With the fighting genre making a comeback, old favorites are returning. Street Fighter, King of Fighters, and now, Tekken has made its appearance on current gen consoles. Does this fight live up to its reputation? Can it compete with other fighting games that have been released this year? What will become of Mishima Zaibatsu?!
Well, let’s take a look at the Hots and Nots of this new fighter for the XBOX 360 and the Playstation 3!
HOT
Roster
One of the highlights of all the Tekken games has been a lot of the crazy characters. Maybe they aren’t as over the top as other games, but they have a personality all their own. Right when you pop Tekken 6 into your system, you may seem overwhelmed with the HUGE character roaster. All of the over 40 Tekken characters are unlocked right from the get go. You will see some old favorites, as well as a few new comers. Most of their moves are similar to previous Tekken games, so if you were a champ at Tekken 5, you should have no problem here!
Beginner Friendly
Not many fighting games will let you be good right from the get go. In Tekken 6 even if you have never played a Tekken game before, you will have no problem getting onto the groove of things. Whether you are button mashing, or pulling off the crazy 10 hit combos, you are going to find yourself having a great time.
Sense of Style
Like most fighting games, they try to make themselves flashy in some way. Tekken 6 may not have any super special moves in games like Street Fighter, but the combos are extremely in-depth, and have a deep sense of satisfaction after putting a chain of moves together. It isn’t just the fighting that has style either. If you know anything about the Tekken story-line, you will know that it is just simply ridiculous. The endings for each character have their own sense of craziness and all Tekken fans will enjoy them.
Balance
No character in Tekken 6 really seems over powered or unbeatable. Each character has they’re advantages and disadvantages, but there is not one single useless character, or one God character to be found. So if you see someone who looks cool and you just want to play as them, practice makes perfect kiddies. Become an unbeatable master with Jack-6, or destroy everyone with one of the Mishimas, it’s all up to you!
More than the fight
Fighting games need to have more than just fighting now a days. Tekken 6 offers a large form of customization for all characters. You may not be able to make your own custom character, but with all the options to change the appearance of one of the Tekken 6 fighters, you will think you did! Tekken 6 also sports a single player story mode which can sometimes be enjoyable, and this will last you a good number of hours.
NOT
Graphics
Now allow me say this right from the start, the graphics in Tekken 6 are NOT bad. They are just simply a tad out dated. However, that is to be expected with a game that has been in Japanese arcades since 2007. Character models and environments at some points can look a little plain, but they are not terrible. However, in the single player scenario mode, the graphics look like a early released PS3 game. When you get there, the graphics could defiantly use some improvements.
Scenario Mode
Yes, we all know that the single player “story” campaign of fighting games is usually bad (I’m looking at you Konquest mode from Mortal Kombat!), the same can be said here. The Scenario mode isn’t completely terrible, at some points it can be addicting, but that is only a small portion of the time. You will find yourself getting frustrated at the cheap deaths and overwhelming odds that you have to deal with. It is even worse that you have to play through this to unlock the arena mode to get characters endings. However, if you do get some enjoyment out of it, it does last a good 4-7 hours depending on if you read into the story at all.
Lag
Online matches are great in Tekken 6…except when you encounter lag. In all fighting games lag can simply kill you, the same can of course be said for Tekken 6. When you encounter lag, you will find yourself having a hard time putting together combos, or trying to perfectly time your attacks. This thankfully is every single time you play (unlike KoF XII).
VERDICT
If you are in the mode for a solid fighter that has PLENTY to offer, Tekken 6 is for you. Even if you have never played a Tekken game in your life, this is something to be experienced. Lengthy single player, cool characters, customization out the wazoo, and an ever growing online community make this a must own fighting game. So prepare yourself for this title, and get ready to join the King of Iron Fists tournament all over again!
[Editor’s Note:Tekken 6 was reviewed on a PlayStation 3 platform. The game was provided to us by the publisher]
I’m a little confused. In the paragraph on lag, the last two lines are “When you encounter lag, you will find yourself having a hard time putting together combos, or trying to perfectly time your attacks. This thankfully is every single time you play (unlike KoF XII).”
It’s the last line that throws me. I can only take it to mean “thankfully, you encounter lag every single time you play.” …is that right? Is the “thankfully” part sarcasm?
Yes the graphics are terrible . They look like a ps2 game ,character models are the same and the only improvment’s are some normalmaps here and there with massive amout of bloom . Sorry but even the doa3 on first xobx look better espacially when comparing the environment .
Graphics look like an early released ps3 game? Wow you obviously never played Uncharted or even Lair. And it’s spelled “roster” not “roaster.” Jesus this is poorly written and very conflicting.
ohh….this is gonna be cool