Hailed as the final chapter in the series' long-running story of martial-arts papa Heihachi Mishima and his quarrelling family, Tekken 7's narrative will delight Tekken veterans, especially when the oft-referenced-but-never-before-seen Kazumi Mishima breaks onto the stage. Interestingly, Akuma also plays a pivotal role in the main story mode. Even Street Fighter's meter-based mechanics have been carried over for his Tekken debut. Street Fighter fans will appreciate how easy it is to fight as Akuma, since many of his traditional moves and inputs are present and accounted for. And when it comes to facing down Akuma's projectiles specifically, they can be easily sidestepped given the game's 3D movement. The introduction of fireballs and hurricane kicks might seem like an odd fit for Tekken, but they don't feel overpowered in light of the fact that every character comes with their own advantages. The most conspicuous Tekken freshman must be Akuma, the red-haired bad guy of Street Fighter fame. Impressively, nearly a quarter of the roster is brand new.
With more than 30 playable characters, Tekken 7 offers plenty of fighters and opponents to study. The most important new addition is the power crush attack attribute: Relevant attacks can absorb incoming hits mid-animation, allowing you to risk a little health to increase your chances of landing a critical blow, which injects Tekken's otherwise familiar fights with a renewed element of surprise. The game includes notable new supermoves that can be triggered when a character's health is dangerously low, which is also the right time to unleash a rage drive-a powered-up standard combo attack. This is disappointing, given that other fighting games have demonstrated that the best way to retain new players is by giving them a fighting chance, and the lack of instruction is odd for Tekken, which only one game prior (Tekken Tag Tournament 2) gave players Fight Lab mode-a place to study how mechanics and different types of attacks can dictate the flow of a match.īut if this isn't your first King of Iron Fist tournament and you've kept up with Tekken over its more than 20-year tenure, you’ll find that Tekken 7 delivers the same great combat you know and love with a hefty batch of new characters-and a few new mechanics. The point is that new players will have very little help learning anything beyond the basics once they jump into battle. None of this is to say that Tekken 7 is too deep, which would be a ridiculous complaint-the depth of its roster and fighting styles is to your benefit. The long-term trick is putting in the time to dissect and memorize your favorite character's moveset to hone your reflexes and diversify your tactics.
With an intuitive control scheme that assigns one button to each limb, you can learn how to attack and retaliate, step by step. Though Tekken 7 can be punishing, its fighting system isn't as difficult to get into as it lets on. A moment of indecision or a sloppy move against a more skilled player can lead to a string of pummeling strikes and a hasty defeat, courtesy of the game's long combo strings. By and large this is a game of inches most fighters punch, kick, and grapple up close to one another and there's little margin for error. Similar to other 3D Fighters like Dead or Alive and Virtua Fighter, Tekken 7 focuses on utilizing space and lateral movement during combat. The game has some server-stability issues at launch, but it's otherwise a great sequel that confidently claims its position among the best fighting games today.
Tekken 7 keeps most of these traditions alive and once again delivers the tight, hard-hitting action for which the series is known. And in recent years, the goal of unlocking and customizing outfits for the game's large cast rounded out the most rewarding objective of all: getting good. These versions often introduced offbeat, dramatic story campaigns, as well as more extensive additions such as delightfully odd beat-’em-up and sport modes. The Tekken series has a long-standing reputation in arcades, but for many players it was the console ports that left a lasting impression.