Tekken 6 (X-Box 360)
Riv , 2013/02/11 11:33

Publisher:	Namco Bandai
Genre:	Fighting
Players:	1-2 Players
Rating	Teen
The Good:	Tekken still reigns supreme as the king of 3D fighting games. Large roster and a lengthy entertaining story mode that could well have been its own game.
The Bad:	The boss designs have actually gotten worse making the endgame anti-climactic. The bosses also suffer from SNK Boss Syndrome. Is the final boss of this game REALLY a giant crystalline chicken?
The Ugly:	Bob, and yet he is so fat, ugly and disgusting that using him is a thing of beauty. SPEED AND WEIGHT!!!

Heihachi is still alive and kicking much to the dismay of gamers who wish death upon him with every new Tekken title.

I’m a bit late on this. Sue me. Tekken 6 has been out a few years at the time of this publishing but as part of my Tekken-stravaganza (I will be reviewing two other Tekken games this week), this is here for completion purposes. Also, I picked up Tekken 6 pretty late in the game. On the plus side I got it for a mere $14.99 which is pretty awesome.

Tekken 6 is the first go for the series on the X-Box 360 whereas Tekken 5 was Sony-exclusive and thus ended with me sitting that one out. I somewhat had lost interest after the 4th title which was only “okay” in my opinion anyway. However, the 6th game in the series seems to redeem itself in terms of plot and fun factor.

Jin Kazama has truly succumbed to his destiny seemingly embracing his status as King of Iron Fist and leader of the Mishima Zaibatsu. World war is imminent as the Zaibatsu and G-Corp run by Jin’s father, and former Tekken head-villain Kazuya battle each other. It’s now time for the King of Iron Fist Tournament 6 and things are about to get weird – literally, as it seems the power behind the Devil Gene they both have is stirring…

Tekken 6 introduces quite a few new characters, including Alisa and Lars, two of the new protagonists introduced as the main characters in Scenario Campaign (once known as Tekken Force) Mode. Lars and Alisa are a little bit more anime-like than what I’ve come to expect from Tekken characters but have become widely popular.

No.

Leo, Miguel and Zafina also join the fray, although none of which seems entertaining or even fun to play: you have a little gay boy, a bullfighter and a dancer. These are probably the least favorite characters I have ever played in Tekken. Think about that. I would rather play as a giant lizard with boxing gloves or a wooden man than these three. That’s probably really fucking bad. However, this is all made up for with Bob.

YES.

Bob is the fattest, ugliest, most disgusting thing I have seen in a fighting game in years. He makes Rufus of Street Fighter IV fame almost seem humane. Much in the vein of Rufus, Bob moves much faster than a character of his size should and I can’t help but play as him no matter how disgusting he is. Most of the other characters are here too as well as every returning character (except Jinpachi Mishima) from Tekken 5 whom may be new to some players due to the fact Sony Exclusivity kept many people away from the 5th title so characters like Asuka Kazama and Lily may be played for the first time by many of the people who pick up this title. Of course many of the other characters of the series return in this title with very few characters missing – even Heihachi is still alive and kicking much to the dismay of gamers who wish death upon him with every new Tekken title. 40 characters round out this Tekken cast and virtually all of them have a unique moveset and style. This means mastering everyone is going to take a while.

Unfortunately among the new characters are the new bosses, NANCY-MI847J, a ridiculous optional-to-defeat giant robot boss that nets you an achievement if you can, and Azazel, a strange giant crystalline chicken that spams a lot of cheap moves and randomly turns invincible. This leads to a lot of SNK Boss Syndrome, which is the name given to annoyingly difficult to defeat bosses that don’t fit the mold of the game at all in any fighting game. These bosses are frustrating but can be beaten mostly through holes in the computer’s AI by spamming particular moves over and over. Still what’s the fun in that when it comes to bosses?

For those who have never played Tekken and need a brief explanation of what to expect: This is not your Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat style of fighting game, rather Tekken has four buttons – left and right punches, left and right kicks and the moves are more based on realistic fighting. You have combos, counters and that’s the name of the game. It’s not as “flashy” as it’s “fireball/dragon punch” counter parts but it’s still pretty addicting and a nice change of pace.

Your typical Team Battle, Survival, Time Attack, and arcade modes are here, as well as a the previously mentioned Scenario Campaign mode where Tekken 6 goes from Fighter to “Beat ‘em Up” as you fight thugs in stages over and over as Alisa and Lars while unlocking the story of Tekken 6 and Jin Kazama’s turn to the dark side. In the process you also will earn costume parts which allow you to change the attributes of fighters in Scenario Campaign and customize the appearance of the other characters of Tekken in all modes.

Overall Tekken is, well… Tekken but that’s fine because it doesn’t need all that much changing or tweaking to be a good game and a good solid fighting game in our modern era is too few and too far between unless you’re downloading older titles off of the arcade. Tekken is a game you can get at full price and not be all that disappointed in and by the time of this writing you can get it for a ridiculously cheap price. If you’re hungering for a solid fighting game this is one you shouldn’t pass up.

-- Riv - jasonrivera@jasonrivera.com