Great game ruined by the last boss Azazel....who is as cheap as a cheap thing, on 50% discount in a cheap store.
Sadly, the pinnacle of the series is probably still Tekken Tag Tournament, for two simple reasons, firstly the increased reliance on cheap juggles, allowing one move to flow into potentially a half energy-bar draining unblockable attack. Now I can do these, after much practive, but even when I do it seems somehow like cheating...
Gone is the offensive/defensive strategy of attack, bluff, throw, reverse that used to fuel the very best Tekken duels, and that let even beginners with some understanding of the basic move set exploit their opponent. Now it's possible to whittle away 50% of a characters health from one lucky blow. Some may embrace it, but I think Tekken 5 and 6 have taken it to the level that it drains the francise of a good deal of it's reward, and I hope that a future Tekken may, like SF4, take the series back to it's slightly slower, more tactical roots, and eschew the gravity and fun defying juggle system recently employed.
Juggles aside, which is purely a matter of taste I guess, there is still the problem of the Big Boss.
These aren't new to Tekken. Indeed, from Devil through to Ogre and Unknown, the last Boss in Tekken was what it was supposed to be, a difficult foe with a twist. Yes they had a couple of moves which were unblockable, but they were telegraphed to the point where practice would allow to to distinguish patterns, and time attacks. Their difficulty came from their ability to block well, and use the full range of that characters moveset to onstantly keep you on your toes. They beat you, alot, and you hated them, but you learnt how to beat them, and when you did, it was because they made you a better fighter to do so.
Now it seems Namco is unable to make a character difficult this way, because they have instead opted to make the big bosses crazily difficult not through skill, or utilising every move in their roster, but by making them cheap. Agonisingly, frustratingly cheap. Jinpatchi was bad enough, being able to stun you in the middle of any move for several seconds, and waiting on you with unblockable fireblasts which were only avoidable were you a good distance away. Never mind that every move of his did vastly more damage than any of yours. You couldn't free-fight against Jinpatchi. You had to get close, and poke, to stand a chance.
The mightly Tekken reduced to a button mashing joke to defeat the last boss reliably with all characters. Skill, practice and fun removed in one lousy, cheap character born of lazy game design.
But wait. Tekken 6 does one better...it gives you Azazel. Screen filling Azazel, so tall that you can't really tell what the hell he's doing amidst all the glowing, the swarming insects and the strange growths on all his limbs. Azazel, who keeps Jinpatchi's cheapest moves and adds a fair repetoire of grossly unfair attacks. You can't throw him, he blocks everything. The only time you can hit him is when he is trying to hit you. Ok if you have a character who can deliver fast and powerful blows to counter, but with the majority of characters you're reduced to...poking. And even this is an exercise in frustration where one mistimed move loses you half your energy to a roll or floow spikes or a teleporting dive.
Until Azazel, Tekken 6 is a masterclass, only a few graphical weaknesses let it down, such as awful water, distracting overuse of light-bloom, and chunky character models which make some of the previously elegant and lithe characters look like they've been at the pies. The timing, silky smooth 60fps animation and responsiveness shout Tekken 6's quality from the rooftops...but over-reliance on cheap juggles, and the hateful, hateful poke-fest that is Azazel...just take anough of it's sheen off for me to recommend it over it's 8 year old forebear.