Tekken 6 Review for Xbox 360.

Many thanks to Ashton for allowing me to contribute this review. I hope you enjoy. :-)

Back in 1994 a little 3D fighting game called 'Tekken' was released in arcades worldwide. To cut a long story short, it was a massive success and was ported to the Playstation 1 in 1995. Although Virtua Fighter was officially the first 3D fighter, Tekken was the game that made everyone sit up and take notice. This was due to Namco's decision to include outlandish character design and a flashy move-list for all the characters. Throughout the years, Namco has sought to constantly improve their series. But how far, exactly, can you take a series that's now 16 years old? This review aims to answer that question.

Tekken 6's story (such as it is) revolves around the Mishima Corporation and their desire to take control of the Devil power which runs in the family blood. To be honest, the story is fairly convoluted and inconsistent but each character has their own reason for entering the tournament. Tekken 6 finds us thrust forward a few years since Tekken 5, Jin Kazama (usually depicted as the troubled hero) has now turned his face from humanity and seems determined to destroy......well, pretty much everything. Like I said, it's pretty sub-standard stuff. Onto the review!

Graphics and Presentation

- What hit me? Although Tekken 6 is the first of the series to grace the next-gen consoles, it's certainly taken its time getting here. Since then gamers have had the opportunity to play Street Fighter 4, Virtua Fighter 5, Blazblue etc. Basically, the graphics engine in this game is two years old now and it does show when you're playing. Occasional clipping, some strange character design and animation problems do nothing to soothe the problem that you're obviously playing a game that Japan has played, got bored of and moved onto the next big thing.

= Ooooooh! Look! A sheep! The backgrounds in Tekken 6 are kinda insubstantial. Again, I would like to remind readers that fighting games such as the Virtua Fighter and Dead or Alive series both have interactive backgrounds that really look the part. Tekken doesn't seem to care too much about this. Yes, you can pin someone against the wall and rob them of their health bar before they even realise which character they've picked but the inclusion of this poor scenery does nothing to highten the mood of fights.

+ MMMMMMMM......shiny!! Okay, so the graphics are rough around the edges and some of the character design is suspect. That doesn't stop Tekken 6 from being a very nice looking game. Characters are instantly recognisable and character models are faithfully represented. Animation is awkward for some characters but, again, it's nice and fluid for rest of the cast. Kicks, punches and throws certainly look the part and have a nice flashy hit confirmation.

SOUND

+ THWOMP! CRUNCH! This is definitely one of Tekken's strongest areas. The soundtrack is pretty much what you'd expect from any fighting game and nothing changes here. A strong mish-mash of techno and rock is on the menu here and it works very well. Voice acting in the cut-scenes is decidedly cheesy but that's forgiveable in this series. ;-) What really impresses me is how "meaty" all the attacks sound. Hit someone, and connect, and it just sounds.....right. Punches, kicks and throws all have varying sounds and are very satisfying.


= SPEAK UP! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!! This might be me nit-picking here but I did feel, at times, like there was too much noise during fights. The music and the fight sounds seem to battle against each other as much as the characters do. This is easily sorted via the audio menu in-game, but still feels a bit intrusive to begin with.


GAMEPLAY (now we're talking)!!

+ WELCOME TO THE 'KING OF IRON FIST TOURNAMENT!' The sheer choice of characters in this game can actually be quite daunting when you first start the game of if you're new to the Tekken series. There are 40+ fighters to choose from and each has their own strengths and weaknesses. From Hwoarang's Tae-Kwon do, King's wrestling to Nina's Aikido. You will find someone you gravitate towards in the end. Just don't be afraid to try new people. Overall, there are enough characters for everyone including a few new faces to freshen things up for series' fans.

+ SO MUCH TO DO, SO LITTLE TIME! You definitely get a lot for your money in this game. Survival mode, Time Attack, Online Play, Practice, Arcade, Scenario Mode and Ghost Mode. It is the inclusion of Ghost Mode that excites me most. You can download the data of the world's top players and play against the virtual "them". This is such a clever feature and, although it's still a form of A.I, Namco have really tried something new and it does work really well. Imagine if other companies allow this in their fighting series. We could end up practicing against a virtual Daigo Umehara in SF4 or Chibita from the VF series. :-)

= SO IF I JUST PRESS THIS BUTTON......! The difficulty curve in Tekken 6 is a strange beast indeed. You'll steam through the first few fights quite easily on the default settings especially as the arcade mode only consists of 4 fights then the boss. Fights are a standard 2-3 round affair so nothing new there. It's only when you get to the bosses that the game decides to throw a curve-ball at you.
 
- ROUND 1, FIGHT.......YOU LOSE!! Namco! You've got some explaining to do!! There are 2 main bosses in this game. Azazel and Nancy.......no seriously......it's called Nancy......please don't ask! These bosses are beyond cheap and I was tempted to throw my joypad/fight-stick several times whilst fighting them. Allow me to explain further. Azazel is about 4 times bigger than the biggest character. He has an invisible shield around him which nullifies your attacks but it's never clear as to which attacks or when he'll nullify them. On top of that, he/she/it does hideous damage, can juggle you for about 3/4 of your health in one combo and has huge priority when he/she/it performs a move. Nancy is no better. Between doing ENORMOUS amounts of damage, an instant kill move (she cuts the floor away from under you) and, again, stupid priority, these bosses are not fun in the slightest!

- KICK, PUNCH! IT'S ALL IN THE MIND! Despite a huge cast of characters and martial-art styles, the movelist for each character feels quite limited. There are about 100 moves for each character which does sound a lot but you quickly find yourself using the same moves over and over simply because they will be 'safe on block' or give you 'frame advantage'. Tis a shame when, yet again, we compare to other fighters out there that avoid this repetition. Due to the lack of moves, Namco has deemed it fit to include a juggle system that would shame most circus performers. What do I mean by juggle system? Well, when you knock an opponent into the air you can keep him/her from hitting the ground by attacking them (hence the term, juggling). However, what is not acceptable is once you hit the ground, your opponent can hit you back into the air (even if your character is lying flat on the ground) to re-start another juggle!! This can end the fight so quickly it beggars belief

- THIS IS FUN?! Okay, so Tekken has some dodgy A.I etc. It's biggest crime (without a doubt) is its Scenario Mode. This, sadly, is where you'll unlock most characters and achievements. This would be fine if it were fun to play............it's not! It plays like a 3D Streets of Rage......only, not good. It's repetitive, un-inspiring and to be quite honest, it's bloody lazy! It didn't work in Tekken 3 so why put it back into a later next-gen version? Shame on you Namco!!

Should you buy it?

Honestly? No. Rent it and enjoy it that way. My favourite genre of game is the humble Beat-em up so it kinda pains me to say this. The game, despite its many faults, is still enjoyable but there is no escaping the fact that this should've been released a long time ago to compete with SF4 etc.

Tekken 6 was developed and published by Namco Bandai. Hours played = 20+. Review is based upon the Xbox 360 version