Game review: Tekken 6

Two years and a couple of systems later, we finally have Tekken 6. Namco are fashionable late to the party, but it's better late than never. Especially when the latest instalment marks its debut on more than one system. And console owners get the Bloodline rebellion revision of the game as a result of Namco making us wait so long - something Tekken fans should be grateful for.

Tekken is a game that doesn't set out to try and win over any new fans. But instead keep the old ones happy, in the hopes that perhaps one or two curious souls will want in on what the fuss is about. But for the most part Tekken 6 is very much for the old skoolers who have been rolling with The king of iron fist tournament for years. It's not to say anybody new to Tekken won't enjoy the game. But they probably won't go wet in the pants as fans will when they first boot up the game.

Tekken's controls are easy to explain. Each button controls the limb of a character, and you work these buttons in sequence to lay a smackdown in a dazzling array of broken floors, shattered wall, dust and pyrotechnic effects. Pressing a specified duo of the buttons will initiate a throw or a powerful attack. It is the logic of this control setup that makes Tekken so accessible. But underneath the simplicity lies a deep and intricate game of juggles, bounces, bounds, counters, buffering and shit loads of other stuff that players will be mastering forever. The simplicity is there for those looking for easy thrills, but the depth is there for the hardcore: just as a good beat 'em up should be.

Tekken 6 has a story. It's certainly the most story driven game of the lot, but it doesn't do much to colour the game. It's just there. Characters who were supposed to be dead before Tekken 3 are now alive, yet Jun Kazama still remains dead. There is some ridiculously skank Egyptian monster that has no relevance to anything as the last boss. Yeah...The story is a huge brown stained mess. But it's there for those interested in it. You're treated to some pretty cool endings all the same, which I guess counts for something.

Tekken 6 serves up is the best character roster in the series to date. Varied, unique (a palette swap or two aside) and fun to use. Tekken 6 also brings some new faces into the mix. Leo fits in nicely. She doesn't have the most distinct fighting style or look (Rock Howard anybody?) But she has a great move set, is easy to pick up and play as, and feels like a character who been amongst the Tekken cast for a good while. Bob (who I affectionately refer to as 'my n***a Bob') is the absolute shit. One glance at him on the character select screen is enough to make you think he's some stupid joke, and that he'll be some slow lumbering fool. But the dude is QUICK! He can do somersaults, quick rolls, counters and even attack with his belly. A great character. Lars looks like a Dragon ball Z character and Alisa looks like she who was made using Soul Calibur III's 'character creation mode' and then ported over. But they're both fun to play as, and have some really cool moves. Miguel and Zafina on the other hand are boring and forgettable characters, with weird move sets and some pretty strange animations. Tekken 7 could do without them.

Tekken 6's campaign mode is pretty boring to play. But if you want to unlock the characters' endings and customize your fighters - you'll need to put some serious hours into this mode. It's better than Tekken 4's Tekken force and Tekken 5's Devil within. But you do get bored of it after a while. Namco deluded themselves into thinking that this mode is so fun that we could all do with 20 plus stages of the same palette and colour swapped bullshit. The mode is nothing great. But it does a good job of pushing a narrative for the 2 newcomers: Lars and Alisa, and also the relationship between Jin and Nina (it ain't that kinda relationship). It's a shame this mode isn't online co-opp'ed. But Namco plan to release a patch to make it so real soon - which should make this mode a bit more tolerable and fun. Shit is always better with friends and not A.I. Resident evil 5 taught me that in Kijuju delivery truck load.

Character customization was introduced with Virtua Fighter 4. Copied by Tekken 5. And has been taken to extremes with Tekken 6. The character customization in this game is extensive to say the least. You can change how your character looks drastically to the point they no longer look like their default self. What seems like something so throw-away on the surface, soon becomes an obsession. It's easy to get lost spending a fair amount of time customizing your character. And just to ensure everybody clocks hours in the Scenario campaign mode - many of the items can only be obtained by playing through it extensively with EVERY character. Punishment certainly reaps the rewards in this case.

The graphics in the game aren't as good as I remembered them to be in the arcade. Maybe its because the game is two years old, or perhaps my TV set up isn't as big as sharp as the arcade systems' I played it on. But something about Tekken 6 looks rough around the edges and little dated. There were times I even questioned myself and asked "How much better does this really look than Tekken 5!" And wondered if a setting had changed on my TV, because it didn't even look HD to me. Everything lacks that flair that Tekken 5 and Soul Calibur III had. Particularly the environments which lack any real artistic licence. The graphics are not bad by any means. But they lack that shine that Virtua Fighter 5 still has (both specular and metaphorical) and it's certainly no Soul Calibur IV. Jagged edges. Dodgy hair. Shabby textures on floors. Tekken 6 could have looked a heck of a lot. I won't throw Namco a lifeline by chalking it all down to Tekken 6 being a two year old game, because Virtua Fighter 5 and Dead or alive 4 are much older games and they still hold graphically today. The 'scenario campaign' further highlights the lack of graphical sheen. Environments look bland. Textures are non-existent on some surfaces. Lighting is basic. Wii could have pull some of this shit off without taxing itself too much.

What I'm about to say will break some hearts, but the online play in Tekken 6 isn't as wonderful as fans may have hoped. It's great to have it. But the lag is plain awful. Every single match I have played online has been plagued with it. I sent messages to all my opponents to ensure it wasn't just me experiencing lagtastic matches, and they stressed the same thing: there has been lag in all of their matches too. Hopefully Namco will iron this out with a patch update, because if they don't: the online mode will be something that many will give up on. I've already resided myself to the offline modes, because online is damn near unplayable. Every online match is a case of luck, because moves won't execute on cue. If you're an owner of Tekken 6 and you've not encountered this problem, then count yourself lucky and a source of my envy and jealously.

Tekken was always a series that astounded me with its loading times. From Tekken 1 right up to 5: loading was near non-existent. Now we have game 6 running on better hardware, and all of a sudden we've got gangsta loading times. Both the 360 and PS3 versions allow hard drive installs, which I strongly recommend. Xbox 360's sound like a harrier of fighter jets hovering above your house when reading off of discs and the hardware usually decides to scratch the hell out of them in the process. So if you value your copy of Tekken 6, you'll install it from the offset. Installs speed up times considerably, but they are still seconds too long. In Tekken 5 you could actually skip the VS. screens and many screens the game threw at you in-between matches. In Tekken 6, you can't. It becomes a pain when all you want to do is get right stuck into the game. Because you feel like you're spending more time waiting for the game to load, than actually playing it.

Tekken 6 is a good game. It's pretty much what you would expect really. The one thing you can rely on Namco to do with Tekken is not really change too much - but change enough that the game does feel new. They learnt their lesson well about changing too much shit unnecessarily with Tekken 4 and have stuck to the formula ever since. And for this, Tekken 6 gets a big thumbs up.

Tekken 6 is worth buying if you're a fan of the series. But if you're not, then there's not much here to win you over, and you'll probabaly find the game's shortcomings to be much more overbearing than a fan who will have a higher tolerance for them, and even justify them in some cases. Tekken 6 didn't blow me away in the same way that Tekken 5 did. But it is a really good game. The game mechanics are solid and the Tekken foundations are as sturdy as they have ever been. But there is a slight underwhelming feeling that overcomes you when you first play this game. A little bit more polish and sprucing up here and there, really would have done this game wonders.



The good
+ The best selection of characters to grace a beat 'em up since Marvel vs. Capcom 2
+ Fun to play
+ A solid amount of replay value
+ Brilliant character customization

The bad
- The graphics could have been tarted up a little more
- The environments lack the artistic flair of Tekken 5 and Soul Calibur III
- The online play is some lagged out bullshit