Debuting for the first time on the Xbox console family, the Tekken franchise has delivered a quality fighter in Tekken 6. Focusing once again on the King of the Iron Fist tournament, Tekken 6 delivers robust offline modes and adequate online options. Fighting fans that haven’t experienced the technical aspects of the popular fighting series should welcome it with open-arms as the graphics, gameplay and longevity are areas that the title excels in. Before jumping deep into the review, I must admit that I was taken aback by Tekken 6’s scenario campaign mode. This mode is an adventure mode of sorts that features a storyline for players to see it through from beginning to end. It’s a simple beat ‘em up (a.k.a. brawler) that has players fighting through waves of simple enemies from a particular start point until the reach an end boss for each level. As players continue along their path, they’ll unlock fighters to use in the campaign mode and gain items that are scattered along the ground to use in the customization mode.
The problem with all of this is that Namco-Bandai implemented a horrible camera that gives players no form of control and the enemies that are thrown in front of the player are poorly designed. On top of that, Namco-Bandai succumbed to a standard storyline cliché of amnesia to try and tell a storyline and it failed badly. No one wants to have two lead characters who suffer from memory loss. Though as players move along, they’ll buy upgrades for health or damage, jump into the arena mode, which in fact is a shorter version of the arcade mode for players to fight through a lineup of characters. The character customization mode returns and is an asset that longtime fans should thoroughly enjoy. Players unlock items to apply to the characters through the storyline by picking them up after eliminating enemies and destroying crates on the ground. Players can also buy them with money they earned through any of the stable of modes presented too. The customization mode, in general, permits players to play dress up with the characters as they can only change the apparel of the fighters and nothing else.
The character roster itself is humongous. Having 40 fighters included, Tekken 6 has a lot to offer with a diverse group of characters to choose from. From my personal favorite, Panda, to heavily played Marshall Law, Tekken 6 has characters in droves. The fantastic thing is that each one of them has a unique feel and was able to stand out from one another. As a 3D fighter, Tekken still has the goods. More so than any other fighter released in 2009, Tekken relies on blocking and planning ahead for coordinated moves for a high combination count. If you’ve played Tekken and hate the juggling, well… you better be prepared for more juggling entertainment – if you’d like to call it that. Players are encouraged to find ways to continue a combination by sending an opponent into an air and then juggle for long as they can for maximum damage. This may seem as a detractor, but hardcore Tekken fans love how it affects the game to their advantage. The Rage system implemented allows for weaker players who are often close to losing to deal a little more damage than normal. This is an attempt to help those who struggle at fighters – and Tekken in general – to even up the odds. This shouldn’t be a turn off for veterans as should be putting up a clinic to show novices how it’s done.
Taking the fighter online, the matches weren’t perfectly stable, but with the recent patch, Namco-Bandai is at least attempting to improve the lag. Online is separated into ranked and player matches. Players are also able to save ghost data. The ghost data can then be used in the ghost mode, which lets players fight against downloaded fighter data of online fighters. Think of this as the “drawing board” of a halftime lockerroom where a player can map out their plan of attacks in the future against that particular opponent, whether friend or family member. Another great addition to the online mode is that Tekken 6 forces players to select their character before they jump into a search so there aren’t any hot potato scenarios occurring to try and pick a fighter who matches up better against the opponent’s character. In addiction, the CG movies are fantastic. The opening cinematic for the scenario mode is informational for newcomers as it’s in black and white and fills people in on the history from Tekken 1-6. The characters that beautiful to see in motion and, for them majority, have excellent designs to go along with them. Where else are people going to be able to pit a panda against a wooden training dummy?
Unfortunately, there are some issues that need to be addressed. The loading times aren’t to a satisfactory level due to the fact the first 30 minutes of the scenario campaign mode contains two pitiful fights, 4-5 cutscenes and a lot of loading. The loading times are apparent all throughout the game modes, so players need to be prepared to sit and watch a screen telling them how to fight more often than not. A handful of characters also have jaggies that needed more work done to improve the overall look of the game. On top of that, the design choices behind the end boss battle for the arcade mode is disappointing – it’s even worse than Street Fighter IV’s boss battle against Seth. By the end of the day though, Tekken 6 is a glossy treat that is easy to pick up and play against friends. Veterans will have the jump on the controls, but newcomers need not worry about facing them online as Tekken 6 has a quality match-making system in place where I have only faced off against opponents with similar skill levels. With first-rate Japanese voice-acting and a decent batch of tracks for the music, Tekken 6 has an overall package that is commendable.
