Balance is a delicate thing, so easily lost. Tekken is a series that thrives on it - on striking a balance between fulfilling its remit as the 'accessible' 3D fighting game (button-mashing will get you further here than in most fighters) and offering a system substantial and even enough to allow the hardcore fans to battle at a competitive level.
The PS2's Tekken 5 managed this balance with aplomb, but while Tekken 6 is ostensibly little more than a high-def update, its revisions (of which, to its credit, there are many) are likely to result in it receiving a rather lukewarm reception, from players both old and new.
Tekken 6
Gameplay footage
1:56Gameplay video #1
Tekken 6
Gameplay footage
1:56Gameplay video #1
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With 42 selectable characters, this is the most expansive Tekken yet. It's a roster size that nears Marvel vs Capcom territory, and although lapsed fans will find a number of familiar faces to cling to, newcomers might find the whole process a bit daunting. Doubly so, in fact, when they pause a fight to check out the command list expecting two flashy kicks and a dragon punch variant, only to be greeted with over 150 different moves of varying complexity. Hammering the attack buttons like a woodpecker on Red Bull still allows n00bs to pull off some flashy moves, but the real fun begins when you try to learn to play it properly, and the roster overkill is a barrier to that.
That's not really a flaw, but a fact that needs to be drawn to your attention. However, the game is far more culpable in how it might cheese off the long-term Tekken fan. The ability to juggle your opponent in mid-air with a combo has been cranked up a notch, and while the player on the receiving end can always counter, it can make for a frustrating experience, particularly if a skilled player takes you all the way to the wall, taking off as much as half of your energy in a matter of seconds.
Luckily, struggling players will always have a chance. The all-new Rage Meter significantly increases the player's attacking prowess once their lifebar dips below 5%, making for some frantic finales and tremendous turnarounds. It originally proved a controversial addition in the arcades, but after being toned down in the Bloodline Rebellion revision is an intriguing tactical addition, and even if you disagree, you can always fiddle around in the customisation mode.
The balance between the characters is variable, as it is in all fighting games, but the difference between best and worst is smaller and more surmountable than in Street Fighter IV. You can't just fall back on old favourites, either; the fighters who have survived the cut from Tekken 5 have, in some cases, changed dramatically. Take perennial fan favourite Yoshimitsu. In storyline terms, Yosh comes to realise that his famed energy sword is losing power and seals it away.
Stripped of his iconic blade, he becomes trickier to master - certainly not for beginners. The new additions to the series are a fairly likeable bunch. Bob is an American karate artist of some renown who went into hiding after a succession of defeats to larger opponents. He re-emerges now, proudly displaying his new, morbidly obese physique - all that blubber, you see, will allow him to go toe-to-toe with the bulkiest. (Or at least, that's his story.) He's Tekken's equivalent to SFIV's Rufus - not much to look at, but deceptively agile.
Although Tekken's true appeal is in multiplayer, there are plenty of single-player options to keep you going. The arcade mode is brief and is once again blighted with a final boss as cheap as Asda Smartprice chips, but is redeemed by a clever ranking system that allows you to earn promotion, ensuring that you always have an achievable goal.
Throughout the single-player modes, Tekken 6 remembers your win/loss record for each character and displays it underneath your lifebar. Hardly unique amongst fighting games, but its prominent placing on the screen does help spur you on. Not so successful, however, is the dire 'Scenario' mode, which whisks the crew from their one-vs-one comfort zone into the unfamiliar territory of a scrolling beat-'em-up. It's disastrous, riddled with rigid controls, uninspired enemies and boring bosses. Trying to squeeze some fun out of it is like trying to squeeze an egg out of a badger. Just ignore it. It might go away.
Tekken 6 reveals its thrills and spills far more readily than its nearest 3D competitor, Virtua Fighter 5, but ultimately it's a shallower experience. Part of us wants to give this 46% for its reluctance to move with the times, and part of us thinks 96%, mostly because we like being quoted on boxes. On balance, however...
Having picked this up yesterday, I can say that the biggest issue I have with it is the fact that it seems to be totally focused towards the Scenario mode. In previous games the Tekken Force mode (or equivalent) has been an added extra, which is fine, but in this it is very prominent. I bought Tekken, not Final Fight 2009.
Adding to the ittitation of it are the cutscenes. I started the game off last night and had about 2 minutes of gameplay in the first half an hour due to cutscene after cutscene after tedious cutscene.
I would have to agree with Alex and advise all to avoid this mode and hope that it goes away...
Ah thats a pity I really liked tekkens and didn't take to SF4 coz of that Seth guess I will stick to SC4 for my fighting fix (when I'm not training at least)
Disappointing score, however, if you are a big Tekken fan (like me) I'm sure it would be more like an 8.6 (or higher).Personally I prefer Tekken to any other fighter I've tried and was always going to get this.
I spent a lot of time playing Tekken Tag which was the best one so far and I think Tekken 6 looks like a return to form after the disappointment of 4 and 5. The maingameplay looks good and that is all that matters. It is the best 3D fighting game available in my opinion.
Tekken has always been my favorite of all the fighting game series, but in truth I just enjoy fighting games in general. The only series that never appealed to me was Mortal Kombat. IMO the order goes like this: Tekken > SF > Soul Calibur > KoF > #insert myriad others here > Mortal Kombat.
I also was always going to get this anyway, and I also am looking forward to BlazBlue!
That's a shame. I always prefereed VF but it was a little too technical. If this game's not bringing much new then I won't be shelling out as I barely play VF... or many other of my 360 games for that matter! (Am I getting old? or are games not like what they used 2b) "I'll settle for hours of COD Zombies any day". Lol. Tekken beach ball was another great addition
Tekken can definitely be daunting, especially when you go in to practice mode and you're confronted with a character with 180+ moves (which a number of fighters in Tekken have). Best thing to do is to choose a character you're comfortable with and like the style of, then learn the basics along with some 2 or 3 hit combinations. The rest will naturally come with playing against people or even the CPU.
I've been getting in to Armor King. He's more user friendly compared to King (who has just a stupid amount of moves, throw/lock combinations and counters). But that doesn't mean he's no less brutal. Armor King is just super satisfying to use because of his hard-hitting moves and amazing animation.
Tried the online side last night,and I didn't notice any lag at all really - a couple of matches were juttery, but it seemed to stutter when the characters were out of your control. I'm not all that great, but the competition surprised me on XBL. There was hardly any cheese tactics going on. Everybody was doing a lot of moves with good skill.
OK I've been playing it for an hour or two now, it's great apart from a couple of things. Firstly the loading times are terrible if you don't install it to the HD(on the PS3 version at least), and secondly the end boss Azazel is an absolute f**kin disgrance, I know they like putting cheap end bosses in the more recent Tekkens but this time they went way too far. I just know I'll end up smashing my pad in frustration at some point in the future. What were they thinking?. Other than that it's looking good, the animations, always one of Tekkens biggest strengths, are absolutely outstanding.
Adding to the irritation of it are the cutscenes. I started the game off last night and had about 2 minutes of gameplay in the first half an hour due to cutscene after cutscene after tedious cutscene.
Personally, I've found the loading screens to be a total non issue... I honestly don't know what people are complaining about. It's barely any slower than Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection. There is even a mode to have a "faster" version of the character select screen so you spend less time loading character portraits in that mode. Also it seems to cache the character you last selected. So unless you are constantly changing characters, it loads quite fast. I didn't time it, but it felt faster or at least on par with games like Virtua Fighter 5 or Soul Calibur 4 or even Street Fighter 4.
Tried the online side last night, and I didn't notice any lag at all...
I agree about the online mode, it's not nearly as bad as some people seem to be making it out to be. I played a bunch of matches with a friend online and we hardly noticed any lag issues. Granted we both live in the same city. But I never expected to be able to play a game like this over very long distances. I'm personally satisfied with it.
About the graphics, it's kind of hit and miss. It also depends on the stage you are playing on. Because each stage has different lighting conditions. And some lighting looks more flattering on characters than others. Also some characters just look better than others.
Overall I like the way pretty much all the characters look now. The backgrounds are not so great, but at least they are crazy! After playing with blur and non-blur. No blur is better to my eyes. I actually wish there was just motion blur for cut scenes and slow motion replays. But not during the game itself.
I don't know why reviewers are complaining about the load times, they're absolutely fine. Speaking of the online side again, I'm getting the odd game where the whole match will be played in slow motion - very weird. But overall it's been more or less lag-free.
Hopefully Namco will release a patch to sort the slow motion business out.
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