[Note: I actually started writing this review like a year ago, so I really AM late, haha. By now, everyone has their own opinion of Tekken 6. This is practically a retro Sega Genesis review. I honestly wrote this review all the way up to its last couple paragraphs, but then I just let it sit. For absolutely no reason, I couldn’t finish it. However, none of what is said in this review is out of date, and I hope it’s informative. I thought I had interesting things to say…]
Tekken 6 is the latest game in NAMCOs line of 3D fighters. I'm not sure where to start with this game, so I guess I'll start with the least important stuff and work my way up to the most important.
The story is about how Jin takes over the Tekken Zaibatsu or something and is starting World War 3. Heihachi Mishima, his grand dad, isn't thrilled about this and wants to kill his grandson. Heihachi's son and Jin's dad, Kayuza, is out to kill them both, too. Heihachi's OTHER bastard son, Lars, wants to kill every man in his family too, but then he suffers Anime Amnesia and goes on a journey with a robot girl. This chick named Zafinia knows about this Ancient Egyptian Dragon that will be revived by World War 3 and WHAT THE POOP, maybe in the sequel Kayuza will graft the arm of Jin's clone onto himself and then the arm will possess Kayuza, and Jin will suffer from premature aging due to nanotechnology. Why not? The plot is about as impenetrable and silly as it comes, hence the un-subtle allusion to MGS.
The graphics are really nice. The stages are pretty detailed and have a bunch of subtle things going on in them. For example, the snowy valley level makes permanent dents where ever your character walks and/or is beaten down, and the ocean-side Noh Theatre stage has the tide flood over the floor slightly, cause the wooden stage to get very wet. The stages are really colorful too, which is a nice break from all the recent GREYBROWN games. However, it's still a next-gen video game, so you will get some problems like this:
There's so much damn bloom in the lake level, your eyes will fall out! That pic doesn't even do it justice. There is something wrong when a level is so bright with bloom effects that I have to squint. Just looking at the pic gives me a head ache. Even if attractive young ladies are fighting in the shallow water.
Tangentially related, the character models are very detailed. Some of character border on angelic perfection. The moves animate very smoothly, and the stronger ones have all kinds of cool hit sparks and effects, such as a hard hit to the stomach into a wall will cause the screen to shake slightly. All motion capture for the animations seem to have been done by professional dancers, which causes your characters to look impossibly cool, even Bob.
Super Mario never looked so awesome.
Speaking of the motion capture and professional dancers, a friend of mine told me a funny story about that. He was in a dance club in Mexico, and not having any idea how to dance at all, he improvised and imitated the ten-strings and special moves of Tekken 6 characters. Not only did it work, people thought he was a pro dancer. I think that says something about Tekken.
The single player modes range from "meh" to "this SKNs" to "this is pretty fun." The arcade mode is pretty standard and boring: fight like 8 computers with a bonus stage boss in there, then the real boss, and then you see the ending. Except you only get to see the intro and ending if you're playing on the RPG Mode's arcade mode, and NOT the under the section of the main menu clearly labeled "OFFLINE > ARCADE." That would make too much sense!
Speaking of the RPG Mode, by that I mean the "SCENARIO CAMPAIGN." This is where you see a pretty cool opening where Lars and his Halo Spartans go and tear stuff up at a laboratory. That was cool to watch. Then Lars catches his Anime Amnesia I mention and nothing is cool for the rest of the RPG Mode. After you sit through all that, you can play as whichever character you want (but have to unlock the rest to use in this mode, you pick 1 and have to unlock everyone else) and run around beating up people as if you were playing Final Fight. You have access to all your moves and you can also pick up items like crow bars, machine guns, flame throwers and such to beat up guys with.
At times the Scenario Campaign is nice, mindless beat em up fun with awkward controls (that happens when you try to turn Tekken into Final Fight), but at other times incredibly frustrating and just bogus. However, it's also by far the fastest way to get money to buy costumes with. My recommendation: skip all the cutscenes (except the first one), play through a few levels for money, and never touch it again until you need more money. It's not worth playing to the end. The Tekken engine just wasn’t made to be Final Fight and Namco should be ashamed for trying.
I think the worst part of Scenario Campaign is that it highlights the WRONG new characters. There are six new Tekken fights in Tekekn 6, and 4 of them are really, really awesome. Bob (Mario), Miguel (Luigi), Leo Kliesen (Ash Ketchum) and Zafina (Rose) are all incredible new characters and are too cool to handle. Meanwhile, the new amesiac superhero bastard Mishima son Lars and his pink-haired robot chick anime companion Allysa, they hog up the entire spotlight in the RPG mode and it's stupid. They srsly just stuffed an anime right into Tekken.
What DOES make the RPG Mode fun and bearable is Co-Op. Playing just about any game with a bud or two would make it fun. If nothing else, you can collectively make fun of how SKN a game is. The problem here is that there is no OFFLINE Co-Op mode, just an online one. WTF?
There are also a lot of item drops that give you stat bonuses, instead of leveling up. So you can max out your character with various articles of clothing, but if you want to have optimal equipment at any given time, expect to have your character look incredibly goofy.
Your character will end up looking MUCH weirder than this pic. Too weird to handle.
Speaking of the costumes, you can buy (or pick up in the RPG Mode) many different articles of clothing in various colors. You can deck out any character in the game pretty much however you'd want to, and this is actually very well executed. There are a crap load of options for pants, rings, hair styles (you get to mix and match the base of the hair, the cut, and the bangs on each side), shirts, jackets, hats, ribbons, glasses, and bunches of trivial things. You'll be able to make some really cool and interesting costumes for the characters. I have only two complaints: 1) Not every character can wear every article of clothing. For example, some characters can wear bowler hats and some can't. No reason for restrictions like that, they just can't. 2) Rather than use the extra buttons for your custom outfits, it always replaces one of the your character's default costumes. For example, I made an awesome Pirate Leo outfit, but it replaces her Tuxedo outfit completely, which I also like. Again, there is no discernible reason for these restrictions, unless Namco thinks that their games needs a minimum quota of Stupid.
As for online play:
When the game it was released, it was awful. Virtually unplayable.
When a patch came out on Thanksgiving Day, it was EXCELLENT. Up there with GGPO, HD Remix and BlazBlue. The only problem was, and it's a big one, is random disconnect once in a while. And it was definitely not due to rage-quitting, players would just randomly disconnect after playing for an hour or so and would have to start a new room and reinvite everyone. Was still awesome net-play while it was working.
Recently, a third patch was released that allowed for online co-op (and nobody cared about online co-op in an awful RPG mode). The online play has been slightly worse since then, but no longer randomly D/Cs.
Overall, it has a pretty decent online setup. Nothing too big to complain about, and miles better than Street Fighter IV's [Vanilla at the time of this writing] atrocious netplay, but I still sometimes miss juggles and moves due of lag.
The training mode, if you're into those as much as I am, is pretty great. You can set the training dummy to a bunch of different blocking modes and wake up actions so that you can learn how to counter each. You can have each of your moves and strings played by the computer with the button timing on display. You can set the computer to do various moves out of their move list and have them mix them up at random. This helps you practice reacting to various throws and strings. You can even have it show the "Hit Analysis," which really means that the character will light up whenever they are not capable of making an input or action. This will help you understand the games various mechanics, input windows, and also how big of a frame advantage or disadvantage various strings leave you and your opponent, and the gaps in the strings. The only shortcoming in the training mode is there's no "display hitbox" mode like in HD Remix, and it doesn't have the extensive frame data provided in-game like Virtua Fighter 4: EVO did. But that's something would only bother a tech-head whose obsessed with the software, like myself. That aside, it's still an excellent training mode that delivers everything you need.
This is the part I've been avoiding talking about for this entire blog post: the multiplayer gameplay, obviously the most important part of any fitan game.
There are 40 different characters, and they're all very different, even the Ryu/Ken clones. Every character has at least a hundred moves to mess with, including different kinds of throws and counter-moves. Needless to say, this is a very nuanced game.
My fighter, the debatably-gendered Leo Kliesen. She's so androgynous, she might as well be in an SNK game. The rest of the cast is less ambiguous, but there are also three robots (one is made of wood), a boxing kangaroo, a bear and whatever Yoshimitsu is.
I guess I'll start with the very basics. You have your basic movements: stepping, side stepping, back and front dashes, and jumping. All these movements (except jumping) can be canceled into lots of other actions. So you can rapidly, say, back dash, cancel into crouch guard, stand guard, back dash, over and over again. (Not as good as it sounds though, not the ultimate defense technique.) A front dash can quickly be canceled into a move or a block. It's a pretty nice feature.
There are four hit levels: High (can be ducked under), mid (cannot be blocked while standing), special mid (can be blocked from either stance), or low (which must be blocked low or hopped over). While it might seem like there's no point in using highs and special mids, those have the advantage of generally being the fastest moves in the game, and you can chain after them for a mixup. Crouching is generally the least safe blocking state because there are lots of mids, however.
The fastest a move can come out is in 10 frames. Usually, every character's jab moves are there 10f moves. All but two characters have a 10-frame jab, IIRC. This makes frame advantage and disadvantage very important, as it determines whether or not it's possible to beat out your fastest move after certain strings. If you are at a +3 frame advantage and do a jab ASAP, your opponent can’t possible beat out your move with one of their own. However, jabbing is such an obvious thing to do that they could simply crouch it and counter, but then they’d be wide open for a launcher, etc.
Throws count as unblockable highs, so they can be ducked under. You also have a pretty big window to tech them. But the neat thing about this game is that, if you get caught by a throw, you have to pay close attention to which arm they led the throw with. If they used the right or left arm to throw, you have to tech accordingly with its respective punch button. If they lead with neither arm, then you have to press both punch buttons to tech. This means that if you just guess when trying to throw tech, you only have a 1 in 3 chance of getting it, so you have to pay close attention. Another interesting thing about throws in this game is that, in addition to have their own animations, each throw has its own animation when teched. So both characters go through an elaborate feat of gymnastics whenever a throw is broken and they reposition. Breaking at throw actually leaves you at a frame advantage, but many clever players bait a throw break in order to gain a positional advantage. You might have been with your back to the wall before you tried to throw, but after he broke it, he's at the wall, giving you the change to do half your health with a wall combo. Just one mechanic of the game, throwing, is much more than just an unblockable move and attempting one often does not have a clear line between "success" and "failure." There are also a lot of character-exclusive special throws, some that only work in specific match ups, and I believe Marduk has throws that you must tech with a kick, which always throws me off.
Every character has a low parry, which is like is a pretty nice feature where you tap Down-Forward before a low attack hits you, and it'll cause you to catch their leg and flip them onto their backs in a Bound state, letting you combo after words and even start a nice oki game.
About half the cast has other kinds of parries, from just high ones to assorted high and mid counters. This gives the game some nice character-specific tools. Some parries do different stuff depending on which limb they catch and the hit level, and other need to have follow-ups inputted, while other just reposition. One of Leo's mid/high parries, if it catches a punch, will just have Leo pull the character towards herself, trip her opponent up, then have the opponent sent stumbling behind her. And that's it. While it naturally leaves Leo at a frame advantage and can be a nice reposition, what makes it a great parry is that if they hit a wall, they'll run head-first into while stumbling. This causes enough stun for you to be able to do a huge –damage wall combo. If the same parry catches a mid or high kick, Leo will do a cool under-leg pin.
However, these parries aren't over-powered at all, if you were thinking Dead or Alive. Not only must you guess the hit level correctly, the general rules go that you cannot parry the following (with some exceptions): running attacks, elbows, knees, launchers or jumping attacks. This makes the parry a very interesting mechanic due to some of the heavy risk it entails, when blocking is much safer, but at the same time, parries cover the majority of moves used.
You also have a lot of wake-up options (for those you who don't know, wake up is where you're getting up after being knocked down). I remember someone telling me there was like 25 of them. I do know you can roll in four different direction immediately following a knock-down, and another four entirely different rolls should you delay the get-up. You can also do a get-up spin kick, which are a bit risky but sometimes pay off to do. You can either do a low or mid one, and you can combo afterwards if they counter-hit. There's also the "Chinese Get-Up," which is where you use back to spring back up while kicking your feet. It does a light hit and gets you up, and I think it's safe on block. After rolling backwards, you can spring forward using your legs for a tackle-leap, or push off the ground with your arms for a legs-first leap at your opponent. Both hurt and actually both are safe on block, but are at risk of being counter-hit or getting juggled during the roll. They also have deceptively tiny hitboxes. You can choose to sideroll, generally the safest option, but still not get up at all if you want to delay your okime. This often throws your opponent off. You can also just stand up by pressing UP when you hit the ground, but that makes too much sense.
The side rolls to quick get up or just holding up are the safest means to get up, but they can still be beaten out by well timed attacks or ones that track the side rolls.
Due to every wake up option being fairly easy to beat, despite there being 20-some of them, the game is very much in the favor of the attacker. Once a combo ends, the rush down begins. Like it should be: recent fighters have left a bad taste in my mouth with all the turtling.
There's also a neat sub-system where, after running at your opponent from a bit of distance away, you will do tackle grab. After tackling them down to the ground, you'll pin them and can attempt three strikes starting with either hand, and then do another set of three punches to the face before getting thrown off. The person on bottom can attempt to tech and kick you off early by guessing which hand you are going to use, and parrying with the opposite. It doesn't come into play that often, but is interesting when it does.
To cover what's left of the game mechanics, juggles and bounding. Certain moves launch, and with a certain combination of moves after that, you can keep them in the air. Not much more to it, most given combinations of moves after a launch won't work, so you'll probably have to go online to learn which strings to do after a launch. You can also hit someone out of their jump (unlikely to happen given how often you jump in Tekken) to start a similar combo. Fortunately, every character’s move list comes with at least 8 Sample combos, and you can watch the computer do them and learn the combo follow-ups. However, these Sample combos are often quite bad, and the game will NEVER show you how to wall combo. For an example, the game never showed me how to do my Leo BnBs, I had to use the Internet.
Finally, there's Bounding. A Bound move is one that slams someone out of the air onto the floor. This will leave them paralyzed on the floor, feet up in the air for a second, and let you combo them further. This is usually just for one more chain and that's it, and there can only be one Bound per comob. If you use any Bound moves after that, they'll just spike them to the ground for an oki guessing game, which is good also.
All of these mechanics I was rambling about, with at least 100 moves per character, add up to an incredibly fast-paced, stylish and intricate game.
Let me repeat all of the above words in:
Tekken 6 is a very stylish and intricate game. It is fun to play, and it is complicated.
For all the belly-aching I might done about the game's mediocre features, that is honestly the nicest thing I can say about a fighting game. At the end of the day, you keep playing fighting games not for online play and single player campaigns and other stuff; it's the multiplayer game you bought. I might think the single-player is really bland, and at times frustrating, and that there should be more costume slots, and a few other belly aches. But let me repeat that Tekken 6 is a very cool and intricate fighting game.
Early on, I was planning on making this review less general: I was going to only review the games’ core mechanics and multiplayer. But honestly, the meta-game is too complicated for me to tell anyone about with any clarity. There are at least 100 moves per character, lots of universal mechanics, character specific-features, lots of strings with various frame advantages and disadvantage, very careful spacing and unintuitive mixups. The game has too many interacting parts for me to get my head around.
There’s a final inherent problem with Tekken: some people just don’t LIKE it. I understand completely. I will ask you a couple basic questions:
Do you get a tiny rush of pleasure when you press a 4-button combination quickly, and as visual feedback, your avatar performs the exact combination of strikes you wanted? Does it please you that it was a 10-frame high, another high, a mid and then a low? Do you like it when you suddenly jab someone in the stomach, and then side step their move when they try to hit you back? Do you like carefully transitioning between stances? Do you enjoy the mechanical exercise of hitting with a series of big moves on a helpless airborne guy?
If “yes”, then you probably will like Tekken 6. However, I shouldn’t leave you with the incredibly cowardly opinion of “if you like Tekken you will like Tekken 6.” Instead I’ll give an anecdote.
I hated Tekken. Something about the way that game moved didn’t sit right with me. It didn’t gel with me. That wasn’t at all the case with Tekken 6. I knew I had to play it after I happened to watch a match. I didn’t regret a moment of time invested into the game. I hope you will feel the same, because I had an fun time that everyone else should be able to have. Just don't touch the single-player, it stinks.
