Tekken revolutionises our expectations, not only for fighting games, but for Playstation games themselves.
So how did they do it? well lets start with the graphics: Tekken 3 is weaker on Playstation than in the arcade yet Namco have still managed to do a good job of keeping most of the visuals intact. The 3D backgrounds are gone, but instead we have the 2D backgrounds we've been used to since the first Tekken which isn't bad at all.
Everything still looks fantastic, the speed and fluidity is perhaps one of the most amazing achievements made by the game also because of it. The characters for example, they are so detailed! The clothes look fantastic for Psone standards, the facial features look as realistic as ever and even the hair has been made to look as realistic as possible by the PSone
Although that isn't the end of it.
The sound of Tekken 3 is brilliant and takes pride in living up to the standard of the series. Once again we have fantastic music, especially for a beat em' up. All the slaps, punches and kicks sound as painful and brutal as ever and we simply have a fighter that makes you feel as if you're in the action thanks to the quality of the audio.
So getting down to the point of this review, the gameplay. Tekken 3 really delivers. While players have lost many popular players from Tekken 2, we now have a far superior cast of new fighters that make a fitting change from the older ones and with equally superior move sets. So for those who don't know already, Tekken is an addictive button bashing beat em' up. it does well in making the right balance between complex manoeuvres and lighting fast special attacks. And it's been made much much more addictive than it's previous games and competition.
There is so much to unlock, discover and reveal in Tekken it's almost unbelievable and like the previous Tekken games, each character has an ending in superb CGI. As far as replay value is concerned, Tekken has the best by far. Despite this however, there are very minor issues. For example, the change will feel too dramatic for some fans of the older games, especially since some characters that are missing were fan favourites. Also, the Tekken Force mode can be fun but feels a little cheap and frustrating at times.
And finally, some characters have odd reused endings that are altered slightly.
Despite this, Tekken 3 is crucial buy for Psone. If you missed out on the earlier games in the series then Tekken 3, there simply is no excuse to even attempt to avoid this game. Beat em' up fans will feel very satisfied with this incarnation of the series as Tekken revolutionises our expectations, not only for fighting games, but for Playstation games themselves.