You'll have to imagine this preview is being whispered in your ear as we don't want Michael Gapper to hear this, but... Tekken is - in some ways - a lot more fun than Street Fighter. We make no bold claims for it on any technical level, to us it's always just been 'the silly scrapper', perfect pissed-up post-pub pugilism that will reduce you to a heap of giggles at a piece of outré inanity just as often as it will get you fired up for a fight. It's always been a button-masher with none of the complex nuance of SFIV's combos, but what it does have is balls, and humour, and the option to punch a kangaroo square in the tits.
Tekken 6 does open itself up to predictable scorn from hardened gamers for persisting its 'Force Mode' arcade adventure with your chosen fighter scrapping Double Dragon-style against a series of goons and 'bots, picking up guns and errant chickens in the process. Does it make for satisfying 360 gaming? No. Did we love every brain-squeezing minute of it? Yep.
One definite plus that Tekken 6 will have over the technically far superior SFIV is its sheer variety, with a personal record of 42 weird fighters to choose from, plus - best of all - a character cutomisation option that we're very keen to try out for ourselves. There's also an embarrassing array of arenas, with plenty of interactivity available on each one, plus old-school environmental weapons to pick up and club the opposition with.
Beat-'em-up connoisseurs will rightly point out that Tekken 6 is to SFIV what a doner kebab is to boeuf-en-croute, but you can't undervalue the fun element of Namco's beast of a brawler. No-one wants to take on a SFIV expert at that game; they'll be pasted in a second. But with Tekken? Pretty much anyone stands a chance of stepping into the ring and mashing their way to victory. Plus they can do it with their own choice of mad animal head. Tekken FTW!
We could expand on the franchise's new features - such a Rage, which builds up in near-defeated fighters and gives them a final chance to survive the bout with a crackling display of violence - but all you need to know for now is that Tekken 6 is fun, furious and funny. You can't take it seriously, but you can't fail to have a blast with it. We can't wait to play more.
Tekken has always been average at best- which is odd because the Dreamcast Soulcalibur, also by Namco is probably the best, most fluid fighter I've ever played...
Still don't have the new Streetfighter yet though...
i wouldn't lose too much sleep. The series took a nose dive after 3 in my opinion.
will probably pick this up eventually when its below the Ł20 mark.
Do you think Tekken 5 is worse than Tekken 3? Then I'm afraid I'm not sure you know what you're talking about - seeing as T5 more or less takes everything that was brilliant about T3, and puts it in a lovely shiny new package. T5 was one of the best fighters of the last generation, period.
I'm not keen on the previewer saying Tekken has never been technical. Yeah, okay. Go and try mastering King, and let me know how long it takes you. Why are you even compareing T6 to SFIV anyway?! Two of the same genre, but oh so different at the same time. Compare it to the other big 3D fighters.
Jem Roberts is being incredibly unfair. Yes, it isn't as technical as Street Fighter 4, but it certainly has technicalities. Why no mention on the extra 'bounce', allowing for combos to be extended?
Im lucky to be in Japan atm, and watching some of the tekken 6 pros, battles can be extremely tense and technical. It's not easy putting a chain together.
I have to say that I agree with the previous 2 posters here. Tekken has always been an incredibly complex fighter when taken seriously.
To say that anyone can win by mashing buttons is utter BS. I invite anyone play me and to pick Eddie Gordo, mash some buttons and see how long it takes for you to lose.
I will certainly be getting this when it comes out and can't wait to play it online and hopefully come up against Jem. Care to post your XBLA gamertag?
"It's always been a button-masher with none of the complex nuance of SFIV's combos".
Ok so we are comparing a 2d and 3d fighter
Tekken has its complex characters if people would take the time to try it I do like Tekken and can not fathom why it gets so much stick. I generally think the haters have never broken the tip of the ice berge, well this reviewer certiantly hasn't!
I'm annoyed because I saw 'Tekken 6 Preview' and got excited, clicked up the link and had a wee look; what I got instead of a game preview here is nothing more than a biased p**stake that serves only to make the game look ridiculous, rather than actually preview the title. I learned nothing about the game from what you have written- I do now know that you think Street Fighter is better, and that it's technically far superior, which is an argument in itself (since to argue the two games technicality would imply that you're part of the semi-pro or professional competition scene.) that should never be expressed journalistically unless as a feature or commentary.
I didn't come to this website to read a p**stake, I came to read a preview; save the slagging match for conversation and commentary and call the thing down the middle and do your job ffs.
The graphics look okay to me - Tekken's motion blur smoothes things out a bit, and goes a long way in evolving and improving the aesthetics. For instance, the look of Soul Calibur IV wore on my nerves pretty quickly. The faux-subsurface scattering would have looked great if there was any dynamicity to it. Tekken 6 doesn't have the faux-SSS, so the lighting interaction seems more believable. However, I haven't played any of the recent Tekken's for a while, so I find it a bit sad that it's not the technical excellence show it used to be in the PS1 era; but I will probably end up getting it anyway, because am I am a fan of the franchise on the whole.
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