Tekken 6 Review

The stages in the Campaign play out very linearly, in that you get to thrash a number of small time goons before finally facing off with the “boss” of that stage, which is basically one of the Tekken characters with an enormous health bar. Aiding you in your travels (and brawls) is a female android named Alisa Boskonovitch, and a small handful of weapons. Yes, weapons. You get to wield a chaingun, flamethrower, and lead pipe at numerous points in the game, and they do help bump up the body count quickly. Moreover, Alisa’s AI has been done rather well, and she really deals considerable damage to the enemy NPCs and bosses.

Yet another new addition, which is linked to the Campaign mode, is the ability to customise any of the characters with a plethora of clothing/armor items. Progressing through the Campaign story nets you gold and unlocks items that can then be purchased with said gold to deck your fighter out with. Apart from providing visual enhancements, these items actually alter the character’s abilities in battle, which is useful.

Departing from the Scenario Campaign, you have your regular slew of game modes like Arcade, Team Battle, Survival, and Practice, and the all-new online multiplayer mode, which allows you to jump in and pummel other players from over the world. The entire roster of 40 characters, including the new entrants, is available right from the start in these modes, so just pick your fav brawler and fight to the finish!

Coming to the actual core gameplay, you basically trade blows with your opponent until one of you can take no more and hits the ground. You have different kinds of punches, kicks and throws, depending on your stance and direction. Each character has an exhaustive move list to master, with the multi-hit combos being the hardest to pull off. This time around, the environments are semi-interactive, meaning that you can smash your opponent through a wall into an adjoining area and continue the onslaught. The same can be done with some ground surfaces, and it looks pretty cool.

Graphically, the visual goodness has been steadily bumped up with each iteration in the series, but Tekken 6 takes a massive forward leap in this regard. The characters have been created with painstakingly meticulous detail – everything from their rippling muscles to the movement of their hair and costumes during battle is jaw-dropping. You can even notice them grimace and frown when one of your blows connects with them. Animations are insanely fluid, and flow into one another seamlessly. The environments available in the one-on-one arcade-style matches are simply gorgeous, with fancy lighting, reflections, weather effects, and high quality textures. Add to all this ample special effects, particle explosions, and motion blur, and you have one hell of a looker.

Audio has been well taken care of, too, with great, satisfying sound effects for when blows are dealt, and decent voice acting in the Campaign story. The music tracks complement the action well, and set the right mood for each environment.

Tekken 6 is a brilliant addition to the ever-popular franchise, and provides hours upon hours of mindless brawling fun, with fantastic graphics and a great lineup of characters to boot. The easy to pickup control scheme, plethora of game modes, and online multiplayer will appeal to any gamer who enjoys games in this genre. Tekken 6 packs one heck of a punch, and will blow your mind irrespective of your experience with the franchise.