Two years and one sequel later, Tekken 6 has finally hit the console, but does this tournament still have the edge?
Pros
- 40 Characters to choose from
- Robust Character Customization
- Scenario Campaign is a nice distraction
- Online is pretty solid
Cons
- Technically a two year old game
- You want the endings, you have to beat Scenario Campaign (There's no story battle where you run through and beat the game to get ending videos, this what you have to do.)
- Load times are a problem
- You have to install 4 gigs onto the PS3 to make it load a tad faster, which still doesn't help.
Well let's get to the game. As we all already know by now this 6th iteration continues from Dark Resurrection. The story now is that Jin Kazama has taken over the Mishima Zaibatsu and declared war against all nations. Chaos erupts all over the world, and the only thing that is standing in his way is his father who is now the head of G Corporation ( after killing those who tried to kill him. ) The world sees G Corporation as a savior, but of course Kazuya wants world domination too. Before anything else happens, Jin announces the 6th tournament, and everyone and their mothers enter. That's a quick summary of the game.
The game has 40 fighters; this is technically the biggest Tekken yet, with 6 additional new fighters. Entering the ring this time is Leo, a daughter looking for her father whose a detective but dresses like a guy. He's the basic character in the game. Miguel is a Spanish man looking for the people responsible for killing his sister. Zafina is a Middle Eastern lady who uses ancient Assassination arts to protect a tomb that holds a dangerous evil inside. Bob is a fat man who was once a great martial artist, but then decided to increase his weight to beat bigger people. Although robust, he's still fast, and is considered one of the best characters in the game.
From the Bloodline Rebellion update, we have Lars, one of the heads of the Tekken Force who loses his memory and is on a quest to stop Jin Kazama. He also has Mishima blood apparently. Lastly there's Alisa, the robotic daughter of Dr. Bosconovitch. She's found by Lars and speaks delicately, though she has a move set that includes chainsaws.
With that out of the way, let's get to the gameplay. Basically if you've been familiar with Tekken all along including it's last game, you'll feel right at home with the control scheme again. It's still the basic four button scheme which corresponds to each limb the person has, though there is a lot of deep gameplay here. Something so simple can be extremely technical, which is nice. Each character has also gotten an update list of moves ( Yoshimitsu gaining the majority of new moves ) and a lot of priorities this time have changed to introduce the new combo system. Tekken, since 3 has been all about juggles, and 6 has made juggles a lot more interesting and annoying too. This new "bounce" system enables you to continue a juggle once your opponent hits the ground, provided you use a move that has a bounce priority. If you do, you're opponent will bounce and you can continue the juggle. It's a nifty piece of equipment but it can sure get annoying fast. You may not understand how it works at first, but eventually you'll pick up on it.
The health bars have also increased to ensure this system doesn't kill you in one combo ( though it is still possible. ) Included this time around is a new Rage system. When you're health falls below 20% your meter will flash red. You'll enter rage mode and basically what this does is increase the damage output on your moves, in hopes of making a comeback to win the round or match. It's a nifty idea, though we've seen this in many other games.
Scenario Campaign is the bulk of what you'll be doing to learn about what each character is doing. You have to complete this mode if you want the endings as there is no Story Battle like Tekken 5. The concept is Tekken force with a mix of Devil Jin for a single or two player online adventure. It isn't bad, but at the same time as the story is told, you get confused and to the point you don't really care about whose doing what and how. It's a nice distraction, but one that can be tedious, especially if you're doing something over and over again.
The customization features for your character are pretty nice. They're very in depth and you can actually enjoy designing how your character will look. It's rather deep this time, from customzing clothes, to hair, to extra items on them and so forth. It's a nice kill joy to give your character a new look online.
The online isn't bad either, but then again it's online. Compare it to the likes of SC4 and Street Fighter IV; there's still a few hiccups here and there, but overall there's a lot you can do on there, such as fighting, or the Scenario mode.
The only gripe about this game is that it's been too long since the original has been released. Currently Street Fighter IV is still the best fighter on the market, and this game will do well too, but the waits been way too long. Also there's a lot of issues concerning the disc itself. Even after doing the install on the PS3, there's still a bit of loading that needs to be done, especially in Scenario, where they try to do a MGS4 style cutscene intervention almost every 15 minutes. Also some of the stages while they look good seem to have a few problems. The Noh Theater for example has a problem with the water. Basically, it doesn't look like water, it looks rubber or a cloth going back and forth. You'd think that since this is running on a PS3's cell processor that the graphics would look better, but at most they're average. The character designs stand out quite well, but everything isn't much of a sight to see.
Overall Tekken 6 does a good job of bringing the game home from the arcades. You'll be on this game for awhile doing a lot of things, and just re-learning the character you've played in the past. Both the 360 and PS3 get this rating. Now all that's left is to see what the PSP has in store for this game.