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Review: Tekken 8

9/10

Summary

Tekken 8 fires on all cylinders, honoring its legacy while also pushing the franchise forward. The engaging solo and multiplayer experience combined with its stunning and immersive presentation make this game the true King of the Iron Fist Tournament.

Developer – Bandai Namco Entertainment

Publisher – Bandai Namco Entertainment

Platforms – PC, Xbox Series S|X, PlayStation 5 (reviewed)

Review copy given by publisher

Tekken 8 is the latest entry in the legendary fighting game series, and it delivers on all levels, providing a fresh and exciting gameplay experience for newcomers and veterans alike. It’s been almost a decade since Tekken 7 released so the arrival of the eighth installment has long been overdue. We recently got Street FIghter 6 and Mortal Kombat 1, and now with the arrival of Tekken 8, fighting games are truly making a comeback in the gaming community.

Right from the get-go, you’ll probably notice that Tekken 8 takes on a more aggressive approach than its predecessors. The most notable addition is the Heat system, which allows players to enter a state of enhanced offense by using a meter that fills up during the fight. In Heat mode, players can deal more chip damage, recover more health, access new moves or properties, and unleash powerful attacks that can turn the tide of the battle. The Heat system encourages players to be more aggressive and creative, as they have to balance the risk and reward of using their meter. It runs out pretty quick, so better make good use of it!

Another new feature is the recoverable health mechanic, which adds a layer of strategy and tension to the fights. Players can regain some of the health they lost by attacking their opponents, but they can also lose it permanently if they get hit again. This means that players have to be careful about their defense, as they can lose a lot of health quickly if they are not careful. Recoverable health also makes comebacks more possible, as players can regain some of their health while they are on the offensive. Aggressiveness is the key here.

Modern controls in Street Fighter 6 undoubtedly changed the game in terms of accessibility for newcomers to the fighting game genre. Tekken 8 offers something similar, known as Special Style. You activate it by pressing L1 on the PlayStation controller, and doing so brings you into a form that allows for simpler inputs and combo stringing. It’s quite limited and not as in-depth as the modern controls from Street Fighter 6 so players still need to eventually learn the classic button inputs. That being said, Special Style can be toggled at any time and doesn’t suffer from damage reduction, which modern controls do in SF6. I would say Tekken is fundamentally harder than Street Fighter, and that shows here as well with Special Style.

Aside from multiplayer player versus player battles, Tekken 8 offers a plethora of different game modes. The story campaign, also known as The Dark Awakens, contains 15 chapters and takes around 5 hours to complete. Arcade Quest is the other offline single player mode that has you making your own avatar and battling rivals throughout multiple virtual arcades. The aforementioned modes are the chunkier ones, whereas the rest of the side content include: Super Ghost Battle, which allows you to battle against ghosts that fight like you using AI, Arcade Battle, and Tekken Ball.  It’s a bit of a bummer Bandai Namco didn’t include Tekken Bowl, but we might see that in future DLCs.

The Dark Awakens is probably one of the better fighting game story modes that I’ve ever seen. It continues the threads left off from Tekken 7 and continues the feud between father and son Jin Kazama and Kazuya Mishima. Not only is this a great way for new players to get acclimated to the franchise’s iconic characters, they can also get introduced naturally to some of the game’s new mechanics. The over the top fully voiced cinematic sequences are always a treat and this time the Iron First Tournament is actually incorporated in with the plot, bring different characters together naturally.

This is not to mention the robust character customizations, combo practice rooms, and the Character Episodes for each playable character on the roster. The practice mode is comprehensive and helpful, with in depth tutorials, a frame data display, and a combo trainer. If you’re only looking at offline solo play, you can probably get between 10-15 hours of gameplay, but the majority of players are probably playing for the online competitive ranked matches, which technically makes this an endlessly replayable experience. 

If you haven’t noticed on social media or Youtube already, the character customization mode is absolutely insane. It’s so robust that you can use it to create any character that you want. Do you want to play as Leon from Resident Evil or Tifa from Final Fantasy 7 in Tekken 8? Well now you can! You can alter areas such as full body, head, glasses, upper body, lower body, shoes, and accessories for any given character. Dynamic colors can be used to further customize your creation so that each character is unique to you.

Unlike Street Fighter 6 which has previous generation versions and Mortal Kombat 1 which has a Nintendo Switch Port, Tekken 8 is built exclusively on current generation machines. This means that it boasts a stunning graphical overhaul, taking full advantage of the PS5’s capabilities. The game runs at a smooth 60 frames per second, with crisp and detailed textures, realistic lighting and shadows, and impressive particle effects. The character models are also more expressive and lifelike, with realistic facial animations and body movements. The stages are also more dynamic and interactive, with destructible objects, environmental hazards, and multiple transitions.

Tekken 8 features a staggering roster of 32 characters, including 3 brand new faces: Azucena, Victor, and Reina. Azucena is the first Peruvian character in the series while Victor works alongside Raven from Tekken 5. Reina, on the other hand, is the illegitimate daughter of Heihachi, making her the half-sister to Kazuya and Lars! Of course fan favorites such as Jun Kazama, Nina Williams, and Panda make a welcome return. However, what did they do to my boy Paul Phoenix’s hair though?! There are some notable legacy members that are missing from the roster too, like Roger the kangaroo, Kunimitsu, or Lei, who could all come back as DLC down the line.

There is cross-play between the different consoles that Tekken 8 is available on, and for the most part the rollback netcode is solid. I ran into some nasty server issues that resulted in the game crashing but this has since been addressed by the developers and been patched.

Tekken 8 fires on all cylinders, honoring its legacy while also pushing the franchise forward. The engaging solo and multiplayer experience combined with its stunning and immersive presentation make this game the true King of the Iron Fist Tournament.

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