Ah yes. Tekken. Widely proclaimed to be one of the best fighter game series out there. Quite frankly, I'd have to agree. After playing my first Tekken game(which was Tekken Tag Tournament), I immediately was hooked into the series and now I am a hardcore fan. Although previous Tekken titles were outstanding, Tekken 6 frosts the cake, lands the plane, finishes the deal, takes the turkey out the oven. You get the idea. Believe me, Tekken 6 is a must-have game, especially if you are a big a fan as I am. But for those of you who don't know what Tekken is all about, here's a quick summary:
Tekken first began with the announcement of the first King of Iron Fist Tournament. At the beginning, it was only about proving to be the best fighter but as the series progressed, it became more twisted, revolving around a certain power-hungry family, the Mishimas. The struggle for domination started between Heihachi Mishima and his son, Kazuya Mishima. However, around the start of the third tournament, Kazuya's own son, Jin Kazama, got involved in the power struggle as well. At the end of the fifth tournament, Jin became head of the Mishima Zaibatsu, removing both Kazuya and Heihachi from power. With the resources and manpower now available to him, Jin starts a world war against the rest of the world. Because of this, Kazuya places a bounty on his son's head. In retaliation, Jin announces the sixth King of Iron Fist Tournament. It is here where Tekken 6 leaves off.
Gameplay
The controls in this game are much more fluid and smooth. Characters move in that way you want them to without a problem. Press the kick button, they kick. Press the punch button, they punch. So on so forth. For the game's fun side of the deal, all I can say is... it is extremely fun. No lie. You'll find yourself playing this game until the next game you want comes out. As for the difficulty of the game, it 's not too hard. Nor not too easy. Depending on how well you play a certain character, this game could either be a breeze or a pain. In fact, in most parts of the game, it all depends on your skill that will determine the difficulty. With that said, better start practicing if you want to have it easy.
Story
For most fighting games, there really isn't a huge plot that deals with a certain character. It's just usually about becoming the best of the best. But in Tekken 6, the story goes much deeper than that. It involves every character, whether their motive be to stop Jin or protect him. Or it could be for something completely different. Whatever the case may be, every character have their own story to tell so that's what makes the plot in this game so unique and complex. But it only received an 8 because I felt that the whole "Jin Kazama take over the world thing" was a bit too much. At least for my tastes. I mean, its cool to see one of my favorite characters be all emperor-like but to turn him evil to do so, uh... no. Let either Kazuya or Heihachi keep that role.
Graphics
Being a next-gen game, it is no surprise to see amazing graphics in the game. All stages are beautifully done. You can see every bit of detail around you in all stages. Also, in some stages, there will be lots of action going on in the background that will make your battles more intense. Aside from the stages, the characters are done nicely as well. Every bit of their clothing are well designed. Not only that, but the details in the characters themselves are great. You will be in awe, trust me.
Sound
Now what kind of fighting game would Tekken be without its awesome, adrenaline-pumping music? Well, it will still be awesome to play, just won't be as exciting. Luckily, this game delivers. Now granted that a few stages have music that might not be what you would expect in gut-busting, bone-breaking battles, but for the majority, its top notch. It will get your blood pumpin. It will make you want to keep up the fight till the very end. It will make you want to fight endless waves of enemies. It will... Yeah. You already know where I'm going at with this. In shorter words, you will not be disappointed.
Replay Value
Ok, ok. So you manged to beat Scenario Campaign Mode(one of the new modes in the game), now you ask yourself, what to do now? Well, being an awesome fighting game as it is, Tekken 6 has many different modes in the game that will occupy your time. In Scenario Campaign, if you have not done so already, you can unlock four secret areas to access from the World Map. Granted that to get these secret places you would have to meet certain requirements, these areas are quite challenging so you may find yourself spending a lot more time in Scenario Campaign to get the right items in order to complete those stages.
You can also get character story endings from within this mode so if you are the type of person that likes to play as every character, you'll be pretty occupied. But once that's done, a whole set of other modes await you. There's Arcade where you fight through eight stages and earn ranking. Ghost Battle is similar to that of Arcade in which you increase your rank, but you fight battle after battle, for as long as you like. A Versus Mode where you can battle a person locally. There's Team Attack where you pick a team of fighters and go against a CPU team. Survival Mode is where you must fight as many opponents as you can with only one health meter. All this for offline. If you want more fun, play online and compete against others to test how good you really are. And if that's not enough, then you have the option of collecting trophies and getting customization items for every character. In short, the possibilities are endless when replaying this game over and over again.
Overall
I would highly recommend this game to anyone who is a huge fan of Tekken. For those that are starting out as newbies to the series, you will instantly become fans of the series. And for those of you that have no clue about Tekken, this game is definitely worth looking into.
Gameplay....1010
Graphics.......9/10
Story...............9/10
Sound............8/10
