Man-Blog

Because I like to think my opinions matter: Tekken 6

Editor: Bim Barbieto | Section: toys | Email this | Viewed 626 times.

I saw the Tekken 6 arcade cabinet at Timezone, Megamall. Actually, I didn’t come across it, I had to follow the howls, the jeers and the cheers from the local Tekken mallrats. There was a huge crowd around the machine, but I was able to sneak past em’.

Arcade- First thing you’ll notice is that the arcade cabinet isn’t displaying a 4:3 ratio screen, it’s on 16:9 ratio high definition. It’s a huge screen. Standard buttons- 1,2,3 and 4 and the lollipop stick.

The HD shows the power of the PS3’s gpu, since Tekken 6 is a PS3 exclusive. If ever I do get a PS3, it’ll be for Tekken 6 and Metal Gear Solid 4.

Changes- Here are the few things I just noticed off the bat. Wall hit animations are a fraction of a second longer, which means more time to dish out some punishment. This, of course, changes the gameplay a tad- the urgency to stay away from those walls increased ever so slightly.

The stages are, because it’s in HD, much bigger. I’d say you can see 50% more of the stage than the previous titles.

One of the biggest things they added is the Rage System. You’d notice it after watching just one round, because it automatically activates when one’s life is dwindling. What it does is give the character a little boost in power, similar to the four button charge that started in Tekken 3, if I’m not mistaken.

Health bars are also longer, and matches tend to last a few seconds longer than in previous incarnations of the game.

Graphics- You know what, on the surface, I just throught it just was shinier. The textures just seemed to jump right out of the screen, and everything was livlier. Without real inspection, they looked a lot like the models from Tekken 5, only shinier. This isn’t to say that Tekken 6 didn’t improve, but Tekken 5 models were already very high resolution.

However, this isn’t the case at all!

A quick comparison to Tekken 5 reveals that there are significant changes, such as far less jaggies in the models and backgrounds. Everything, from the character models to the background images, is very superbly detailed.

Tekken 5

Versus

Tekken 6

The creases in the pants and costumes are all modelled into the character, instead of using a very complex bump maps, like previous Tekken games. Facial expressions are animated better, showing that the facial rigs in these things are better than frickin’ Jimmy Neutron.

Characters- There are five new characters:

Bob- some fat ass using Kenpo.

Leo- quite possibly the most obscurely gendered character since that girl/guy from Guilty Gear; fights using Hakkyoku-Ken.

Miguel Caballero Rojo- a Spanish guy, who, of course, looks like a matador. He’s really working that ‘fro, too. Fights with Zipota and brawling.

Zafina- a spiritual fighter, looks south American to me. Fighting style is Ancient Assasination/ Harada. I’m making a prediction now- she’s probably going to be one of the most utilized female characters, next to Nina.

Azazel – looks to be Tekken 6’s boss fight.

There is a bonus stage, and it kinda feels like taking on Goro from Mortal Kombat- it’s a huge-ass robot.

There is a huge list of returning characters, including Armor King, Wang Jinrei, Lee Chaolan, Mokujin, Sergei Dragunov, and yes, Roger Jr. The list totals at about 41 characters, including the boss fight and the bonus stage. That’s a lot of fighters.

Gameplay- It played a lot like Tekken 5: DR. The juggles are as prolific as ever, but they seem to do much less damage than they did back in the third installment. Tech rolls can’t be done after a juggle; instead, they bounce, extending the juggle for a few more hits. This sucks for me, because I really hate juggling.

I noticed a few new moves here and there, notably Devil Jin’s new throws. Lei does that resting pose, instead of just lying down flat on his back. I haven’t seen enough to tell you all of the new moves, but expect to see a whole fucking lot.

Tekken 6 sees the introduction of the item move- a move that utilizes an item specific to a character. In the Tekken 6 trailer we saw a few months ago, we see Bryan ending a juggle with a shotgun, and that’s what it sounds like- an item move. Marduk uses a baseball bat of some sort, Asuka Kazama uses a paper fan, and Anna uses one of her shoes.

Conclusion- All in all, I think this is one of the best fighting games I’ve ever seen in action. If ever I do get a PS3, this is why.