Tekken 6 Review
This year has been truly blessed with fighting games as well as great games in general. Fighting games have certainly rocked the market this year. One of the last contenders, Tekken 6, has stepped up and is ready to make its mark on the Xbox 360 and the PS3. For the longest time the Tekken has been the premier fighting series for PlayStation, but does Tekken 6 prove that the series still has fight in it? Or is it down for the count?
Tekken has never been strong in the story department, and it is no different in Tekken 6. You do get a video showing highlights from the previous five games in the series to get yourself caught up. Tekken 6 has a huge cast of characters ranging from the dark and deranged and from pandas to wooden robots. There is also scenario mode which tells the story of Lars and the robotic maiden Alica, although this storyline isn’t that deep or engaging. The voice acting is okay, but the weird thing about it is that every character talks in their native language, even if the other characters they interact with don’t. Lets say Nina maybe talking to Jin in English, but he will reply in Japanese, which is an odd choice instead of having all characters speak the same language. If Tekken’s story was an RPG this might matter, but in the case of Tekken, there is no need to give it much thought.
Someone needs to lay off the bamboo!
Where Tekken 6 fails in the story department, it shines with its pretty graphics. The character models are impressive and environments you will be fighting in are just as nice. It isn’t going to be the best looking game on the block, it will at least tickle your eyes. Tekken has some of the most random characters out there and Tekken 6 is no different. If you were always looking for that fantasy fight between a hot robot chick and a panda bear, Tekken 6 has you covered. The stages are quite varied you will be fighting on the city streets, in remote exotic ruins, and even in a field full of sheep. You can even kick the sheep around and watch them fly while listening to yoderlers. The only thing that looks like it could have used polishing are some of the water and minor environmental effects.
Just an obstacle in your path to glory!
Now it comes time to talk about the reason to even consider picking up Tekken 6, the fighting. The combat is tried and true Tekken. You got 40 fighters to pick from, a handful of fresh faces as well as series favorites and some you haven’t seen in a while. All the characters are well balanced and play really well. It’s easy to pick up and play for beginners as and great for those who know how to juggle people with multiple hit combos. However, one cool feature and gripe is with the ghost files. These ghost files are player data from other players fight data which is used to fight against you. Which is cool if you want to train against someone for some real competition without the hassle of local play. The only draw back is that when it is implemented in arcade mode, it may give new players trouble. Even on the easiest setting you may have to replay matches because the difficulty ramps up when it uses that data. There is even no option to turn this off, which maybe a turn off to some. In addition to gameplay modes, there is the standard time trials and survival modes to name a few.
If you want to take your fight against a human, you can have a friend hop on the couch with you or go online. Around the time the game first came out the online was horrible with high latency and choppy frame rates. After a few updates, the game is running a whole lot better with rarely a moment of lag, but you should always play someone with a good connection. Online is where you also get your ghost and replay data.
We're just trying to save Australia
For those of you who want to try something a bit different, there is the Scenario Campaign, which is where most of the game’s story is. This mode allows you to learn about different characters as well as earn money so that you can buy costume pieces for your characters. This mode is more of a beat’em up game like The Bouncer, where you run around fighting random enemies, then a big boss. This mode is a bit on the clunky side, as it uses the Tekken 6 fighting mechanics in a way that it isn’t meant to be used. The only reason to play this mode is for cash, costumes, and for the the achievements/trophies.
Conclusion
Tekken 6 is a good game, but doesn’t really offer much new to the series. The fighting system is rewarding, challenging, and just pure classic Tekken gameplay. You got 40 playable fighters withouthaving to worry about unlocking them. Online fare is decent and will keep Tekken nuts busy for quite a while. The bonus Scenario Campaign is nothing to riot about, but it’s a nice diversion from the straight one on one fighting. Just know that in no other fighting game can you have martial arts experts face off against pandas, robot chicks, and boxing kangaroos.
Verdict: B
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This looks like a game to try. Although I haven’t played a Tekken game since 4