Arnold-KatayevAt Sony's holiday event in Manhattan, there was a notable focus of third-party games, as SCEA brought out folks from LucasArts, Eidos, Tecmo and Namco to show off their PlayStation branded titles. Namco was demonstrating both Katamari Forever and Tekken 6, the latter of which this piece is obviously about. I walked over to the PlayStation 3 running Tekken 6, picked up both controllers and handed my buddy the second one.
Having missed E3, this was my first exposure to Tekken 6, and I loved every second of it. We played a total of six three-round matches, the final score ending in a 3-and-3 tie. We figured we shouldn't hog the controllers anymore, so there was no winner-takes-all tie-breaker match. Regardless, that should tell you just how much fun we had with Tekken 6. The moment you pick your favorite character there was virtually no feeling of being lost, as all of the classic commands for every fighter have been retained, in addition to an assortment of new actions that have been added.
Tekken 6 is unlike other fighting games. Take Virtua Fighter, it tends to focus a lot more on being very technical, and so loses accessibility in the process. That's not a knock on the Sega franchise, it's simply the truth. Tekken is a perfect mixture of being both accessible and very deep, and with a massive roster of 40 fighters to choose from, you have a very wide assortment of fighters and fighter-types to choose from.
What I like about the large selection of fighters is that they're all unlocked from the start. But most importantly, that gives me an incentive to play through and unlock every one of their endings, which is what I've always loved about the franchise. This furthermore lends to the whole sensation of feeling right at home with Tekken 6. You never feel lost, thanks to the game retaining its classic feel, and in more ways than one.
But of course, for those looking for something new, there are still a ton of enhancements and additions made to the fighters, such as the Rage system. And what would a Tekken game be without a whole bunch of game modes to choose from? An all new Tekken Scenario Campaign mode will be featured, allowing fans of the Force Mode from past Tekken games to engage in a beat'em-up campaign just like before. And don't forget the online mode.
As far as the aesthetics go, the game now boasts a notably bigger bump in animation and its smoothness. Despite how nice the fighters animated in Tekken Tag, Tekken 4, and Tekken 5, Tekken 6 manages to outdo them all considerably – bravo, Namco. Fighter details are very nice, but it's the stages that looked really fantastic and steal the show. Lastly, the superb art direction shines here yet again, making this one gorgeous game to look at.
Tekken 6 is set to launch October 27th, 2009.
