Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown Review – Aging Well
If Virtua Fighter 5 looks familiar to you, that's because it was already released 12 years ago in the form of Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown on the PS3 and arcades, which of course was a re-release of vanilla Virtua Fighter 5 which was also seen on 7th-gen consoles. You also may have come across it in Yakuza 6 in the "Club Sega" arcade on Nakamichi Street. But regardless of your history or lack thereof with this fighting game, Ultimate Showdown on PS4 is the newest and hopefully final version of the game. I say "hopefully" not because Ultimate Showdown is any sort of bad, but because it doesn't quite get me to shake the feeling that the Virtua Fighter series just deserves a little bit more than a re-released re-release of a decidedly old fighting game. If anything, Ultimate Showdown proves as much by demonstrating the undeniable quality of Sega's biggest fighting franchise while simultaneously showing its age.
First things first, don't worry or hope that the gameplay has been radically altered for this version of Virtua Fighter 5. The basic frame counts for each move, command lists, and character roster are basically untouched in this version, which makes sense as its previous iterations got the Virtua Fighter gameplay to quite a refined level of attunement, and frankly it doesn't really need anything else in that area. It's still the same highly technical and finely-balanced fighting game it has always been. It has, however, been visually updated with the help of the dragon engine; the same set of tools used in Yakuza 6 and Judgement. This is the most profound change for this version, as lighting is significantly more realistic with less of the more cartoony amounts of saturation the previous versions had, more depth to the game's color palette, sharper character models and noticeably more lush backgrounds for every arena.
"It's still the same highly technical and finely-balanced fighting game it has always been."
As a result, Ultimate Showdown doesn't quite reach Mortal Kombat 11 or Tekken 7 levels of detail, but it does look great and could certainly pass for an early native PS4 game. This really speaks to the level of effort put into overhauling the game's visuals but also to the integrity of the original game, as the animations and models themselves haven't had much done to them at all, but still look very nice most of the time. You will see some stiff movements and some bland textures here and there at times which do hint at the game's age, but overall, I find that the work that was done with the visuals combined with how well-made it was for its time a reasonably effective combination of efforts that keep the game looking and playing quite well. This is complimented well by a newly-overhauled and minimal user interface that gets right to the point as most modern interfaces do.
The audio is handled almost – but perhaps not quite – as well. While the newly scored tracks definitely fit the experience well, I noticed a handful of occasions where the balancing of music vs sound effects seemed way off. A punch sound effect would be loud and… well… punchy, but then a kick would be barely audible right after that. Also, some menu sound effects were comically loud compared to the background music. The audio department isn't helped much by some very low bitrate voices. Many of the voice samples sound like they were lifted from the Sega Saturn version, let alone the PS3 one. I'm not sure if they sounded that way in the previous version of the game and it was just more forgivable then, or if that's a new issue, but either way, the sound is easily the biggest thing holding this game back from feeling like a modern game.
The gameplay is of course the shining beacon of success for the game. Its extremely balanced roster of characters all have compelling reasons to play them, yet are also very challenging to master. Virtua Fighter combat is highly underrated in the genre, as its complex, and sometimes obtuse feeling button combinations can feel off-putting at first, especially if you're a huge fan of more accessible fighters like Dead or Alive, but that initial steepness of the learning curve does give way to some extremely rewarding moments when Virtua Fighter's strange rules, like mapping block to a face button and having no dedicated jump button whatsoever, finally click. As a big Tekken fan, it definitely took me some time to get back into the Virtua Fighter mindset. Training my brain to stop backing up when I wanted to block, and get used to only jumping when a very specific jump attack is needed were hard muscle memory rules to break, but if I can get there, so can you.
"Virtua Fighter combat is highly underrated in the genre, as its complex, and sometimes obtuse feeling button combinations can feel off-putting at first, especially if you're a huge fan of more accessible fighters like Dead or Alive, but that initial steepness of the learning curve does give way to some extremely rewarding moments when Virtua Fighter's strange rules, like mapping block to a face button and having no dedicated jump button whatsoever, finally click."
And it's well worth the work. Learning the basics as well as a handful of combos will probably be enough to get you to the last fight or two of the arcade modes, but you will need a relatively deeper understanding of your character (and your opponents') moves before you should expect to beat it. That said, I did stumble into a weak point in the game's AI that allowed me to spam my way to victory with Aoi pretty reliably in arcade mode. Outside of that though, I found the balance between the characters to hold up extremely well and it is absolutely comparable to the quality of balance in most modern fighting games. I just wish there were more ways to experience that finely-tuned fighting than the barebones selection of modes here. No survival, no story mode, or anything else is really here outside of the absolute basics. There is a pretty decent amount of character customization though, so credit where it's due.
One more area this game hits a high and low note at the same time is its online functionality. A completely new layout to Virtua Fighter 5's tournament mode is coming and should be available soon after launch that totally revamps the game's competitive community with a new UI, more communication options, 16-player private rooms, the ability to spectate other matches while you wait for your turn, and league play. I was unable to test most of that to see how well it works before launch of course, but it's a nice idea and clearly this is where a good amount of work has gone into this version. I was able to get into a couple of ranked matches and game rooms though and the stability seemed fine to me despite this game still using the dreadfully old net code of the original version, which is where I do think Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown may run into some trouble down the road – especially if it gets as popular and loaded up with players as Sega clearly wants it to.
While the net code for the original game was never particularly bad as far as I remember, I do remember noticing the occasional syncing issue as well as getting kicked out of matches for undiscernible reasons a bit more than I would have liked, and that was when there were far less people online playing these sorts of games. Hopefully enough tinkering around the edges of the net code for Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown has been done to avoid those issues and handle the weight of a larger community, but we'll have to wait and see on that one. None of the new bells and whistles that have been added to the game's online functionality will matter much if the game can't sustain its own audience. That said, with what I have been able to test through ranked matches and rooms, everything has been pretty solid outside of a couple micro-stutters that quickly resolved themselves, so I suppose that is a good sign.
"Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown is a respectable remaster on multiple fronts."
Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown is a respectable remaster on multiple fronts. The visuals look great and the gameplay was wisely left alone. Outside of some auditory oddities and a slimmer selection of characters and modes than most modern fighting fans might want, there's not much stopping Ultimate Showdown from going toe-to-toe with most of its modern contemporaries. With many other 3D gaming franchises starting to feel a bit stale at this point, it will be very interesting to see if Virtua Fighter's uniquely technical and anomalous style can catch yet another wave of interest in the fighting game space. It could greatly benefit from the timing of its release alone. Surely Sega is watching though, so if Ultimate Showdown does well, I would hope we'll see more of the franchise in the future in the form of a new game that the series can really stretch its legs with.
This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.
Darkest Dungeon, For Honor and Backbone Coming to Xbox Game Pass in June
Ahead of its E3 2021 showcase, Microsoft has announced new titles coming to Xbox Game Pass subscribers in June. It starts with The Wild at Heart, which will be available for the cloud, on June 1st. June 3rd sees Ubisoft's competitive hack and slash title For Honor available for console and cloud players while post-noir adventure Backbone arrives on June 8th.
On June 10th, Darkest Dungeon will be available for console, cloud and PC players. The rogue-like dungeon crawler is renowned for its brutal difficulty, especially with managing the various afflictions that heroes can suffer. While this line-up may seem fairly sparse, it's likely that more will be announced on June 13th when the Xbox and Bethesda showcase takes place.
On June 15th, a number of titles will be leaving the service. This includes Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown (console), which is well worth playing before it's gone; adventure titles Night Call and Observation; and rogue-likes West of Dead and Wizard of Legend. Stay tuned for more details on upcoming additions in the meantime.
Necromunda: Hired Gun is Now Available, Launch Trailer Details Setting
Streum On Studio's Necromunda: Hired Gun is available now on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5 and PC. It sees the player living in Necromunda, the underbelly of the Warhammer 40K universe, and taking on various jobs as a bounty hunter. To better understand the setting, check out the launch trailer below.
As you acquire bounties, you'll be tasked with taking down gang members and other monstrosities. Various augments and tools are available to make life easier, from a grappling hook and wall-running to a cyber-mastiff that will locate and maul enemies. There are also a variety of weapons and ways to execute your foes.
Leveling up will provide access to new weapons and there are numerous ways to customize your loadout (and that of your canine companion). With Focus Home Interactive having acquired the developer, it remains to be seen if more content and updates will be added to the game in the coming months. As always, stay tuned for more details.
AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution to Have "Massive Impact" on 4K Gaming for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 – Dev
AMD has provided a release date of June 22nd for FidelityFX Super Resolution, its own version of Deep Learning Super Sampling or DLSS. Unlike Nvidia's version, however, it will offer multiple upscaling modes and even better performance. With the solution also coming to Xbox Series X/S and PS5, how will it benefit developers for those consoles?
According to Dead Drop Studios' Evan Wolbach, who developed the recently released Outbreak: Endless Nightmares, Super Resolution will have "a massive impact." That's because even on the current-gen consoles, hitting the 4K resolution mark is still challenging. "Targeting 4K as a native resolution is extremely demanding, even on this super high-end hardware. Having mechanisms to reconstruct the frame and make it look virtually identical to native 4K, while paying a far lower cost in performance, will be massive.
"With those savings, you can focus more on improving graphics quality, particle budgets, etc… and still reap almost all of the rewards that come with a native 4K image. It's really exciting technology and I can't wait to use it!"
Along with AMD's own GPUs, FidelityFX Super Resolution can also run on Nvidia's GPUs (even a GeForce GTX 1060, of all things). The solution is also open-source and games that will support it (as per PC Gamer) include The Riftbreaker, Microsoft Flight Simulator, DiRT 5, Resident Evil Village and Far Cry 6 among many others. Of course, Nvidia's DLSS is still a popular option with Red Dead Redemption 2, DOOM Eternal and The Ascent announcing support.
Halo Infinite E3 2021 Presence Will Focus on Multiplayer, New Modes Coming Post-Launch – Rumor
Among the many games that will be showcased at E3 2021, especially the Xbox and Bethesda showcase on June 13th, is 343 Industries' Halo Infinite. After a disappointing reveal last year, all eyes are on the studio to redeem itself with its latest showing. Besides, with the shooter releasing in Fall 2021, it makes sense to have some kind of deep dive, right?
According to GamesBeat's Jeff Grubb however, that's not going to be the case. On the Game Mess Show, he noted that there wouldn't be a deep dive for the game. This is because of the need to create assets for the showcase, which would take away development time. Instead, there will be a focus on multiplayer. Grubb also noted that modes like Capture the Flag (CTF) will be returning with new modes coming being added down the line.
343 Industries hasn't really showcased any multiplayer gameplay and this would help provide a better handle on how the game looks without the need to create a whole new demo. Either way, we'll have to wait and see so take things with a grain of salt. Halo Infinite is currently in development for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC.
AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution is Launching on June 22
Nvidia has been making waves with its DLSS tech for some time now, and AMD has finally unveiled its answer to that. FidelityFX Super Resolution (or FSR) is AMD's new spatial upscaling technique that will boost performance and image quality- in games that support it, of course. FSR will provide four presets with different levels of scaling for players to choose from, with each offering unique resolution and performance boosts.
AMD confirms that FSR is going to be open source. Crucially, it's also going to be a cross-platform affair. It will support all Radeon RX cards, but it's not just limited to the newest GPUs. Since FSR is going to be open source, it will also run on competing cards, including Nvidia's 10 Series GPUs. API support for DirectX 12, Vulkan, and DirectX 11 has also been confirmed.
You can check out AMD's announcement of FSR below. FidelityFX Super Resolution is going to launch later this month, on June 22.
Nvidia Unveils GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and 3070 Ti
Nvidia has unveiled its new graphics cards- the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. The 3080 Ti, which is the one that's the main new flagship card, boasts 12GB of GDDR6X memory and 10240 CUDA cores. It's twice as fast as the 1080 Ti, and 1.5X faster than the 2080 Ti at 4K. Launching on June 3, it's going to be priced at $1,199.
Meanwhile, the 3070 Ti improves upon the original 3070 with a boost in CUDA cores (number at 6144), while the memory also sees improvements with GDDR6X as opposed to the GDDR6 memory of the original (though there's still 8 GB of it). It is 1.5X faster than the RTX 2070 Super, and twice as fast as the 1070 Ti. The 3070 Ti is launching on June 10 for $599.
You can check out a detailed breakdown of their specs below.
| Specs | GeForce RTX 3070 Ti | GeForce RTX 3080 Ti |
|---|---|---|
| Bus | 256-bit | 384-bit |
| Boost Clock | 1.58GHz / 1.77GHz | 1.37GHz / 1.67GHz |
| Memory | 8GB GDDR6X | 12GB GDDR6X |
| CUDA Cores | 6144 | 10240 |
| RT Cores | 48 | 80 |
| Tensor Cores | 192 | 320 |
| ROPs | 96 | 112 |
| Price | $599 | $1199 |
Last year's 30 Series cards suffered from crippling stock shortages at launch (they still are, in fact), so it's very likely that the new cards are also going to be hard to get upon release and for a few months afterwards.
To go along with these announcements, Nvidia has also announced upcoming visual and performance updates for various games, including Red Dead Redemption 2, Rainbow Six Siege, The Ascent, DOOM Eternal, and more.
Red Dead Redemption 2, Rainbow Six Siege, and More Are Adding Nvidia DLSS Support
Nvidia has announced upcoming visual and performance enhancements coming to a bunch of games on PC, with support for ray tracing and DLSS confirmed for both DOOM Eternal and the upcoming The Ascent. But that's not all- there's plenty more games that are getting a number of similar improvements as well.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is getting DLSS support, as is Rainbow Six Siege. DLSS support has also been confirmed for upcoming sci-fi survival title Icarus, which will also support Global Illumination. LEGO Builder's Journey is launching for PC on June 22, and will support both ray tracing and DLSS. Meanwhile, upcoming first person horror puzzle title DYING: 1983 will support DLSS and ray-traced reflections, shadows, caustics, and Global Illumination. Sci-fi horror shooter The Persistence, which is getting an "Enhanced" update soon, will also be adding DLSS and ray tracing on June 11.
Nvidia has also released brief videos showing the updates in action for Rainbow Six Siege, Icarus, LEGO Builder's Journey, DYING: 1983, and The Persistence. Take a look at all of them below.
The Ascent Will Support Nvidia DLSS and Ray Tracing on PC
Curve Digital's upcoming cyberpunk action RPG The Ascent has been looking impressive on multiple fronts in all that we've seen of it so far, and that's true for the game's visuals as well. Already looking like a technical showpiece on consoles, the game is going to look even better on PC, especially with recent announcements in mind.
Nvidia has announced that on PC, The Ascent will feature support for DLSS, as well as for ray-traced shadows and reflections. A brief trailer showcasing the tech in action has also been released, and the results are impressive. The cyberpunk aesthetic in particular is well-suited to the wonders of ray-tracing, and The Ascent definitely seems to be making good use of it. Take a look below.
The Ascent launches for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC later this month, on June 29. You can get more details on the game in our recent interview with creative director and Neon Giant co-founder Tor Frick through here.
DOOM Eternal is Adding Nvidia Ray Tracing and DLSS Support in June
Nvidia and id Software have announced that DOOM Eternal, already a technical spectacle (especially on PC), is going to improve on PC even more, with the addition of DLSS and ray tracing support. The first person shooter will add support for ray-traced reflections and performance enhancements via DLSS some time this month, though the date for when that update will go live hasn't been announced.
"DOOM Eternal was built to deliver the very best in engaging first-person-shooter gameplay, stunning visuals and uncompromising performance," says Marty Stratton, studio director at id Software. "With the addition of ray tracing to idTech and support for NVIDIA DLSS, we're pushing the engine in exciting new ways and we can't wait for GeForce RTX gamers to experience it."
A video showing a few minutes of DOOM Eternal with ray tracing enabled and running at 4K on a 3080 Ti has also been released, and as you'd expect, the game is looking quite impressive. Take a look below.
DOOM Eternal is available on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. The game will also launch for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S later in the year.