GOOD LUCK FIGURING OUT WHAT CHARACTER TO CHOOSE…

I have been playing Tekken since its first release in 1995. The series has made a lot of headway over the years while never losing what made it stand out. Now with Tekken 6, the story evolves – kind of. True to the Mishima bloodline the youngest, Jin, has gone from reluctant hero to megalomaniac trying to take over the world – I guess these guys are just meant to be assholes. Oh well. Anyways a new tournament is here and Namco Bandai asks you once again to join. For the first time however this entry comes out on a platform other than a PlayStation with a semi-controversial Xbox 360 debut. But let’s be honest, this has been coming for a while hasn’t it?

So what’s all the hubbub about? Click on this thing here.

I’ll get the graphics out of the way first. They’re beautiful. What would have been a par-for-the-course upgrade has become an achievement with the additions of a great lighting system, outstanding particle and fire effects and animations that border on spooky with their level of realism. You could easily lose a match while you admire this game’s looks. Customization options have increased substantially. The roster is by far the biggest yet with a total of 40 playable characters – previously Tekken Tag Tournament for the PS2 held the title for the series with 39. Bosses Azazel and NANCY-M1847J are massive and great to fight against. Multi-leveled areas are a welcome addition as well as the new ‘Rage’ system which increases damage dealt when your health is low. ‘Scenario Mode’ picks up where the Tekken Force and Devil Within modes left off – right now it’s single-player only but word around the campfire is that a co-op patch is in the works. This is all wrapped up in a blanket of tight-as-hell gameplay that brings the series to the forefront of the fighting genre. Overall the best Tekken to date.

And while this is all well and good, several things irritate me as I play through Tekken 6’s modes. The fact that the game plays so tight accentuates the slight-but-still-noticeable balance issues between faster and slower characters – especially against a wall. A timed escape system seems necessary at this level – one combo can become an inescapable death sentence far too easily. The Scenario Campaign is the best single-player action mode that the series has had so far – but it’s not good enough to replace the story that one gets with an Arcade Mode play-through. I still find the gameplay clunky and half-assed, certainly not good enough to shoulder the responsibility of the storyline. So if you just want to play the Arcade Mode, the final boss Azazel just shows up out of nowhere with no explanation. Nice. I know that all this is knit-picking but when you put this much effort into a game the flaws are made more apparent. The only major gameplay issue is the lag that plagues the online modes – which is increasingly unnecessary as these features become more mainstream. Namco is working on a patch for this at press time, so it should improve.

All complaints aside I can very much recommend Tekken 6 to any and all fighting fans. The fighting is fast and furious with enough fresh content to warrant a purchase for even the most grizzled veteran of the series. People have complained about long loading times but really, I haven’t seen any. Huh. It’s been said that Tekken has been getting stale, that 5 was getting it out of a hole. Now let it be said that Tekken 6 gets everything back on track – and then some. Now if only there was a way to play as Azazel and NANCY-M1847J in the Arcade Mode…

[A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for review purposes]