Tekken has been a series that I’ve always had mixed feelings about – when I was younger I remember getting Tekken 3 on the PS1 for Christmas one year, and being hooked for hours on end – the colourful cast and varied move sets keeping me entertained – Ling Xiaoyu, Jin Kazama, Heihachi Mishima and Hwoarang being among my personal favourites. It really gave me a sense of variation, whilst being easy to learn. At the time, it was my favourite fighter of all, and I also got hold of copies of Tekken Tag Tournament (which I loved for its wide roster) and Tekken 5.
However, over the years I lost interest in the series – while I still appreciate the cast of characters, something felt missing in Tekken 5, and something about it just didn’t make the cut for me – perhaps it was the new characters such as Raven making me feel somewhat alienated, or maybe it had just been too long since I had been hooked to the series, but after a bit of play I barely touched it again. As an adult, I now find myself a big fan of the Street Fighter titles and Capcom’s VS series’, which feel a lot more technical and somewhat more complex than the other fighters out there. However, with an open mind I have been looking into the latest in the series, and even had a go at it at the recent Eurogamer expo.
The new title is the first to leave the Playstation brand consoles, this time being released on both PS3 and Xbox 360, which is unsurprising seeing the Xbox’s recent successes this generation. The title is set after Tekken 5 and Tekken 5: Dark Ressurection, focusing on a power struggle between Jin, Kazuya and all of the other characters involved – as always this leads to everyone fighting each other, giving the arcade title a bit of background story.
From what I played, I tested Xiaoyu and Kazuya, in the versus mode against a human opponent. The game felt very much like other Tekken titles, although a few new things have been added. These features include a new “Rage” ability, which can be activated once a player’s life has depleted below a certain level, which adds a new way to turn the tide of battle, and a few touches to the engine; such as the ability to stun an opponent by smashing them with a heavy attack. Although these features are nice touches, when I played I couldn’t help but feel that the characters felt a bit different to control – whereas Xiaoyu was a character I have always been comfortable with, I found that the moves wouldn’t always perform as easily as I’m used to, although I couldn’t work out the exact reason for this – perhaps the button timing has been tweaked, or I’m simply out of practise. However, the characters all seemed to retain their signature moves, such as Eddie Gordo’s capoeira attacks, and King’s wrestling moves.
As well as the regular cast of characters, the title introduces six new characters, but they seem a bit mixed. Firstly, there’s Leo – a German female who looks like she wants to be Jin, donning similar red gloves and dressing like a boy. Secondly we have Lars, a new son of Heihachi (so Kazuya’s half brother) who looks cool, and should pack some nice abilities with his bloodline. Alisa serves as Tekken 6′s cute-but-deadly character, a robot in disguise with a range of nasty mechanical moves, while Zafina takes the place of the games femme-fatale, the scantily clad warrior in the vein of Nina Williams. Spaniard Miguel looks like a disco drop-out with puffy hair, who could either be quite cool, or tacky as hell. And lastly we have Bob, who seems to be the all-too-common “fat fighter” (no, not like Little Britain), looking like a cross between Street Fighter’s Ken and Rufus. As I said – a mixed bag, but it looks like there’s at least a couple of worthwhile additions in there.
Much like the predecessors, Tekken 6 is a graphical overhaul but is very much in the same vein as the past titles. Alongside the regular Arcade and Versus modes, as well as a new “Scenario Campaign” which takes place of the old Tekken Force and Devil Within modes, set in a free environment which can be walked around in a more “Streets of Rage” style – this looks improved from the previous versions, although I haven’t been able to play it – but hopefully it will feel a bit deeper than Devil Within was.
All in all, Tekken 6 seems to be more or less what would be expected – a new Tekken game with updated graphics, the odd tweak and the regular cast with a few additions. Personally I found the combat felt a little different to control, but no doubt this would become normal after some practice - as far as I could tell the actual controls were more or less the same, only it took me a few attempts until the move I was trying to do actually worked. Tekken 6 didn’t blow me away with anything in particular, but will no doubt be enjoyed by fans of the earlier titles. I think I’ll stick with Street Fighter until this goes down in price, but I believe everyone has a fighter title that suits them best; Tekken just isn’t mine any more. I’m sure many people will enjoy this game, all in all – it does what it says on the tin, only now there are two tin designs – either the one marked “Playstation 3″ or the all-new “Xbox 360″ version.
-Leon
