Tekken 6 (PS3/PSP/X-Box 360)
The latest installment in Namco’s fighter series, Tekken 6 comes to your PS3 or Xbox 360, and it comes fast and hard, targeting your optic nerves! The first thing to mention about Tekken 6 is how beautifully it is presented; not just the game menus and character select screens but also the fight arenas and even character models (which have often been lacking in polygonal smoothness) cannot fail to impress even if they do look a bit awkward during the game-play cut-scenes.
Yes, the King of Iron Fist Tournament returns with a couple more additions to the cast – Lars Andersson and Alisa Bosconovitch (daughter of Dr. Bosconovitch – previous Tekken character, presumably dead). Both beautifully designed characters on initial viewing, Lars is a well rounded, down to Earth guy with his self-style martial art but Alisa… well she has robotic jets that appear out of her back and retractable chainsaw blades on her arms… something smells “Bandai” about this. That is right; Namco-Bandai released Tekken 6, Bandai being the toy company that is responsible for several action figures (although their “Armouron” battle suits look great fun, we certainly didn’t have stuff like that when I was a kid). To me it seems that Alisa was created purely by and absolutely stinks of Bandai, she is very unusual for the usual Namco characters (she even out does JACK and Kuma on the scale of ridiculous). Character voices are immaculate, each character speaks in their respective languages – a concept I really like in video games, although, imagining all characters are multi-lingual is a bit much.
Moving on, Tekken 6 presents you with an adventure mode, which briefly sums up the stories of the previous games and throws you right into the action following the rebel “Tekken Force” soldiers attacking Mishima Zaibatsu until a surprise G-Corporation raid gets thrown into the mix. You play as Lars Andersson but you can choose one alternative character from the roster to play as and the others becomes available as you defeat them. The other characters act as bosses of various stages as you battle your way through streets, pyramids and sewers to confront Jin at Mishima Zaibatsu, all whilst being accompanied by Alisa. Throughout the adventure mode you can “upgrade” your characters by dressing them in various power-up clothing you pick up along the way, the majority just being colour edit clones. Alisa’s AI gradually improves as you progress and the whole mode only really starts to get challenging in the final stages. The game-play is always in 3rd person view which seems awkward for a fighting game; you’ll often find the camera angles unforgivable and opponents hitting you from off-screen. The controls also suffer due to 3rd person views – Tekken Force Mode of Tekken 3 pretty much got it right with a “Streets of Rage” feel to the game.
The other modes such as Arcade and VS modes return and offer quick-play options for those that want to just jump into the game straight away (please install the game to the console, as Tekken 6’s loading times are unbelievably long if you haven’t done so). No major rewards this time though, all characters are unlocked as soon as you boot up the game. To unlock character opening/ending videos you can play the “arena” mode on the adventure map screen, this just allows you to play an arcade style game with the ridiculously difficult boss: Azazel whom takes-up over two thirds of the game screen. Game money is given if you finish the modes or after adventure levels – you can customise your characters with the various clothing styles, all in all this feels a bit limited and pointless, unless you want your own “unique” identity for your character online.
Online play will only work well if both players have a fast internet connection and both players have installed the game to their hard disk drives. You’ll see your opponent’s rank and how many wins or losses they have had – this also takes into account vs. the AI wins/losses so you don’t really get an idea of how good the opponent is until after the first round. Another thing that has always been a problem in Tekken games is how you can be pulverized in seconds if you fail to pull off quick recoveries or the opponent is performing combos with no frame delays. The game mechanics are never too simple; they are overly complicated with each character having a comprehendible list of moves that would take weeks of practice to master them all. Many players will stick to the same combos, usually the ones that are most effective and powerful. Due to 8-directional movement with side-stepping and high-low blocking game-play needs to be precise and gamers need split second reactions to counter their opponents.
In the end, Tekken 6 is just another Tekken game. Namco really don’t seem to change their games much from the previous versions. Updated graphics and visuals will only get you so far in my book.
Graphics: 9/10 – superb, stunning visuals, bright colours and pleasing to the eye.
Audio: 10/10 – fantastic voice acting, in-game sounds and satisfying contact blows.
Game-play: 7/10 – this is where Tekken suffers when compared to other fighting games, the game-play isn’t as smooth, a bit clunky, especially in the Adventure mode.
Longevity: 4/10 – once you finish the adventure mode, there really isn’t that much remaining to constantly pull you back to the game. The odd VS. battle here and there can be thrown into your gaming routine, but anything over 15 minutes may induce boredom.
Learning Curve: 5/10 – Tekken isn’t forgiving to those who haven’t played before and certainly will not seem appealing once they have come up against difficult AI or Online opponents. As with most things, practice makes perfect… not here… but add in time, dedication and blistered thumbs then you get perfect.
Overall: 7/10
