the AU review says some interesting things. Prologues for all chars and endings (yes !) furthermore, you have to unlock chars in scenariomode(YES !)
It says the story is held together more tightly.
I think the normal ign guy just doesn't know about tekken, while this guy does. He did seem confused. Like he was reading his review from a paper... Slowly.
wow ! the AU IGN review makes the game sound awesome ! Wuh.. The other one had me nervous there for a sec.
Heres the review:
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/103/1038266p2.html
Tekken 6 AU Review
Welcome back to the stage of history. Oh wait, sorry, wrong series.
Australia, October 23, 2009 - Tekken 6 is here, and for fans the wait has been a long one. If you don't know the Tekken series, that's one hell of a rock you've been under. Its claim to be the premiere fighting series has been shaken a good few times over the years - and there are plenty out there who have never recognised its charms - but the long standing popularity of the game is impossible to dispute or ignore. It's time, then, to once again compete in the King of Iron Fist Tournament.
Those who don't follow the arcade scene may not know it, but Tekken 6 on PS3 and 360 is actually the home release of Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion (BR), the latest arcade release. This means that since Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection (DR), the cast has grown dramatically – six brand new characters to be exact. From the original Tekken 6 we have Bob, Miguel, Leo and Zafina. With BR came two more: Alisa and Lars.
Bob is a big fat American (seems a trend in recent fighters, doesn't it?) that just happens to rock at freestyle karate. Not fatman power karate either – he's fast like a hummingbird on Red Bull. Miguel, on the other hand, is a Mediterranean dreamboat; scraggly hair and open-chested shirt, he has no formal training, he hits hard with little structure. Leo actually has a very formal structure to her fighting style, sort of a mix between Feng and Leon from Virtua Fighter. Zafina is most interesting – described as an 'ancient assassin', she somewhat resembles Voldo from the Soul Calibur series, without scissor-hands. Alisa and Lars are far more kooky characters – Alisa is 95% robot with the detachable limbs and retracting wings to prove it. Not to mention her chainsaws (no, we're not kidding). Lars is another bastard-child of Heihachi's, and looks like he just leapt from a Final Fantasy game, what with the spunky hair and futuristic army outfit. He is actually ridiculously strong, however, so maybe it's best not to poke too much fun of him.
Together with returning cast members, Tekken 6 has a massive roster of 40+ characters, so you won't tire for choice. Furthermore, the game has changed at a fairly fundamental level, so a lot of your old favourites work very differently than you may be used to.
Overall, the gameplay feels as quick as ever, and movement is a fair bit tighter, which probably helps that feeling. The crush system from Tekken 5 returns (moves that crouch can't get hit by highs, jumping moves avoid lows etc) and feels even stronger now – having good crush moves is more valuable than ever before. New to the system are Rage, and the juggle system has been revamped with Bound juggles.
You enter Rage when your lifebar gets down very low but you are not yet dead. Once in Rage, all your attacking hits do extra damage, allowing you to get back into the game. This allows for some crazy (and undeserved) comebacks and keeps both players on their toes. Bound-in juggles has changed juggles entirely – you slam your opponent hard into the ground mid-juggle, and they pop up again so you can continue the punishment. This now means some juggles last forever, and most characters can juggle very long distances to the walls.
In terms of looks, Tekken 6 is impressive. This is the first game in the series to be designed from the ground up for HD widescreens. Apart from the level of detail on the characters, the stages are more interactive: the ground breaks apart, floors and walls can be broken, there are sonic-boom style hit effects, and the engine keeps ticking over without missing a beat. The stages are nice and varied, with plenty going on in the backgrounds, and overall are a step up from Tekken 5. Plus, the addition of some breakable walls and floors aren't just about eye candy, as they bring different strategic nuances out as well. Our only gripes with the visuals are that the characters' faces sometimes look a little off, especially at the character select screen.
Game mode options are reasonable, with Online play, Scenario mode and Offline mode. The latter includes all the old favourites, like Arcade, Ranking Battle, Survival, Team Battle and Practice. The Scenario mode, meanwhile, is a console-only 3D beat 'em up, a familiar inclusion by now for followers of the series. It has an interesting black and white prologue/full Tekken history synopsis, as well as comic-style prologue for each character, a la Tekken 4. Ending movies for each character can also be unlocked through Scenario mode, after knocking over a paltry three fighters or so. It would have been nice if the team had made us work a bit more for this.
To be fair though, a character cannot even be selected in Scenario mode until they get unlocked, and the unlocking will take some time. This story is held together much tighter with an ongoing saga, but the action itself is pretty good when it's going, too. All your character's regular moves are available, weapons can be picked up, and there is the promise of online co-op play, which quite frankly has us a bit frothy at the mouth. Equipping different outfits can affect your character's performance too, bringing some meaning to customisation beyond simple aesthetics.
Speaking of outfits, all the dress-up fun of Tekken 5 personalisation is back, and it has more options than ever before. Set your name, earn some virtual dosh, then buy some leopard skin pants, a back-mounted fish, or any hairstyle you could imagine. Each character has hundreds of different combinations now, so there's no reason to look like anyone else.
A bit of a let-down has to be the sound effects and music in the game. The sound effects alone could have been forgiven – they are more electronica than fight club, but still bearable. The music, however, is pretty awful on all but a few stages. The open field stage with sheep and… erm, yodelling, we could well have done without.
Tekken though, at its heart is a fighting game, and it's all about the versus play. With an equally matched friend, you will lose hours upon hours, especially with the plethora of characters available. You can even save replays of your best beat-downs. Online play, if it is as good as DR (we've been unable to test it for this review), will be plenty enough for those with a good connection but no Tekken-crazy friends living close by, with the added bonus of co-op in Scenario Mode. The load times are a bit slow overall which does detract a little from the experience – and is at odds with the speedy loads of earlier Tekken titles - but if you have space on your HDD it can be fully installed, which should all but eradicate the problem.
Closing Comments
After Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection went downloadable, this was a chance for Namco Bandai to make the full package again. It is slick in production, providing a lot of what one could reasonably ask for in a fighting game. The game is as accessible as ever, pretty to look at and arcade-perfect to a T. Enjoyment by yourself is always somewhat limited, but get some friends together and the fun literally never has to stop. Namco had a long time to make sure they got this port right, and it is a very good overall product indeed – if fighting games are your thing, this is a no-brainer.
| Rating | Description |  |
|---|---|---|
| out of 10 | click here for ratings guide |
|
| 8.0 | Presentation Long load times are a minus, but fixable through HDD installation. Menus are fairly straightforward; everything works just right without being flamboyant. |
|
| 8.5 | Graphics Very nice; people will enjoy watching as much as playing. Helicopters crashing, buildings burning, pig trucks crashing – the backgrounds have it all. |
|
| 6.0 | Sound Awful is the short answer – they haven’t got the mix right since way back in Tekken 3. SFX are average as well, but turning it all down and pumping your own tracks is the way to go. |
|
| 9.0 | Gameplay One of the most playable fighting series’ ever, and Tekken 6 doesn’t let the legacy down. If you have ever enjoyed a Tekken, you will love this one. |
|
| 9.0 | Lasting Appeal Learn a character, take on a friend. Repeat. The single player mode will undoubtedly only hold so much appeal, but as long as you have friends or broadband, you are good to go. |
|
| 9.0 |
OVERALL (out of 10 / not an average) |
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