Heihachi carries his son, Kazuya to the edge of a cliff after the King of Iron Fist Tournament 2. The winds roar below as a firey tempest. It is the mouth of a volcano into which Heihachi then drops his son's seemingly lifeless body. 18 years later, Heihachi tries to defeat the monstrous Oger and extract some of his DNA which he needs to transform himself into Devil, as Jin and Kazuya are the only two beings left in the Mishima bloodline with the Devil Gene intact with their DNA. Heihachi wretchedly fails to capture Ogre and is overwelmed by True Oger's immense omnipotence. 2 years later, a desperate Heihachi orders his Tekken Force to raid G Corporation for the remaining Ogre DNA, but something is going horribly awry. Heihachi whitnesses an unknown figure, a soldier perhaps, ruining through hordes of Tekken Force. Heihachi watches as this figure rips through his trained soldiers from a monitor in his hellicopter, and a daunting realization hits him . "You're still alive"! G corporation had found Kazuya not to long after the 2nd Tournament, and spent 20 years reviving him. It seems he had finished at the right time. Kazuya continues his enraged assault, knowing whos soldiers they were. Kazuya sees the miniature helmet-camera on the single remaining soldiers and knows well that Heihachi is watching. "This time...I'LL GET EVERYTHING BACK!!!" Kazuya screams! He then punches the soldier with a blinding fury, diabling the camera. A desperate Heihachi, in the wake of a shockingly monstous dilema, makes arrangements for the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4 as an attempt to lure and kill Kazuya once and for all! Kazuya inevadably hears of the Tournament and is aware of the conspiracy. He reluctantly enters knowing full well this is his last chance to kill Heihachi and take over the Mishima Zaibatsu. This game is truly amazing in every scense. From the grasping, thorough story line for each and every character and how most of them tie into eachother, to the outstanding graphics, the fluidity of the animation, and the perfectly comfertable controls. The cast of characters isn't exactly what you'd expect from a Tekken game, especially considering how enormous Tekken 3's roster was, but the quality and originality of the characters comepletely makes up for it's lack in quantity. Only 22 characters on screen, but if you count pallet-swaps, Miharu and Eddy Gordo, then the count steps 24. What I didn't enjoy so much about one of the characters, Combot, which is basically a robotic replacement for the popular Mokujin, is that Namco programed it so that it has only one character's move set throughout the whole match. If you get someone you don't know how to play with, you are basically s.o.l. I do, however, think it clever the way they tie the inability to change movesets between rounds into it's prologue in story mode. There are 3 new characters added to the cast, and they mix just as if they were a part of Tekken since the beginning. Craig Marduck is a Vale Tudo champion who was banned from fighting and jailed as the consequence of a scandal, and was mysteriously bailed and invited to enter the 4th tournament. Christy Motiero is a student of Eddy Gordo and grandfather of the man who taught Eddy the art of Capoera, and is now looking for her teacher who suddenly vanished, and thinks the tournament is a great place to start. Finally, and one of my favorite characters in Tekken is Steve Fox, a Brittish boxing champion who is running from the Brittish Mafia because he wouldn't throw a championship fight. Now looking to uncover his mysterious past he enters King of Iron Fist Tournament for some help. All the other stories are just as great, and although you don't have to beat the game with every character to unlock the entirety of the cast, the story mode makes it well woth the rigor. That brings me to the next awesome feature in Tekken 4. Each character has a drawn, narrated prologue for Story Mode, and a really great CG epilogue. The biggest mention of this inclusion, though, is that each character's ending includes actual spoken dialogue for the first time in Tekken history (with the exception of Julia Chang's ending in Tekken 3, but seriously, who remembers that?)! Most of the time they are serious, like Jin Kazama's or Paul Pheonix's, but other's are just hilarious (I suggest you play through the game with Marshal Law. Trust me). The addition of spoken dialogue adds a mountainous amount of personality to the characters and the in-game graphics used are just outstanding. The stages, which all now have walls are very vibrant, life-filled, and extremely, above all else, interactive. The only gripe I have about the stages is that most of them aren't even level playing fields. Nuances like steps and wierd inclines cause some gameplay problems, such as some of your high attacks traveling right over the head of your opponent even though they stand up right. The Honmaru dojo stage is my favorite because of it's flat layout, which is a rarity. The wall-juggle system is implimented almost seamlessly and piles on an impossibility for a lack of strategy. It is, however just a little too easy to get out of some barages, but that doesn't burden the gameplay. Some characters practically rely on walls and some don't need them at all, but all can use them to their advantage. One move added to everyone's list is the abiltiy to perform a wall-jump attack. It's done with the same exact joystick motion for everyone and just looks plain awesome. The newly revamped Tekken Force mode was rebuilt form the ground up into a 3D action game with an endless stream of enemy types, as opposed to a 3D side scrolling beat-'em-up in Tekken 3. Add a few more stages and power ups, better boss battles, and a plethora of secrets to unlock, and you could have a whole game within Tekken Force itself. Unlike in 3, you don't have to start at the first stage when you lose, just at the beginning of the stage you are at. Beating is a must if you want to unlock Hon-Maru. The Theater Mode returns as well. You can watch the characters Epilogues and Prologues any time you want after unlocking them in story mode and listen to the games soundtrack. Tekken 4 is a fighting game that should not be missed under any circumstances by any self-respecting fighting game fan. This is one gaming experience you'll never forget.
To many, Tekken 4 set the changing point for 3D fighting games and the genre itself. The game is distinctive from any other Tekken title in the series because it removed and added so many new gameplay features gamers bot... Read Full Review
Tekken 4 is a average fighting game that pleases fans of the series,but people that have played other fighting games might find this game to be bland,and not worth playing. But putting aside what hardcore gamers think... Read Full Review
