Series Review: Tekken

Game: Tekken
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Namco
Release Date: 8th November 1995

Running at a "TV scorching 50 frames per second", Tekken plays smoothly for a fighting game of its time, and although its graphics look somewhat dated now, they distance themselves from the 2D fighters of old such as Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat with 3D characters and more vibrant scenery in the background, even if they are still on a 2D plane. In Arcade Mode, players progress through 9 stages, fighting all 7 initial fighter choices as well as a sub-boss and the game's boss.

All sub-bosses of the game, as well as the main boss are unlockable as playable characters, taking the total roster to 17 fighters, which makes for a decent amount of choice.  2P Play Mode is self explanatory; two players can compete with any of the unlocked characters in the game. Test Mode hosts the game's options, with selectable difficulty, music and round time.

Each character has 2 punches and 2 kicks, and is able to crouch and jump whilst attacking as well as having their own set of special moves. While all character's basic moves are fairly similar, the special attacks are well implemented if you're able to pull them off. There's some interesting ones like Paul's Death Punch, and Yoshimitsu's sword spin. Sometimes it's difficult to judge how far you need to be away from an enemy to hit them but its less of a game fault and more something you get used to.

The AI as you progress through Arcade Mode becomes tougher, to the point that it's using cheap shots and undodgeable combos. I found even Medium difficulty level to be rather challenging, so much so that I was replaying the final fight 15 or so times to beat it. While it's good for fighting games to be challenging, I don't think Namco adjusted the AI much from the arcade version which was designed to eat your hard earned coins.

Overall, the Tekken series got off to a good start on home console; there's a great selection of characters, exciting special moves, locations and decent graphics with a smooth and consistent framerate. Two Player Mode is a lot of fun and works somewhat better than the Arcade Mode due to the tough AI and the fact that you only receive 20 seconds of story for playing through to the end anyway. Tekken isn't a bad game at all, and provides an interesting challenge to Virtua Fighter's offerings as a 3D fighter.

Rating: 73/100
Grade: C

Game: Tekken 2
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Namco
Release Date: 25th August 1996

Tekken 2 is a strange sequel; it shares a lot of qualities with the first Tekken game, most of the same characters feature in it, it has the same issues with AI difficulty, and it looks fairly similar also. There's a lot of new game modes however, and the characters are far more unbalanced than they were before. It remains on a 2D plane and although the fighters appear to rotate around a little at times, the player cannot control this.

As before, gameplay uses the four buttons for different punches and kicks in addition to special moves for each character, however there are some incredibly strong special moves featured in the game as well as some rather overpowered combos. It seems that some characters have been given "slow, but strong " movesets, while others have "fast, but ineffective" movesets which makes fighting unbalanced as the strength assets far outweigh any benefit of being quick.

Graphically the game looks a little better although the camera is further away from the fighters, their body parts still look as if they're not quite the right shape, however. The soundtrack on the game is more noticeable than the first installment but isn't really anything special. Overall its similar to the first game with new modes and moves, so a slight improvement, but nothing spectacular. 

Rating: 75/100

Grade: C

Game: Tekken 3

Console: Sony Playstation

Developer: Namco

Release Date: 12th September 1998

Tekken 3 plays noticably differently from its predecessors from the outset. For a start the movement and fighting moves look and feel smoother, and hitting an opponent feels less based on chance and more on timing and skill. The AI has been fixed also with the difficulty in one player modes evening out somewhat, so that Easy mode really is as it says, and harder modes are more challenging (although the computer still begins to use cheap tricks in order to win on harder difficulties). 

10 starting characters are featured, with the possibility of unlocking 11 more for a grand total of 21. This is a good roster size, although there's a slight imbalance in how well each of them play. Some of the unlockable characters (Gon, Mokujin and Dr. B most of all) seem to have very gimmicky movesets and although weaker characters seem to be able to move a little faster it's far easier to play with someone slow and strong. The variety between characters is good, although the females in game could benefit from more differentiation.

Storywise, each character gets their own ending after beating arcade mode and while some are more interesting than others, it's still nice to see what the characters are supposedly up to after winning. Both forms of the final boss are unlockable as playable characters, which is a nice touch, and with 10 stages making up Arcade Mode, playthroughs have a good length. 

Graphically the game is a huge improvement from the first game, although there's still some blockyness in some characters, they all look markedly better. Also the backgrounds have improved and the lifebar graphic is nicer. In terms of sound, there's still a rather forgettable backing playlist but its of good quality overall. The fighting sound effects have been improved also, with a lot of annoying character noises having been taken out from the previous 2 games. 

There are some interesting new game modes in Tekken 3; Tekken Force mode plays like a beat 'em up, essentially although generally the opponents can be beaten in one kick. At the end of each stage is a boss until you've completed its four stages. Tekken Ball mode features a fighting version of volleyball, without a net as players attempt to hit eachother with the ball to damage the opponent or loft it over the other players head. Both of these modes are welcome additions and change up the gameplay nicely but it feels like they're just ideas that haven't had much development. 

Other game modes include Team Battle, Survival, Time Attack and Practice as well as a Theater mode to watch the endings of characters you have beaten the game with. It's nice to see an improvement on the first game's 2 choices of mode and although you'll mostly be playing Arcade mode, these are all enjoyable options also. 

Overall Tekken 3 feels like a much smoother, improved edition of the game with some interesting character additions and new modes. Gameplay is the best part and although the controls have remained much the same, the experience has been refined to a much higher standard. With graphical improvements and better AI difficulty, the only real complaints I have of the game are the cheapness of the more difficult AI and rushed feel of Tekken Force mode. 

Rating: 83/100

Grade: B

Game: Tekken 4

Console: Sony Playstation 2

Developer: Namco

Release Date: 13th September 2002

Tekken 4 was the first installment of the franchise for the PS2, and it looks all the better for it. Characters are finally rid of their blockyness from previous installments and the backgrounds are much more nicely defined than before also. The gameplay is also incredibly smooth and it's easier to use combinations of punches and kicks than in previous games. 

The game features the same modes as Tekken 3, save for Tekken Ball Mode which has been removed. Tekken Force Mode has been changed to a 3D beat-em up featuring improvements on the last game, such as targetable enemies, and more life power-ups, however the overpowered kick still remains as a gamewide feature.

Overall the game's AI difficulty has been reduced, and it's much easier to button-mash your way to victory against the computer. Medium difficulty mode holds almost no challenge to beat and I'd reccomend playing the game on at least hard. While this opens the game up to newcomers, I'd say it also promotes lazy strategy on their part, as stringing combos of well timed moves together has been made easier in the game, but also unnecessary by the difficulty of the AI.

Tekken 4's visuals are generally good and although some of the crowd in backgrounds are more blockily designed than actual fighters, the characters themselves are well designed and have varied looks and outfits. Boasting 23 characters in it's roster, there's still a good amount of choice from the beginning, and once all of them have been unlocked. As for character balance, there don't seem to be many over or underpowered characters. 

One flaw of the Tekken series that becomes more apparent with this installment is the massive power of most character's kicking moves. Punches usually do around half the damage of kicks unless they're a special move, and unless your opponent is particularly skilled, a decent technique for beating the game is to time your kicks well and use the most powerful one 4 or 5 times until the fight is won. 

Without any new modes (unless you count Story Mode which serves as what Arcade Mode was in other installments), but some gameplay and visual upgrades, Tekken 4 suffers from low AI difficulty and an easier way in for button-mashing style gameplay. Timing and attack choice is still important in this installment however, and there's a good selection of characters and stages to fight in, even if all you really need are a couple of strong kicks. Overall Tekken 4 is a mixed bag which works better in 2 player mode than Arcade mode but features some improvements on Tekken 3's visuals and smoothness. 

Rating: 77/100

Grade: B

There was going to be a review of Tekken Tag Tournament also, but my Playstation 2 may well be out of commission for a while, so I'll leave you with just those four. In a smooth, well presented fighter series, with a decent roster of characters and overly powerful kicks, it's apparent that Tekken has its own endearing playstyle which in later versions is easy to pick up and hard to put down.