Another lifecycle of systems, another Tekken game.
Although it has been eight years because the last mainline Tekken was launched, Bandai Namco wasn't likely to overlook PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as new platforms for the fighting series to consider life on. This time around, they spared no expense if this came to delivering the franchise's usual over-the-top storyline, impressive roster of playable characters, and oodles of fun customization options. However, how good can a seventh entry be? While fighting games typically stick to a strict play style and aesthetic, they are doing bring up the conversation of “when is sufficient enough?” With the first Tekken game released over 20 years ago, perform the small changes introduced in Tekken 7 do enough to make it feel worthwhile for the die-hard fighting game followers? The simple answer: Yes. It succeeds in delivering a vintage arcade fighting experience, however for those searching for the next evolution of fighting games, they won't find it here.
As with previous Tekken games, the knowledge is divided into different modes of play, together with a main story mode, multiplayer battles, random arcade encounters, and practice sessions. Thankfully, the developers didn't skimp if this found the core of what makes Tekken an enjoyable and lasting experience: the fighting. For those that love a good one-on-one 3D fighter, Tekken 7 still delivers the same repetitive, but addictive, gameplay most people have come to know and love in the series. Because the genre is made on mastering a character's movepool, Bandai Namco is constantly on the offer a large choice of playable characters to choose from and be the expert of, which ensures low likelihood of running into another person who solely plays Heihachi, for example. Should you choose, that's okay too, as seeing who's the better master of this character is its very own interesting style of play.
Tekken 7 introduces two new in-battle components known as Rage Drives and Story Assist, which all bring about more fluid use of powerful moves for every character. Story Assist enables first-time players to try out the greater complicated combos a character has using the push of a single button, while the Rage Drive is a hidden stamina bar that fills when the character goes below some health, letting them unleash a strong super move of sorts. The great aspect to these two additions is they don't break the game or allow for spamming from less experienced players taking on an experienced pro. The trend Drive only becomes a choice once the character reaches a low enough health to want a little push not to die instantly; it is a final effort to try to regain the round, but it doesn't feel overpowered or cheap for either player. Story Assist also falls consistent with this fairness, as it only allows a certain selection of combos to be sampled, and eventually encourages the player to understand how you can unleash the string of hits naturally.
There are gone 30 colorful characters to choose from, including guest character Akuma, from Street Fighter, and the first DLC option, Eliza, who is an elegant vampire without any sense of shyness. Additionally, there are plenty of old favorites returning, like high-stepping Eddy Gordo, King, Jin Kazama (and the devil form), and also the adorable Panda for starters. And talking about color, customization choices are, once again, readily available for each character. Players can change several physical details of the characters using unlockable accessories, for example hats, make-up, bags, costumes, uniforms, and so much more. While this seems a little bit superfluous for any 1-vs-1 experience, there is something magical about heading right into a fight having a completely customized Yoshimitsu to intimidate the other player. These fun add-ons prove Tekken 7 keeps its root ability to balance tongue-in-cheek and serious martial arts like a tone that may kick anyone in the face. Unfortunately, the story shoots for-and fails to hit-an attempt for recreating that balance.
The soap opera that's the Tekken series continues throughout its melodramatic glory, by having an interesting mechanic to put the events between the Mishima Zaibatsu and G Corporation. The game's main story opens with a voiceover by a soft-spoken, unnamed man describing his passion for his family, which is a surprisingly understated moment for any fighting game. Tekken titles have used voiceover narration previously, however this is really a clear attempt at a serious, less jovial voice now. This narrator, who we learn later is a journalist, drives the majority of the plot for that game, once we switch back-and-forth between his storyboard-driven recollections from the Mishima bloodlines' final chapter and real-time cinematic events. This is where the storyline goes a bit off the rails, because the quiet and thoughtful narration that sets a dark tone from the story is substituted for over-the-top Hollywood-esque cutscenes. These intense and over-the-top moments aren't foreign towards the series, but in this incarnation, where we're said to be focusing on how the results of a family dispute have led to a social collapse across the world, each scene feels too far taken off the emotion. However, at times, Tekken 7 redeems itself with flashback clips and pictures appearing during battle, which actually obscures the player's view to be able to remind them of methods important the battle available is. It's a mechanic that will have benefitted from being sprinkled through the entire story mode to more closely tie the strong emotional threads together. As is, it's a small tool the sport uses to remind the players of the emotional complexity from the battle, however it works well in balancing out the somber tones using the action.
While there are choices to raise the difficulty level for that story mode, it feels unnecessary to go back after one playthrough because the different battles aren't interesting enough to take on. Well, aside from the final fight, which from nowhere becomes frustratingly hard. The story mode sadly feels tacked on and never as emotionally important as it should be. Questions are answered and a bow is defined on top of the Mishima storyline, but after several main entries of prolonged storytelling, it abruptly ends having a snap of the finger.
As for its devote the current age, each entry in the franchise has introduced little changes to the overall format, be it visual upgrades because of advanced hardware or new characters to spice up gameplay. With VR now available to consumers, a great number of PlayStation titles take advantage of immersing the player right into a new, more vivid experience. For games like Resident Evil 7, immersion is really a highly effective tool to give a fresh update to the survival horror genre, however for fighting games like Tekken 7, VR doesn't seem to have a purpose yet. Simply put, the VR experience on the PS4 is unnecessary here. Probably the most that could be completed with a virtual experience in a fighting game would be a first-person view, in which the player can fully feel like they're dodging punches and kicks head-on, but the third-person view we're given in Tekken 7 does nothing to distinguish from just playing normally. It feels a lot more like useless or selling point than an actual feature in the game. Overall this isn't a dreadful thing, but it seems there needs to be more expansion on what VR can perform before genres like fighting can embrace it completely.
Of course, the Tekken franchise has never been about telling a well-constructed narrative. That's mostly true for its genre in general, as the most important aspect comes down to how the actual fighting gameplay works. Most players will spend their time in Arcade mode or multiplayer, and Tekken 7 does both of those staples perfectly. However, even just in terms of expanding its presence in the genre, the game doesn't introduce enough to create itself in addition to the remainder of its franchise, or even fighting games with stronger narrative presences. The few new in-battle mechanics are enjoyable and can give slight variation to players familiar with the Tekken franchise, but they don't revolutionize or stack up against what's come before. In turn, it becomes just another option for fighting fans to play on the latest consoles but doesn't leave anyone asking for what's next.
