Tekken 6 Review

Tekken 6 is a game that I have been looking forward to for a very long time, I even made a group about it over a year ago expecting an earlier home release. That didn't happen, one of the reasons being that the game got an update while in the arcades, Bloodline Rebellion. The home Tekken 6 is Bloodline Rebellion, but with some of the expected console features. Sadly, somewhere between this new version and Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, Bandai managed to beat all of the fun out of their big franchise.

You would expect Tekken 6 would have a big graphic upgrade, but this is not the case. The visuals have been downgraded from the arcade release, and provide some jarring moments. The music is ok, but nothing special, and the backgrounds are limited. Gameplay-wise, Tekken has not changed that much, but there are some new tweaks now that make it easier to launch and sustain juggles. In fact, you could argue that juggling is too easy now, and really the only way to play the game.

The big single player mode is Campaign Scenerio, which is similar to Tekken Force in Tekken 4, and where all the games endings and storylines are housed. It is not a bad beat-em-up, and has some charming elements, but it is going to rub people the wrong way that players are forced into this mode in order to get to character endings. These should have been in arcade mode, not the booby prize in a one-off.

There is a joyless quality to Tekken 6, maybe due to the fact the game is such a carbon copy of Tekken 5 with far too little upgrade, and some obvious downgrades. This is a very rushed, thrown together product which is not going to last long in the light of other, better made fighters out there (SFIV, BlazBlue). Rent.

fyi, I have not played online yet, but the general opinion seems to be the play is very laggy. That is of this writing, but just letting you know what is being said.