Along with the Virtua Fighter series, Tekken is co-father of the modern 3D fighter. Now 15 years old, the game has evolved from a simple 3D fighter into one of the most popular fighting games of all time. Those who never got the chance to play the Tekken 6: Blood Rebellion expansion in the arcades will be glad to get their hands on the console version of Tekken 6, a faithful port that not only adds the entire arcade package but some console exclusive modes as well. Is the Tekken franchise finally showing its age? Or does Tekken still rule with an iron fist?

Those who are familiar with the Tekken series will not find any major surprises here. The core gameplay remains the same as the game still relies heavily on high/low mix-ups with the main goal being to hit a launcher that will let you juggle your opponent for an obscene amount of damage. The “ground game” or “okemi” as the diehards call it, remains intact as well. There are several options at your disposal when getting off the ground – rolling, quick standing, side roll, etc. The key thing, on offense, is to predict how your opponent is going to get off the ground and punish them with the appropriate move. Tekken 6 keeps the long, juggle based combo strings from games past so fans will be able to step right in. The game plays well enough for newbies, as you can somewhat button mash your way to moderate success, but high level play still revolves around mind game, launchers, and juggle strings. If you’re a fan of the series then you’ll love the mindgames and long combo strings. However, if you always felt that Tekken relied too much on who can land the launcher first, then you’re still out of luck. There is a new attack property called “bound”, which can drive an opponent out of the air and into the ground while maintaining their juggle state. This let’s you continue on with your combo. There is also a new “Rage” system that goes off when you’re low on life. Basically, while you’re character is in a Rage state, you do more damage and all of your moves have critical hit properties. However, the Rage system is extremely overpowered. Hail-Mary, come-from-behind victories are not uncommon as the damage you can do in Rage state is simply bananas. While there is some excitement generated when you know that the entire match can be turned around on a dime, it can also feel like you’re the one being punished for being ahead in the fight.

The roster in Tekken 6 is absolutely mind-blowing. If the last console version of Tekken that you played was Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, you’ll be happy to know that Tekken 6 features an additional 6 playable characters. The new characters, particularily rotund fighters Bob and matador-inspired Miguel look great. The only duds in my opinion is the chain-saw wielding (you read that right) android Alisa and the Dragonball reject Lars. However, Namco still has some of the best character designers out there. There is also a new boss named Azazel but unfortunately it’s the continuation of the big, gimmicky, over powred boss trend that Namco has been guilty of lately. Fighting the boss feels more like a chore than any real accomplishment.

You get your standard offerings like most fighting games: survival, practice, versus, etc. The ghost mode is especially fun as you get to play against copies of top players to earn gold to buy items with. However, the biggest focus in offline play goes to the Scenario Campaign mode. The mode serves as Lars’ backstory and plays out like a beat-em up side scroller. While I applaud Namco for trying to expand the boundaries of the game, it tries to shoe-horn a fighting game engine into a side scroller. You end up with clunk controls that make it easy for you to get overwhelmed, especially since you can only target one enemy at a time. The mode itself isn’t flawed – just the execution. The producers should have created its own combat system for the scenario mode if it was going to be that much of a focus. However, despite its clunky nature, the game does dangle some nice carrots in front of you, such as unlocking character endings and items to buy in the character shop. Speaking of which, for all of you who are obsessed with personalizing your own Jin or Kazuya, the character customization is back and better than ever. You can even use items during regular gameplay, like a gun attack for Bryan Fury. It’s a little strange but none of the item attacks break the balance of the game.

Tekken 6 looks simply stunning – the backgrounds, characters, and even some animations have been reworked and everything simply pops to life in HD. The backgrounds are as varied and wildly eclectic as ever. Fight in the middle of snowly field? Check. How about brawling in the midst of an overturned pig truck? It may be wacky but the gorgeous lighting and rich colour palette make it more appealing than strange. The lighting effects are also top notch. Critical hits cause a lighting effect to go off and the glow/shadows off the characters bodies is simply sublime. The fire and water effects from certain stages is phenomenal as well. The CG cut scenes are gorgeous, even if they don’t make a lick of sense half of the time and the new animations are great as well -- characters now react more realistically when certain body parts are attacked. I dare you not to sympathize with a fighter when you see their reaction to getting a shin or leg kicked in. The music is pretty standard fare – mostly techno inspired tunes that do a good job of letting the fighting sound effects be the focus.

You do get a lot of milage out of Tekken 6. The ghost mode is great if all you want to do is fight the CPU ad nausem without being interrupted by cut scenes or boss battles. If you can handle the clunky controls of the Scenario mode than you have quite a bit to do as unlocking all of the characters and endings can take sometime. The shop is another great feature to keep you wanting more as buying stuff can get addictive. Like I mentioned earlier, the online portion isn’t flawless but still serviceable if you really like testing your skills against other players. 

 

Tekken 6 is a solid addition to the Tekken family. The new characters play very well and not one of them feels overpowered or weak. The new Rage mechanic is a bit overpowered and needs to be toned down before it becomes crazily abused. The bound system isn’t too groundbreaking but adds a nice wrinkle to the combo system. The game is still heavily based on juggles but if you’re already a Tekken fan then you won’t mind that the tradition continues. Tekken 6 is a great package and, while it doesn’t make any huge innovative leaps, the Tekken series remains one of the best 3D fighters on the market today.