Tekken 7 is the latest title in the long running series from Bandai Namco.
The series varies from other fighting game titles such as ‘Street Fighter V’ and‘Injustice 2’ as it does not limit you to moving your characters back and forth in a 2D space. Tekken 7 allows you to move in a much more expansive 3D space, where jumping into and away from your opponent is often eschewed in favor of moving between the foreground and background.
However, with this latest installment of the franchise, you can still choose a more traditional fighting game character in the form of Street Fighter’s own Akuma, who makes a surprisingly faithful transition into the world of Tekken, with his ability to utilize trademark fireballs, dragon punches and remarkably effective jumping mechanics.
On the same note, let’s not forget that the series is known for its characters (37 in all) with extremely detailed move lists, each of them comprising of over 50 moves, often staying authentic to their various martial arts influences.
It features a fluid fighting system, beautiful graphics and probably the best visual gimmick introduced into a fighting game (to induce spectator hype during tournaments), the epic slow motion! When two attacks are about to trade, and one of them is a potential killing blow, the game visually slows down, a la Matrix, building tension over which move will take priority over another.
While Tekken 7 functions beautifully in the areas that matter (the actual gameplayitself), it’s a little lacking in its extra features. Gone are the ‘Time’, ‘Survivor’ and‘Team Battle’ modes and although the story campaign extends to a little over anhour, it stays true to the fighting games and bland story modes theory. This is one area where developers ‘Nether Realm Studios’ and ‘Arc Systems’ fighting games shine, with stronger storylines.
The online mode operates as it should and along with the netcode and certain online features being patched up since release, Tekken 7 has arguably the sturdiest online functionality in the series. Furthermore, the game stays true to its rock hard tradition of minimum patching (in regards to character balance) and that’s saying something, in this era of constant online patching by game developers.
It is also worth mentioning that, despite the series’ long history of console exclusivity; Tekken 7’s best transcription is found in the PC port, with superior graphics and the least amount of input latency.
The E-Sports boom has also shed more popularity on Tekken 7, than previous titles inthe franchise. In light of both Capcom and Nether Realms’ boom in the e-gaming market, Namco themselves have taken initiative with the ‘World Tekken Tour’ which features the most skilled Tekken players playing in various venues around the world.
It also doesn’t hurt that Tekken 7 is a far easier game to get into, more so than its ruthless predecessor, Tekken Tag 2. Elements such as ‘Rage Art’ and ‘Rage Drive’ have also been introduced into the game taking a page out of Street Fighter andvarious other fighting games.
Despite Tekken 7’s deceptively simple surface, there is an almost imposing amount of depth underneath it. This makes Tekken a lot more challenging to master than other games, so you can be sure that you’re going to find something new, every time youplay it which is what makes Tekken a truly stand-out fighting game in a tough fighting game market.
Overall Score: 4.5/5
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