Tekken Revolution Review - Back To The Basics

User Rating: 8 | Tekken Revolution PS3
So Namco is back bringing us their next installment exclusively on the PS3 as a free-to-play game, in the beloved fighting series, Tekken. Having been a Tekken player almost all my life I know the ins and the outs of the game and I have to say Namco really nailed it on this one. So Tekken is about the struggle of achieving the title of "King Of Iron Fist," and each character has different inspirations to achieving this; some do it for revenge whereas others do it just to be the best. However, in Tekken Revolution there no continuation of the story line and the arcade mode is bland, having said that, the game focuses on toning the skills of low level players and as such it is mostly an online game. Tekken Revolution requires players to have "Tokens," at all times that allows them to play offline arcade mode, online player match and online ranked match. Players can only have two arcade mode tokens that recharge every hour, five online tokens that recharge every thirty minutes, and purchasable Premium tokens that are given out on a day-to-day basis or after winning online matches with the premium tokens. In this Tekken, Namco has removed the bounding system, added "Special arts," attacks that each character has and reduced the characters players are allowed to choose from. The gameplay is intense; since bounding has been removed, combos will no longer do as much damage and the player is forced to rely on punishing and ground game as much as possible. Every character has a special art move that is pretty much an armor move that goes through mostly everything, this allows for players to take a breather and counter any spammers. However, this armor move, which can be indicated through a red glow, can be blocked and is launch punishable. The stages to choose from, like the characters are limited as well as the game modes. So you guys are probably wondering about the ranking system, well then, in Tekken Revolution you start off as 1st dan and climb your way up until you reach 12th dan which is the highest rank "Warrior." In previous Tekken games, players were able to customize and tone their skills in training mode but in Tekken Revolution there are no such game modes. The lack of offline play and the token system reduces the chance of any tournaments at EVO, Tekken Crash or any other Tekken tournament site. The lack of game modes, story line and the tokken system all bring down the games playability. However, the amazing online mode, old school combos, special arts, low level player playability, high level player playability and most importantly free-to-play system makes me give this game 8 Shining Wizards out of 10.