Can Namco’s master combatant reclaim the throne of the fighting king?
Format: PS3, Xbox 360 (version played), PSP Dev: Namco Bandai Pub: Namco Bandai
Out: 30/10/09 Players: 1-2, 2 online
How do you quantify a fighting game? At its core, Tekken 6 remains an outstanding fighting game. The problem is it doesn’t feel all that fresh. It’s an old arcade king polished up and given a few new console-exclusive modes. But, even the new bits feel old. Nevertheless, there’s excitement to be had from this classic fighting formula.
They may be all dressed up and looking glitzier than grandma’s boxing trophy, yet our accomplished collection of beastly brawlers, dangerous divas, devil spawn and talking animals haven’t changed much. As ever, gameplay in Tekken spans a broad map of martial arts styles. Each of the controller’s four face buttons is connected to your fighter’s main limbs. So, unlike Street Fighter or Virtua Fighter, mastering combos can be fairly simple as control is more intuitive.
Specific additions to the fighting mechanics include the combo-juggling ‘bound’ system and a supplementary damage boost called ‘rage’. When your health drops perilously low it will start to flash red indicating you’re now in rage mode, which means your moves will do extra damage. Considering the visual artistry, in-game character models all look sufficiently impressive, environments are now more destructible and, though it’s hardly noticeable, blur effects add slightly more ‘whoop’ to animations.
The console version of Tekken 6 is actually comprised of the arcade original plus its update, Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion. It boasts the largest character roster in the series’ history, with more than 40 playable characters. Modes to please the fighting faithful are here, and the developers have decided to get serious with Tekken’s story (if that’s even possible for a series with more grave-dodgers than a soap opera).
Scenario mode is the result, but this gimmicky quest is neither clever nor particularly exciting. The action is comparable to beat-’em-ups like Streets of Rage or Tekken Force. You are tasked with laying the smackdown on masses of opponents across many 3D environments. You’ll sneak some enjoy from it or utterly detest it.
Movement and combat controls hinge on the same analogue stick, so you’ll find yourself kicking thin air in almost every enemy ambush. The camera could also be far better in the way it frames the action and the angles it gives you. When it comes to the levels themselves, which are all so-so affairs of trial and repetition, the strategy often entails taking any available weapons as far as you can to beat the living daylights out of your aggressors.
And it doesn’t end there. What’s even more ludicrous is that scenario mode could easily support two players locally or online, yet it’s single-player only to its detriment. To view characters’ ending movies, you must first unlock them in individual levels before completing the arena’s four-stage arcade. Then there’s the animations Tekken has been recycling for years with little or no changes whatsoever.
At the time of press I was unable to test the game’s online modes – though it has been reported that Namco have released a patch to stabilise the network code.
Fighters were once the bread and butter of arcades. Namco was one of the pioneers that helped migrate the genre from smoke-filled Japanese arcades to home consoles, and they continued to innovate long after they’d made the move. Improvements seem to be much more incremental nowadays. It’s not likely to dazzle you in the same way as Tekken 3 but, with the possible exception of Soulcalibur IV, Tekken 6 is certainly the most accessible fighter on the market. Perhaps not the console highlight that many were hoping for, but a stable fighter even so.
Aaron Lee
Tags: fighting, namco bandai, tekken
