Featuring its most complete roster of fighters yet, Tekken 6 boasts more than 40 characters, including favourites such as Jin and Paul, newer recruits like Dragunov and six all-new characters such as the chainsaw-wielding Alyssa. Between them there's almost every weapon, appendage and move you can imagine to please all types of player – from button-bashing novices to 10-hit combo masters depending on how prodigious your move-memory is. The basics are typically solid, mapping a limb to each button and leaving the rest to a combination of D-pad or Left stick presses, buttons and careful timing. Some of these can be learned in Practice mode; others, like wall juggles and the new "bound" system for aerial attacks, can only be mastered by experimenting – ideally with another player.
Tekken 6Speaking of which, there's a new Ghost Battle Mode that lets you download more than 100 new fighting "personalities" – beefing up both the online and offline experience of a game that's otherwise lacking innovation. Even the new "Rage" system that adds a destructive second wind to your fighter (coincidentally similar to Borderlands) is more of a gimmick than a genuinely new tactic. In play, Tekken 6 is still majestic to behold, now complete with HD textures that maintain a healthy frame rate even while helicopters are smashing into the destructible scenery around you. However, with a noticeable lag during some online bouts, occasional clipping and tedious loading times between levels, it feels like a less polished and complete effort than Tekken 5.
Tekken 6
Meanwhile, the game's biggest new feature, the Scenario Campaign, is a bewildering addition at best. Imagine a pseudo-3D version of Double Dragon with you and an NPC partner mincing from point to point, dispatching identikit goons and boss characters punctuated by mini arena tournaments that are better experienced in Arcade mode. With no means of looking around as enemies materialise from thin air, you're constantly left waiting for the camera to move, often with enemies raining down blows on you from behind. Admittedly it's chock-full of bonuses and a riveting animated recap of the series so far, but it does nothing to broaden the game's appeal, which was surely the whole point of including it.
So no, this isn't a new dawn for beat-em-ups, especially after Street Fighter 4's new attitude and energy. However, with its biggest line-up of fighters and massive arena battles that still deliver the most perfectly balanced fighting action money can buy, Tekken fans will be enjoying and, no doubt, debating its merits for months to come.