Tekken, one of Namco-Bandai’s most esteemed fighting franchises, is seeing its first retail release on the next-gen consoles. Check out our full review to see if Tekken 6 is still deserving of the title, The King of Iron Fist…
Tekken 6 is, at its heart, an extremely deep martial arts fighting game. As deep as it is, it’s also great for casuals and button mashers, as the gameplay is very straightforward and simplistic. Each one of the face buttons corresponds to a different limb, and holding back blocks. Even though the gameplay is easy enough for anyone to pick up and play, it offers extreme levels of depth for seasoned players. Each character has their share of special moves, counters, combos and more. Practiced players can pull off devastating 10 hit combos.
Players can hone their skills in a number of included modes; the standard fighting genre modes are there, such as Practice and Vs., but Tekken 6 shakes things up a bit with a number of other modes, such as Ghost Battle, Time Attack, Survival, and Team Battle. Team battle is great; players choose up to 8 characters to put up against a friend or the CPU, and winners regain a small amount of health in order to keep on fighting. There is also an online mode where players can put the smack down on PlayStation Network users across the globe. While testing out the online mode, I had a few connection errors to start, but once connected to an opponent, the experience was seamless.
The game features a story mode, but as with most fighting games, this feels tacked on. The story mode seems to be a prominent feature in Tekken 6, but it really serves as nothing more than a weak distraction from the actual fighting.
This game features the largest roster in a Tekken game ever–a whopping 40 characters. Each character is perfectly animated, detailed, and has his or her own unique move set. All of the fighters are perfectly balanced, although the long-time series vets such as Law, King, or Heihachi seem to be a tad more powerful. But that might also be attributed to the fact that they’ve received more playtime over the years, resulting in more expertise with those characters.
Although the roster is large, there are plenty of characters lacking, well… character, especially the newer combatants. I found myself sticking with tried and true series mainstays. mostly because the new additions were so uninspiring. Out of the new characters (Miguel, Bob, Leo, Zafina, Lars and Alisa), the only one that was fun to play as was Alisa, mainly for her over the top, humorous move-set.
The characters and environments are gorgeous. The graphics in Tekken 6 are magnificent for a fighting game, and more along the lines of Namco-Bandai’s other flagship fighting franchise, Soul Calibur. Some environments feature destructible areas, but they are a tad on the cheesy side.
Sadly the game suffers from lengthy load times. Even after the optional 4+ GB install, the load times are still long enough to take players out of the action. However, the game is good enough that it’s actually worth the wait.
Fighting is the star of Tekken 6, so those who are looking for a deep, interesting story mode should move on. However, fighting is what Tekken does best, and this latest iteration in the King of the Iron Fist Tournaments is the best the franchise has to offer. The massive roster, the extensive move list for each character, and tough (but not cheap) AI make Tekken a must buy for any fan of fighting games.
PlayStation LifeStyle’s Final Score
Story mode wasn’t enjoyable One of the deepest, most fluid, and most accessible fighting games on the market |
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