Tekken 5 in HD?
Sound
Smile Junkie 20/25 UVERproject 20/25
Q – Smile Junkie how did you like the sound in Tekken 6?
A - Well, UVERproject, the sound in Tekken is the usual stuff you hear in the Tekken series. The BGM is usual techno-ish ambiance or something very familiar to Tekken fans. As for the SFX, the hit effects are exaggerated, but emphasize the hitting. Dubbing-wise, the game is dubbed fairly well, although its kinda awkward having some cast speaking English to one another, while the others speak Japanese, Chinese, and whatever other languages there are. However, I do like that the Major from Ghost in the Shell does Nina's voice.
R – I agree, I love how there's no language barrier when one character speaks one language, and the other character speaks the other and they both understand. I enjoy the soundtrack but sometimes I just don't notice it when I'm fighting. I definitely think the sound compliments the fighting. Being able to differentiate the sound of a hit and the block is a plus for me.
Graphics
Smile Junkie 24/25 UVERproject 25/25
Q – What did you think about the graphics?
A – Beautiful graphics. Hands down awesome scenery and the characters rendered in 3D are very smooth looking. The only qualm I have in terms of graphics is the font size. For us none HD TV owners, the font is far too small to be legible to be seen. But it's a fighting game so I guess that that is a minor issue.
R – Again I pretty much agree with the graphics. I wasn't expecting much when I put in Tekken 6 but when I saw the characters, I was absolutely stunned at how well they looked. It definitely stands out from other games, I've played recently so it was kind of breath taking when I saw the character models. The backgrounds look really well, and I usually don't care for them because previous fighting games have backgrounds just slapped on. It's minor but I like how detailed the hair looks for each character.
Story
Smile Junkie 15/25 UVERproject 17/25
Q – Did you enjoy the story to Tekken 6, which in this case is the Scenario Mode?
A – As for if I liked the story or not, to be honest, Tekken's story was never really good. It is typical "I need to be stronger than person X, but then when they are, person X becomes stronger" and so forth. As for this particular installment of the series, your attention is brought to the new characters: Alisa and Lars, two characters who diverge from the Tekken cast, which may not be a great thing, casting aside the traditional martial arts for superhuman fighting and a mecha girl that brings about anime fan boys and fan girls. Back to the story, its random bull that you should not really pay attention to, but it is a nice distraction from the fighting, but then why buy this game? I would've preferred NamcoBandai's usual Story Mode, where each character has their own stories, which is in Tekken 6, but its made to a lesser extent, and their ending cutscenes had no real impact on the story whatsoever. But judging primarily on SC mode, it just acts more of a drama between Lars and his bloodline, something you can find in Maury (btw do they still play that show?).
R – Haha yeah they still show Maury, but it's pretty much the same, either animals on the show, or a guy comes from the zoo. Anyways, I was a little concerned when I entered the Scenario mode because I couldn't find where the individual character stories were. Until about twenty minutes into the "campaign" but even so it seemed half assed and a lot shorter than the previous Tekken's where it seemed a lot more in depth and each fighter had a legit reason for competing. Tekken 6 threw it all out of whack, and I had no idea what was going on with what character now. As for the Scenario mode story I thought it was hilariously cliché. It was fairly easy to predict, and characters really didn't fit in to the whole scheme of things.
Gameplay
Smile Junkie 20/25 UVERproject 20/25
Q - What did you think about the game play from a Professional stand point? Are there new combos for you to access and are the old ones there? Is the character balance done well? Can someone who has never played Tekken grab it and enjoy it?
A – Alright. Tekken in a beginner's standpoint is pretty easy, especially with each button corresponding to a body limb. Also, there command lists are lined with 10-hit combos, strings, and custom combos that they give as an example. In an intermediate level, the new ground bound system makes the combo system much more fun, often doing loads of damage, however, making some character's combos cookie-cutter, meaning you do the same stuff over and over. In an advanced level, the whole mindgames of pokes, strings, footsies, spacing, okizeme, mixups, are played to full force, sometimes becoming a dancing scene with constant stair stepping. The combos, when done in an advance realm is somewhat broken, as they can go to like 80% health, and if you are in rage mode, its over. The added rage mode makes late game play more hyped, often turning the tide of battle. In general, newbies can pick up this game and look respectable, but as in the case of all fighting games in an advance level, you might get embarrassed. Combos done in the old games are somewhat accessible in this installment, although ground bounding makes the combos longer and the wall carries more deadly.
R – I button mash and win against computers…can't really say enough about how easy it is for someone to pick up this game. Juggling and doing all that cool stuff though comes with time and practice and there is a lot of different modes you can practice in but they all are pretty practical and you won't find much fun with them like time attack and survival. That rage mode is a terrible idea, it can be a game changer but most of the time it's too late to do anything with it, in my cases. I think the character balances are pretty great. There are no characters that are way to powerful or cheap. The added characters are a great addition to the roster.
Q – How was your experience on the online multiplayer?
A – Ok. This is my biggest problem with Tekken, aside from their god-awful loading times even with installation. Online Tekken mode varies. I would recommend playing only 4 or 5 bar connections. 1,2, and 3 bars, have like a one second delay in inputs, becoming rather than a reacting game, you end up playing a predicting game. Also, as for online competition, there are those who are really good, but there are also scrubs that do one attack and one attack only, or has American-no-defense syndrome and gets hit by everything, or those who abuse the lag to do command throws. I suggest 4 and 5 bars because the game is bare-able and combos aren't as affected due to not much delay. As for getting someone to play you, it's hard, although in the east coast, i realized i had a lot of matches late at night like around 10pm-2am, and if you are not picky and play all matches no matter the connection. I think if you use the ethernet cable on your ps3, the connection should be fine, but seeing as i don't, mine is so-so. UVER, yours might be beast enough to handle it.
R – It does actually handle it pretty well. But sometimes it takes forever to get a match even if you do quick match. The match making is kind of bad as well. Everytime I tried to do a ranked match, I pretty much got paired up against pros that wreaked me. It was kind of demoralizing and made online pretty much boring.
Final Word?
Q – Anything else you would like to say about the game and would you buy it if you already didn't own it?
A – Well, I do own the game. But if i hadn't i wouldn't really buy it for the price they have it as. $30 is the limit for me on this, I bought it for 40 i think? Overall, this game would satisfy casual fighting gamers as well as Tekken vets. However, this game doesn't make a giant leap from 5DR to 6, so it's kinda disappointing. Online netcode is whack, but customization is probably the biggest highlight of the game. To note, i have Lee cameoed as Cloud, Alisa as King (from KoF) and as Asuka (Evangelion), and a bunch of other goodies. The gameplay was already solid, although a little basic, but the ground bound system helps to give some life to combos. Overall, I felt that NamcoBandai gave up on this Tekken installation though, with dropped dlc contents and a poor attempt of adjusting online netplay. Replayability is only a factor if you have a constant and a varied amount of competition. But as I said before, it gets kinda repetitive and predictable. I haven't played it in awhile either.
R – It stands at 60 bucks now, so you got it at a pretty decent price. I know I don't wanna pay 60 bucks for it so I just rent it when I got that itch to play Tekken, I also got it on my PSP for 30 bucks I believe and it's pretty much the same just without that scenario mode, but the story mode intact. Customizing is a lot of fun. Over all I'd wait for a price drop but it is a nice game to have if you wanna "kick" back.
I thank Smile Junkie for helping me with this review, hope it was nice to see two sides of a game and different perspectives.