Tekken 7 (PS4) Review

A new evolution in the Tekken franchise.

 It's been a while since the last installment in developer Bandai Namco's Tekken series. Aside from a few spin-off games such as the dream mashup of Tekken Tag Tournament 2, the long-awaited sequel to 2009's Tekken 6, the much-anticipated Tekken 7, is finally here on consoles and PC. Shouted as the thrilling conclusion in the long-running and bloody history of the Mishima Saga and featuring a slew of expanded content and revisions over the arcade release, new characters and stages, Tekken 7 is shaping up to become one of the year's best fighting games, but when pitted against the likes of the recently released Injustice 2 and Street Fighter V, does Tekken 7 fare well with the competition?

STORY- Picking up after the events of Tekken 6, the world is in shambles and another King of the Iron Fist Tournament is underway of all times. As the fight between the G Corporation and Mishima Zaibastu rages on, taking on many casualties, we follow an unnamed investigative journalist, whose lost both his wife and son to the war. His investigation leads him uncovering many secrets of the Mishima clan and G Corporation, which answers questions of previous games. I thoroughly enjoyed the story as well as the cast of characters. The fight scenarios were also pleasant and a great watch. One thing that I didn't like was the "Character Stories", in which you learn the individual stories of the rest of the cast. It sounds cool and all but sadly it's rushed and lazy. While it has its moments, fights only consist of two rounds and are over before you know it. It definitely feels like an afterthought when compared to the main storyline.

The fights are personal and the action is amazing.

GAMEPLAY- It's the same old Tekken formula that has you fighting another opponent in 1-versus-1 style, fights consists of two rounds and whoever wins them, wins the match. Each of the four buttons is mapped to the arms and legs of the characters. New mechanics are featured in the game such as Power Crush, which allows you to continue dealing attacks to your opponent without having them interrupt your streak, while you'll receive the damage they've dealt, the mechanic encourages some aggressive play. Also, When you're down to little health, your character will start glowing in red, meaning that you can execute a special attack called a Rage Art. Moving on, the packs standard fighting game modes such as Story Mode, which allows you to see the events of the game. Practice Mode, while not as extensive compared to those of Guilty Gear Xrd, is decent with some brief vids. on combo, though you'll have to learn most of the stuff on your own since it won't do you much if you're new to fighting games. Arcade Mode pits you against 5 CPU-based opponents, with the last boss being a pain to beat. Unfortunately, there's no character endings since the aforementioned character episodes take care of that. VS Battle has you fighting against a friend locally with a second controller.

The fighting is solid and engaging, as expected

from a Tekken game.

 Easily the most entertaining mode is Treasure Mode. It has you beating CPU challengers in hopes of increasing your rank and earning treasure such as customizable items and money dubbed as "Fight Money". The character customizations range from wacky sardine swords to medieval knight armor, they're out-of-place and wacky, but it's a joy seeing some hilarious surprises from other players when fighting online. Speaking of online play, it features your typical ranked matches and Tournaments against other players from around the world. There's also unranked, quick-play matches that pairs you with a ready opponent on the fly. While I did have some wins, I still managed to screw up and got beaten. Though I've experienced few disconnects and stutters in early matches, later rounds were shown to be stable after installing the game's updates. Still, online was intense and especially fun when playing against player with players of the same level, though it'll take you a some skill to beat some of the professional players out there.

Kick butts back and forth.

 The character roster, while great with many returning fighters is missing some favorites such as Anna, Lei, and Christie. It's kind of disappointing that future characters will come across paid DLC, but that tends to be the norm for gaming industry nowadays. That being said, I did enjoy playing as the newcomers and found the likes of Claudio and Shaheen to be the most fun to play with their interesting play-styles and move-sets. Guest character Akuma from the Street Fighter series fits in surprisingly well and retains his move set from previous Street Fighter games. Some of his powerful moves can be hard to pull off, but when they do they're a treat to watch. Extras include the Gallery mode, where you can view intros and cut-scenes of old Tekken games. The Jukebox lets you play songs from prior Tekken games such Tekken 5 and Tag Tournament. Fully unlocking gallery mode will take a while since you'll have to earn a lot of fight money, so you should better participate in battles. A reoccurring annoyance I've experienced during my time with Tekken 7 is the often long loading times, which is partly due to the move to Unreal Engine 4 and its shortcomings. It doesn't help that the screen stutters when loading, something I hoped Bandai Namco had fixed.

PRESENTATION- There's no doubt that Tekken 7 is a good looking game with some cutting-edge visuals. Tekken 7 uses the Unreal Engine, a game engine many fighting game developers have been using recently. Just like last year's Street Fighter V, which used the Unreal Engine 4, the game carries detailed character models and backgrounds and visually pleasing CG cut-scenes (though in my opinion, they botched Lars' design for this one.) Also, one has to admire the amount of detail that went into the visual effects department such as hair movements and particle effects. Additionally, for a fast-paced fighting game, it's just great to know that the game runs at a sweet 60 frames-per second, which is always something to rave about. I know I'm over-analyzing the visual presentation but I was pretty impressed with it and had to give credit where credit is due. The voicework is good with some solid performances in multiple languages. However, the main story's journalist was a bit dull at times, which is understandable considering his background, but he just kills the mood during some scenes. As for the soundtrack, it's filled with upbeat and catchy tracks that captures the tense action of the fighting well, my favorite track has to be the piano-based menu theme, which was a joy to listen to.

Tekken 7 looks pleasing and sounds great.

OVERALL- If you're a fighting game enthusiast chances are that you have Tekken 7 in your collection. For those new into the genre and looking for a good fighter, it's worth checking out, though newcomers will have to dedicate some time to getting good since the practice mode can only much, it's still accessible and rewarding when you've gotten the hang of things. Despite some shortcomings, Tekken 7 is a great game that's on-par with the likes of Injustice 2 and last year's Street Fighter V. It also stands out among the best titles of year thus far.