In today’s competitive games market, one where online gaming is the dominant factor in the success or failure of a title, even the most popular franchises have to do more than a tweak here and a polish there to raise its head above the crowd in a bid for front room dominance. One such series is Tekken. From its early days as the king of Playstation fighters, Tekken has always been a firm favourite amongst beat ‘em up fans and even though there has been a recent lull in the popularity of the beat ‘em, (mainly due to the ever growing popularity of the online console FPS some might argue), Tekken has continued to keep a steady grip on it’s loyal fanbase by not so much re-inventing itself, but by staying true to it’s form as an accessible fighter that boasts huge amounts of hidden depth and character. It will come as a welcome surprise then to learn that Tekken 6 has stayed true to that formula thus guaranteeing another few years of loyalty from its fanbase, well kind of.
In past iterations Namco have included a handful of game modes with Tekken that stray away from the normal Vs modes. Tekken Bowl, (a very playable take on 10 pin bowling), Tekken Force and ‘Devil Within’, (both an awful take on the scrolling beat ‘em up of yesteryear), and in the sixth iteration we now have ‘Scenario Mode’. Scenario Mode is much like Tekken Force in that it requires you to move from one area to the next happy slapping anyone in your path, ending each stage with the obligatory ‘Boss Fight’. Also, like Tekken Force, it’s all rather awful. Like so many shoddy bonus games found in video gaming you could simply ignore ‘Scenario Mode’ but, and here’s the rub, in order to unlock many of Tekken 6’s bonus content, trophies etc you have to play through it many times over. For some reason, Namco have decided to make ‘Scenario Mode’ the main focus of Tekken 6. Whereas before the unlocking of hidden characters, extra costumes, levels, cinematics and story came down to playing through Tekken’s single player arcade mode here you’re forced to play through this dreary scrolling beat ’em up. Having said that, ‘Scenario Mode’ is laughably easy to play through with pretty much ever character. Also it does enable you to kit out the cast in a huge range of rather entertaining and colourful costumes, weapons, (yes weapons), and other bizarre bits n’ bobs allowing you to put your own stamp on your favourite fighters before taking your Tekken skills to the other game modes which, thankfully, are all intact.
Arcade, Vs, Online and the fantastic Ghost Mode, (where you are pitted against an endless stream opponents who’s skills are based on some of Tekken’s most proficient players as well as those you can actually download to test your skills), are the order of the day when it come to Namco’s latest beat ‘em up . In combat proper Tekken 6 looks and plays fantastic and is easily the best of the series yet, both visually and in execution. Characters are big, bold and beautifully rendered with slick animations and some excellent collision detection with punches, kicks, throws and grapples that feel like they’re hitting home and dealing monstrous damage in the process. Levels are typically Tekken in that they look great and all come with a musical score that carries the pace of combat perfectly. The only real difference is that there are now some areas where the ground slowly gives way to a new section during rounds; however they do lack the scale of say Tecmo’s Dead or Alive and their huge open arena’s, but with Tekken and DOA’s fighting mechanics being very different that’s no bad thing.
The game, (surprisingly for a beat ‘em up), starts with every character unlocked with several new faces added to the roster. These new fighters come in the shape of all rounder, Spanish born Miguel, head popping cyborg Alisa, a rather large but deceptively swift Bob, (think Rufus of Street Fighter IV fame), wiry Egyptian hotty, Zafina, Lars who has connections to the Mishima’s and Leo, who's is possibly the most accessible of the new breed. Along with the new characters there’s also two new systems present in combat; ‘Rage’ and ‘Bound’. The former gives players whose health is at a dangerously low level the ability to hit just that bit harder, (the energy bar begins to flash red, something that can also be customised with ice and lightening effects), whilst the latter allows players who have begun a juggle combo to literally smash their opponent into the ground making them bounce back up into the air to unleash another barrage of strikes. Online mode, (while initially having a few issues with lag and poor connections prior to an update from Namco), is generally very good and can often be an exciting challenge. Like Ghost Mode each individual fighter you play with will be ranked accordingly, scoring battle points along the way, gaining levels of ‘Dan’ and moving up the rankings table. It may not be as quite as tight as Street Fighter IV online but it does hold together well enough to provide a good session against real opponents for those of you who can’t always invite your friends and colleagues over for a blast on Vs. mode.
Tekken has a long and favourable history where even the low points have always outclassed many other games in the genre and Tekken 6, (Scenario Mode aside and perhaps the obligatory, infuriating final boss in Arcade), continues that trend with aplomb. Great to look at and even better to play, Tekken 6 can safely hold its head high and is a testament to the fact that while the humble beat ‘em up may have taken a backseat to the draw of the First Person Shooter in people homes it’s still very much alive and kicking.
8/10
Last edited by Gemini73 on Fri Feb 26, 2010 6:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Oh dear 
