing to fail on the launch of a fighting game *ehemkofxv*, but when the only thing you can do is play online, and it is broken, there's then no reason to play.
And no:
"The PS4 version was the same thing, no reason to complain".
1) They're not advertising REVO as the SAME version.
2) Ultimate Showdown came free with PS Plus, and because PS Plus is needed to play other fighting games, more than likely you was already paying for it, so not having customization there was another different issue. This one is only available as a paid game.

So all in all, this seems to be an incomplete version of a game I love very much.
Not going to refund it, I will keep it so I can play it online once Matchmaking is fixed, and it wasn't that expensive,
but I DO NOT recommend it to anyone that seeks the experience they remember from games like VF4 or VF5 on PS3 (which is understandable since not everyone is terminally online).
I was eagerly waiting for this port, but it has been a disappointment. Hope VF6 launches in a much much better state.
(Of course I will change the rating and edit this review if they at least fix the matchmaking issues, but until then, a negative one it stays)

TLDR: VF5 REVO is one of those fighting games that is plain and simple. Fairly easy to seep into and get the basics fast but takes tons of practice to master the nuance of the systems. Yet, the lack of offline content leaves you with a sour taste and matchmaking is awful at this time with input lags, bugs, high latency and unfunctional filter options.
I’m not an avid VF fan, but I appreciate its place within the fighting genre. This is coming from someone who doesn’t necessarily like 3D games. However, it’s easy to get finessed by VF5 (though I always liked the 4th more). No flashy moves, no bullshit—just pure, intuitive fighting with a reasonably sized roster. It clicks instantly. On paper, you have 3 buttons, but when it comes to executing combos with directions, they can be rough and intense.
I miss the Quest mode from og VF5 release, and I’m still frustrated that SEGA didn’t consider adding more single-player content (tower-like stuff or giving scenarios to each character, you know the drill) and kept scrapping what they previously had. The Ultimate Showdown, which debuted on PS4/PS5 (a remaster of Final Showdown), was essentially free, so I didn’t mind that it was more online-oriented. It had a relatively small but supportive player base. Now, you are paying for slightly enhanced visuals and rollback netcode. AI matches are... They are fine. I used to keep playing the same shit over and over in SF2 so I can't complain as much but times have changed and personally I don't find VF's AI to be that challenging even on 'Very Hard'. It gets old fashioned rather quick.
As of now, VF5 REVO has about 2k players, and I can barely find matches. I know people will trash it and say, “Look at it, it’s dead on arrival” or whatever, but to me, that’s plenty. I honestly don’t understand why it takes so long to find (ranked) matches. When I do find some, even with "best" selected, I get matches with up to 150ms. That’s frustrating, but to begin with I don’t even get enough matches to test the rollback netcode that everyone’s been bragging about. Rooms are a solution, sure, but you’d surely want to have a quickplay (unranked) option.
On top of the lack of single-player content (regarding progression), it also lacks rewards (i.e. costumes). The Tekken pack is not included in the 30th anniversary edition. These are classic SEGA shenanigans. You get used to them. The lack of single-player content is one of the reasons the series has lagged behind others like Tekken, SF, and Guilty Gear, but if you’re a returning player or just want a breath of fresh air, you can still give it a shot. That said, it doesn’t really justify the price tag, especially with these matchmaking issues and barely functional filter options.
In a way, the previous VF titles worked better in arcades. I’m keeping a keen eye on VF6, though. I hope it somehow can go big on the home consoles and now PC.
P.S. I must (re)emphasize that I don’t have any problems with the notion of netcode. It’s just that I don’t get enough matches, and when I do, they’ve been (so far) horrible
—speaking on the behalf of EU.
Edit: I have played about 15 matches and got only one below 100ms (and it was around 70s). That's bullcrap.
There are problems with chain matchmaking. Once you finish a game and go into matchmaking again, it can't match you up unless you back out. There are also times when the game goes to a full black screen when you try to opt out of ongoing matchmaking. It's frustrating, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't leave a sour taste on my evening.
On top of that, I won and lost several matches with over 250ms ping. They are simply unfun, and I rage-refunded the game. As unfortunate as it is, the game is simply not in a good state, and I wished that I spent my money on F1 24 or something. I initially wanted to keep my purchase because it was a $20 game, and on top of that, there was a 20% pre-order discount plus in-game pre-order incentives. But it's just not enough to keep the purchase with a clear conscience, especially when SEGA's regional pricing is quite weak and they seemingly didn't care (enough) about VF5 Revo and trying to utilize this for funding VF6 instead.