Fighting games are a lot like sports games for me. Every time a new one comes out, I rush to pick it up despite knowing I'm not very good at them. Then I'll play it for a few weeks before it begins collecting dust on my shelf. It's usually the flashy box art, and I'll let you know, "Tekken 6" has very flashy box art. But "Street Fighter IV" this is not.
"Tekken 6" is the latest installment in Namco Bandai's long-running fighting series and the first console appearance of the King of Iron Fist Tournament since 2005's "Tekken 5." The game opens with a montage of back-story cutscenes, all of which are very confusing and make little to no sense. But who cares? It's a fighting game; it's supposed to have terrible revenge plots, cookie-cutter cliché characters and terrible voice acting to boot. "Tekken 6" excels in all of these things, so just hit start and get ready to start button mashing.
"Tekken 6" features all the standard modes a fighting game would - Arcade, Time Trial, Practice, Online, etc. Arcade is set up in the typical eight-fight style culminating in an unforgiving match against a dragon demon Azazel, with no explanation as to how he relates to the game's story at all. And after I spent countless attempts trying to beat him, I got … the credits. Not even an end cinematic. Weak. The Online modes are also typical ranked and unranked fights, but I found it lagged more than I would have liked.
If a standard fighter isn't worth your $60 (and unless you're a diehard fan, it's not), "Tekken 6" also sports a mode called Scenario Campaign, a single player adventure mode similar to the Devil Within mode of "Tekken 5" and Tekken Force in "Tekken 4" except a lot bigger and more extensive. It works as an attempt to freshen and lengthen the single player experience in fighting games by giving you a story with adventure components, but it feels broken and tacked on.
Scenario Campaign uses the in-game engine for cutscenes, which, with the amount of things going on, doesn't perform. The game's arcade mode (you know, what this game is really supposed to be about) looks great and the blur effects (it's not next-gen if it doesn't have a lot of blur) add to the feel of a fluid, fast-paced fighter.
This mode just feels like someone got a button mashing beat-'em-up in my fighting game, reminiscent of Square's PS2 debut, "The Bouncer." It's a slow, rigid button masher that relies on three-hit combos. Sure you have a full moves list, but with the multiple enemies and slow pace, it doesn't keep the fluidity of the 1-on-1 combat.
Some of the story stuff is painful to sit through, but the whole mode is salvaged by the inclusion of loot collecting. This addicting addition of collectible items to customize my in-game character left me saying "maybe just one more level…" on many occasions. These items are more than aesthetic add-ons though, as they can raise attributes for your character.
If you have some friends who are game for a traditional fighter that relies on complex combos and timing, than "Tekken 6" is worth picking up. While "Street Fighter IV" remains the year's best fighting game (if you haven't picked it up, wait for the "Super" version), Namco Bandai's classic series' latest installment offers more characters than any other iteration, fresh and polished next-gen graphics and an addicting albeit not very appealing single-player mode.
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