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Posted By: Fishwick |
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Alright fight fans Tekken and the Iron Fist Tournament is back with its sixth instalment and a first on next generation platforms. Being one of the few remaining Playstation exclusive franchises Xbox owners were joyous and dancing in the streets at the news Namco were developing a 360 version.
It has been a long wait for all gamers alike with all Tekken challengers including Mortal Kombat, Dead Or Alive, Street Fighter and Virtua Fighter all being released over the years and impressing. This review will examine how Tekken competes and whether it can reclaim the king of fighting games crown.
Story – 7
Like its predecessors the Tekken 6 storyline revolves around the feud within the Mishima family. Following his victory in the previous tournament Jin Kazama has taken in charge of the Mishima Zaibatsu a huge corrupt organisation, complete with its own private army, hot blonde security, and luxury suite at the bell air hotel.
When Jin entered the Tekken franchise there was an essence of goodness in him but Tekken 6 sees him fall prey to the Mishima bloodline curse and is now only obsessed with power and world domination like his elders Kazuya and Heiachi. Jin severs the Mishima Zaibatsus’ national ties and openly declares war against all nations plunging the world into a chaotic spiral. With World War Three erupting around the globe, the G corporation, Mishima Zaibatsus main rivals, step in posing as the people’s saviours. Little do they know the G corporation now headed up by Kazuya, Jins father, have their own plans for taking over the world…….I know what your thinking….. the storyline atm sounds like Coronation Street on speed….but anyway. Kazuya being seen as the only force who can oppose Jin places a bounty on Jins head for anyone who can capture him. Jin’s response is to announce The King of Iron Fist Tournament 6 in order to battle Kazuya and crush the G corporation once and for all…….This is clearly the best method to sort out any political issues have Nick Griffin and David Cameron scrap out to background of cheesy Japanese dance music. Namco take note future downloadable characters I think.
Traditionally this is where the story would end for most fighting games, lets face it the fighting genre is not known for compelling plots and traditionally game reviews don’t usually take the story into consideration and if they did the genre would probably never score above six. Tekken in previous instalments has tried to change this and expand upon the character background stories, particularly around the Mishima family with the mini games such as the ‘Devil Within’.
Tekken 6 is no different introducing an all new scenario campaign which sees you follow the journey of two new characters Lars Alexandersson and Alisa Boskonovitch both with mysterious pasts and motivations. Lars leads the rebellion, a small faction of the Tekken Force attempting to bring down Jin from within and Alisa Boskonovitch, an android Lars found while attacking a key Mishima Zaibatsus facility. The journey takes them all over the Tekken world from America to Egypt for a final showdown. There are a few plot twists and the story although obvious just intrigues you enough to keep playing. For a fighting game the storyline is quite good however I question whether the scenario campaign was the best way to present it. There are points in the campaign where you lose interest and just play to simply reach the end. Your connection to the characters fluctuates possibly due to the slow pace, your long journey means you cross paths with all Tekken characters but sometimes you have no idea why your there or their involvement.
In terms of story although not mind blowing its a step in the right direction for fighting games and the developers should be commended for that.
Game Features – 7
Scenario Campaign
The scenario campaign can be best described as a modern day ‘Streets of Rage’ with all your favourite Tekken fighters. I am happy to say it is a significant improvement on past attempts by Namco to develop a true 3D environment ‘beat em up’ but previous versions have been less than worthy of the Tekken name and are merely a distraction from the main game features.
When you first start playing you will be greeted by a few amazing cut scenes, introduced to the new characters and be thrown into the action. Good news is you will be able to perform all your favourite moves, bad news is controls are a pain in the ass and will take a while to get use to. The main problem is the targeting system, combat is far from smooth and only being able to attack one person at a time can be frustrating.
Also the graphics are less than impressive, the variety of enemies is somewhat limited and the game play after a while becomes a a gruelling chore. So you may ask why I played it….well those clever but annoying people at Namco made it necessary, within the scenario campaign is the arena where you play the typical Tekken game and unlock character endings. Upon entry all characters are unavailable and you can only unlock them after you’ve defeated them on your journey within the scenario campaign. This encourages and motivates gamers to complete the campaign but when you think about Namco are making gamers play through the rubbish part of a game before being able to fully enjoy the traditional Tekken game.
‘Nothing like a Father and Son bonding session’
Offline Features
When Tekken 6 was announced the opportunity to play the franchise over Xbox live and the PS3 network in high definition had people foaming at the mouth. But for gamers who don’t have the luxury of that old thing called the internet or simply want to go it alone there is still plenty of offline action to keep you busy, in fact disappointingly the majority is offline. All the classic game features Time Attack, Team Battle, and Arcade are back along with Ghost Battle where you face a constant stream of opponents and are able to select each one at the end of a bout. Sadly the features are almost identical to Tekken 5 offerings. I felt there was nothing new to master and almost felt like I was simply having to redo my old achievements
The obvious argument is what more can Namco do as there is only so many features you can offer with a fighting platform. However I would have liked to see the return of tag and possibly more social features such as setting up tournaments and leagues, simple things like this would add to the multiplayer and social appeal greatly.
Online Features
In terms of online features, gamers have the option to play ranked or casual matches. The concept is simple, ranked matches will impact your profile statistics and level, while casual matches allow you to possibly experiment and beat the crap out of someone while not worrying about your precious win percentage.
Overall I feel the online game features are also somewhat limited, I expected something more from Namco than simple one on one bouts. Social options are restricted, gamers are unable to set up large lobbies or tournaments which we’ve seen in games such as Dead or Alive. These features increased the competitiveness amongst gamers and nurture friendly online rivalry. In Tekken 6 you fight someone win or lose and move in. I feel gamers would have a richer online experience if you could set up a ‘winner stays on’ game or a championship. At the very least I expected Namco to bring back tag or put team battle online but neither has been done.
However despite the limited online options the one on one bouts are truly excellent. Although signal strength and game play speed varied, when the signal was ok it was like fighting someone in the next room and all the Tekken goodness came out, truly an amazing fighting experience and will keep you occupied for hours.
Profile and Character Development
Finally we come to profile & character development. For every fight or stage completed in the scenario campaign you receive money and equipment. Using the Tekken shop you can buy and personalise any character to your heart’s content. Items range from hair styles to auras. This has been possible in previous Tekkens but the customisation possibilities are simply bigger and its great fun seeing other players creations online. The items not only change character appearance but some have special attributes which increase your characters power in the scenario campaign, for example if you equip your character with a special baseball cap he/she might have 10% chance of freezing an opponent upon attack impact. This adds another dimension to customisation and the scenario campaign as you soon start taking more care when picking up items.
‘Bob from hillbilly to circus pimp to a Hungarian Elton John’
Gameplay – 8
TFMX can confirm Tekken 6 has not betrayed its origins with the mechanics being simply sublime. Tekken 5 was the pinnacle of fighting games and Namco have simply improved it in everyway. Starting with the speed, combat has never been smoother or more realistic. Tekken is the first fighting game to maintain 60 frames per second during combat and it truly shows. Tekken is a game anyone can pick up and play of course some characters are harder to master than others but characters such as Eddy Gordo allow even the newest button bashers to pull of some amazing combos and take on the more experienced fighters. Tekken is probably the most user friendly fighting game out, other competitors require hours of practice to master a few moves while with Tekken after a couple of fights you’ll already have developed your own style with that fighter.
For every character I have played with so far all the classic moves are still there with a few new ones thrown in, and the new attacks weren’t randomly chosen each one seems to improve the transitions and fluidity of character combos. Namco clearly looked at what current move sets each character has and introduced new attacks in response to each character’s limitations.
So for all Tekken gurus it will almost be like the franchise never left, I literally picked up the controller and set the difficulty to extra hard and was pulling of all my old favourite moves with a few new ones thrown in. The blocking and dodging is very responsive and has been improved in accordance with the increased speed of game play.
Despite being very happy that Tekken has lost none of its clinical and realistic game play mechanics, one major aspect that bothers me is reversals are still not a major part of the game. It is possible to parry and some characters have reversals as moves however these are rarely used, even by the best Tekken players. If you question the need and benefit of reversals Dead Or Alive is a classic example where the feature adds so much to the pace and defence strategies of players. In Tekken its simply block or dodge and when you come under constant fast attacks from Hwoarang or Steve Fox it would be useful to be able to perform a reversal and go on the counter.
‘Did you just call me a pussy!!’
The fighting environments are futuristic and simply stunning, you maybe fighting in what only I can describe as a welsh field with local sheep to a war stricken city streets with helicopters flying above. In the majority of levels you do get the sense there is a war going on and they successfully tie in with the story. There are a few great touches such as when fighting in an exploded tunnel you will see a fireman in the doorway screaming for you to get out and while fighting in the streets the helicopters and tanks will start firing increasing fight intensity. These little things add to the fighting experience and people shouldn’t underestimate the impact environment designs have on the quality of game.
My only issue is Namco promised more destructive and interactive environments, similar to what we have seen in Virtua Fighter, Mortal Kombat and again Dead Or Alive. In deed in some of the levels you can fall through the floor to reveal a whole new area. However this is rare, has little impact on game play or strategy and really was not worth putting in. I was expecting to be able to kick Jin out the window onto a moving car and then jump down to finish the job, sadly none of this is possible. Using Dead Or Alive as an example again the level designs had such an impact it affected your fighting strategy for each level. For example on the temple level you could either fight them down the stairs making close quick combat essential or take the opponent to the open area where you had the freedom to complete power ups and flying kicks. Tekken still feels very lateral and restricted to back and forward combat with occasional dodge. Maybe Namco wanted it to be all about the fighting with environments not having an impact but I personally loved how environments could affect the turn out of a match and it was a sign of good fighter who could utilise their surroundings.
Finally a new feature of game play is the rage system which is basically a last stand power boost. When your characters health bar gets to a dangerous point you will release your inner hulk or in the case of Tekken glow red. This addition increases the possibility of a comeback and means you can never relax thinking you’ve won, a long combo with this added boost decimates an opponents health bar.
Overall the game play mechanics are the creme de la creme of fighting games and classic Tekken, the only downside is the lack of counters and the environments not playing a bigger part in strategy.
Graphics – 9
‘Give me the pretty lights and rendering bitch…….that’s better!’
I wont bore you with the technical details but instead simply state the graphics are amazing. As you can see from the screenshots the lighting and combat looks beautiful. From the sparks when contact is made to the environment weather these are simply the best graphics I’ve seen in a fighting game.
Multiplayer – 6
I cant emphasise TFMX followers how much time I spent playing Tekken 5 with my mates at Uni, we literally would have a circle of ten passing the controller around in winner stays on. As you can imagine competition was intense and we wasted many hours in front of the screen. When Tekken 6 was announced I was hoping Namco was going to take it to the next level and cause many new generations to miss lectures, however everything is the same. As already stated the game features are pretty much identical to Tekken 5, with no tag, multiplayer is limited to one on one bouts or a rather boring team battle which is simply structured as one round fights i.e. stop start transitions.
Multiplayer scores a solid 6 simply because there is still a lot in the game especially with the addition of two player in the scenario campaign if for some strange reason you want to play that with a mate. But it doesn’t score higher because Namco haven’t added many new online or offline features for multiplayer. Two on two combat is so much fun and I cant understand why they didn’t bring tag back, the technology is there, if Namco think team battle is adequate substitute they are deadly wrong.
Overall then
| Bone Crunching Punches | Weak Crotch Blows |
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| At first I was going to give Tekken 6 nine out of ten but as I wrote this review the more I felt it was Tekken 5 in HD. Don’t get me wrong this a good game but the lack of new features both offline and online really does bother me and makes me question the sustainability of the game. Also I really feel Tekken game play would benefit from more impacting environments and making counters key in defence. Is it worth buying? for pure game play and fighting mechanics this is the best fighter out there, its just a shame Namco didn’t do more work on additional game modes rather than trying to improve a disappointing scenario campaign. So a good game fight fans for others just a rental, 7/10. |
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Fishwick Out
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November 26th, 2009 Posted by Fishwick | PlayStation 3, Reviews, TFMX.co.uk, Xbox 360 Tagged under | Fighting, Fishwick, gaming, PlayStation 3, review, Tekken 6, TFMX.co.uk Comment on This Post | Comments (0) Discuss this Post | On the XG:Forum |
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