Remember the first Tekken? I do. It was a choice of two fighters at the launch of the original Playstation. Strangely enough no one really acknowledges Battle Arena Toshinden anymore, even though both were launch titles for the little grey box. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 15 years since that time and from that moment the relationship between Sony and Namco in regards to their beat ‘em up series was a fruitful one, spawning all 5 arcade hits exclusively to the electrical giant’s home consoles.
Well, times have changed. Microsoft have joined in and caused a bit of a love triangle, giving people outside of the Sony fan base a chance to get their hands dirty. The newest addition brings together all 36 fighters from the complete collection and treats us to another 6 originals, adds online modes for the first time and showers us with extras not available in your local amusement arcade. Is this a case of getting in at the right time, or should the US moguls have avoided the option and left this pugilist to retire?
The storyline for Tekken has never exactly been one built on the grounds of believability and common sense, but to their credit, Namco have tried to pull it all together in an attempt to give us a feeling of something more complete. Hard to imagine when half of a Japanese family end up in volcanoes or blown up in a scrum of Russian cyborgs, but you know how it is these days. This time we have a war of attrition between Jin and Kazuya, as both wish to implement their plans to take over the world by flexing their corporate muscle as well as their fighting ones, with the only way of sorting things out being the creation of the 6th Iron Fist Tournament.
As if Heihachi, Jin and Kazuya didn’t argue enough amongst themselves, we then get introduced to one of the 6 new characters brought in this time round. Lars is the offspring of the old boy in the family, but his existence has been unknown until now. He has made it his life’s work to bring down the empire and make the world a better place for all, much like Luke Skywalker, but without the light sabres and the hammy acting.
The other new contenders for the Iron Fist Tournament include Bob, an American martial arts legend, who after going into hiding spent more time in the ring of a donut than in the arenas and has paid the price for doing so; Alisa the cybernetic girl, who’s been built in the image of a scientist’s daughter (although I can only hope her head doesn’t roll off while she uses her chainsaw arms in real life; Leo and Miguel, who both had members of their family killed by the Mishima Zaibatsu (yeah, that old chestnut) and Zafina, a keeper of a sacred tomb who according to her ideas of astrology fears the world will end, so naturally going to a fighting tournament is how to put things right (although in the Tekken world you just don’t know anymore.)
The rest of them, as you know, are all characters from the entire roster of the series. Only a small handful of brawlers have offered more choice than what’s on offer here, like Marvel Vs Capcom 2 for example, so you’ll never be left short when it comes to picking your contestant. They all look great with the ageing of a few to keep the story timeline in check (namely Heihachi, Law and Paul) and Yoshimitsu’s now regular armour fitting has produced his best yet. The arenas also look remarkable, with everything from rain soaked skyscrapers to snow capped hills and mystical forests, although I’m sure the animal rights activists will have a field day with the amount of sheep flying around in certain places (please, don’t ask…).
For the first time in the Tekken saga we see the introduction of destructible environments, which is not dissimilar to what Mortal Kombat and Dead or Alive have been doing for some time now. It’s nice to see the game keep up with the times and the fact that it manages to keep things seamless when going through this transition is good. One thing I did notice about these arenas though is that after each round the background resets itself, which may not sound like a great deal, but when it goes out of it’s way to show you broken slabs and other such debris created by flying limbs, you would expect this to remain damaged until the end of the bout. A small gripe perhaps, but still a justified one.
As far as the fighting goes, it’s pretty much the same Tekken you’ve grown up with. The massive lists of character moves are still giving epic novels a run for their money and it will take an age to truly master them. What has always made the series great is the ability for button bashers and technical practitioners to coincide with each other in a happy existence. On one hand it becomes easily accessible for people either new to or rarely frequenting it, but on the other hand you get the die-hards who can pull off every move without thinking and show off in front of their mates. There aren’t many other fighting games out there that achieve this as well as here, but there is still plenty of reward for those who play well.
The Battle Revolution mode is an extra for the consoles and is Namco’s third attempt at generating a Streets of Rage scrolling basher, with the primary story being that of Lars and his attempt to rid the world of the Mishima dynasty. It does an ok job, but there are some bits that just don‘t seem to blend as well as they should. The control system can be a little cagey and locking onto enemies can be more tricky than you would like, but having said that it offers a little respite from the usual fighting and with the mentioned inclusion (via a patch) of 2 player online co op here then it may do rather well.
Online is a little basic, if truth be told, which is a shame considering this is the first time we‘ve had the chance to take Tekken worldwide for competitors. Standard ranked and player matches are all that’s available here. You can have 4 player lobbies which allow round robin style tournaments on a “winner stays on“ basis. The games that I’ve played have had a little bit of lag, but that should hopefully iron itself out after the first week or so, I’d imagine.
While playing all these different game modes you can earn XP and use it to accessorise your character. To me this just reeks of gimmick and is another product of the way things are going in gaming these days. It’s almost like earning experience points is the new black and to be fair, it’s not really needed and just feels like it’s there to make up the numbers. It may well please the exhibitionists, but the mainstream will tinker with this at best.
Overall Namco have pieced together a rather impressive product. The control system can be a bit fiddly, but then most fighting titles usually have this console controller obstacle, so it’s nothing new. Anyone who has enough money to grab themselves the arcade stick edition will find a really good conversion which feels just like the pound chomping machines in the pubs and clubs. For those of us who have to resort to the tools that the console makers gave us, it will be just like the Karate Kid, with you feeling like a lost child to start with, but with enough time and training you’ll get the feel for things soon enough.
As the series goes, I feel on a gameplay level it’s up there with the Virtua and Street Fighter fraternity and rightfully deserves its place alongside. The solidity of Tekken has never been in question, but there just isn’t enough new material, either offline or on, to warrant it reaching a classic status. Microsoft have come along and at least bagged a decent brawler, but then Sony knew that anyways.
VideogameUK verdict: 7.5/10
