Feature rich, with solid action and nice presentation.
Presentation: The graphics are quite nice in all but the campaign scenario mode. They appear to be a little aliased even in the other modes, which when I think about it has been true of all Tekken games, but I didn't notice any drastic framerate dips and there are obviously plenty of polygons in the character models. Hit detection is very good, always essential for a fighting game. There are lots of nice special effects, some of which are customizable. I enjoyed the music toward the end of the Campaign Scenario mode, and the rest of the time it was inoffensive. As someone that hasn't devoured every Tekken game I appreciated that this entry has a narrative overview of the entire series in the beginning of the game. The menus are nice looking, but hide some of the games features. The forty plus Arcade Mode endings are well done pre-rendered cut scenes of high quality, although most are on the short side, with a dash of humor here and there.
ModesValue: It has the usual modes of Arcade, Survival, Time Attack, and Versus. It has an endless tournament Ghost Mode, which lets you fight against fighting data compiled from real top players, an excellent idea and a feature every fighting game should consider adding to their own variants of endless tournament modes (Kumite from VF comes to mind). The tutorial mode hides some of its depth in the menus, but is fantastic, one of the best at letting you see and practice a particular move till you have it down as well as how to counter particular moves. And then there is Campaign Scenario mode, which is a beast all its own. Its essentially a beat em up tacked on to the fighting game that acts as a shell for the game's main story. Taken as such its a wonderful extra, its several hours of levels with bosses and and cutscenes, has its own difficulty level separate from the fighting game and a loot drop system that lets you upgrade and customize the look and stats of your fighter in other modes. Initially you can only play as Lars, but as you beat levels you unlock almost all the fighters in the game for use in the mode, most of whom act as bosses for the games levels. You can use the items and money you collect in this mode to customize your fighters in the other modes as well, although for obvious balance reasons they don't retain their stat boosting abilities. I thought it was a nice way to tell the story rather than just the 40+, what if so and so won, ending cut scenes from the fighting game modes, although those are of much higher quality audio visually. The campaign scenario mode has its problems though, including a graphics engine that looks like a slightly above average PS2/XB game, awkward 3D control movement, repetitive level design, annoying camera, etc. If it were its own game it would be mediocre, but here its just an extra, which I think many forget owing to its placement as first in the menus and its housing of the games story.
Achievements: Quite easy to get. Most are associated with the offline campaign scenario mode. You only have to win 2 games online to get all the online achievements, and you only have to play a little over 30 games online altogether. Beating the Nancy bonus stage will probably be among the hardest for most if you don't know the trick (sidestep, sidestep, sidestep).
A note on the boss: Not overly difficult, but quite cheap depending on who you use and the difficulty level, he has all the cheapness you've come to expect from fighting game bosses. He can block and attack simultaneously, he has moves about which you can do almost nothing unless you are in exactly the right place at the right time. I have even seen him block attacks while flat on his back, booo!!! Not to mention he's not very interesting, but at least he's not another metallic cyborg clone that has other character's moves, ala Dead or Alive 4, Street Fighter IV, Virtua Fighter (although I can excuse Dural).