The original Tekken, published and developed by NAMCO, released in a video game era much different than our current one. 3D gaming and polygon models were all the rage, and innovation and creativity were encouraged. While the fighting game genre already made the 3D and polygonal transition with Virtua Fighter, Tekken would throw the gauntlet down with tighter, more fluid combat and a story that had some depth. Coupled with its successful inclusion on the PlayStation, Tekken‘s popularity skyrocketed.
Many Tekken games released since the original, and each added more technical complexity to its fighting system. Counters and reversals combined with secret moves and intricate combos, and the playable roster grew with diversity in characters and gameplay style. Finding a favorite wasn’t so much the challenge as finding just one to “main.” The combat was honed and tuned, even as new systems, such as Rage Arts and Power Crushes, were layered in and balanced. Still, there was a bit of a challenge finding the sweet spot of useful and deeply technical gameplay while being accessible to new players. Until now.
Enter Tekken 8
One of the goals in Tekken 8, published by BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment and developed by ARIKA and BANDAI NAMCO Studios, was to do exactly that: to provide compelling and exciting gameplay that had all of the technical depth that Tekken is known for, but to make it so that players of any skill level could find success and have fun. This goal is integrated in several different ways across the package of Tekken 8, and to understand all of that, let us unpack all of the goodies found within.
Upon booting up Tekken 8, you are greeted with a spiffy opening scene before a title screen appears with a song that sounds as if it could unite the world. It seems immediately evident that this game is for all players who wish to hop aboard. Once you press a button and get to the menus, however, it can seem a bit daunting. See, Tekken 8 has the “problem” of having so many modes that you simply may not know which to dive into first.
The first tab you see, which is supposed to show a selection of the main modes that you would want to play, doesn’t even show the standard arcade mode. It shows six different modes, including one, named “Arcade Quest,” which sounds like it might be the arcade mode. But it’s not. You have to move over to the “Offline” tab to find a mode called “Arcade Battle” if that strikes your fancy.
While it can certainly be daunting and a tad confusing, make no mistake: there is a lot of game here. Whether you prefer offline or online modes, Tekken 8 has you covered and then some. But what if you’re not sure where to begin, and is the experience even worth taking? Let’s take a deep dive on everything you can experience in Tekken 8.
Hollywood Would Be Proud
The first mode that you’ll see is called “Story: The Dark Awakens,” and it is, as you may have guessed, the main story mode. It begins with an epic battle, and that term, “epic,” could be used to describe every one of the fifteen chapters that await you here. It is extremely over the top, and I imagine that most everyone is going to be excited for the mode simply because it plays out like an action-packed summer blockbuster.
And it is a lot of fun, overall. There are some surprises here and there, especially in one section where the entire game basically switches to another genre, and it’s surprising that there isn’t a full-fledged mode based on it. Taken with all of the spectacle from the rest of the chapters, the story mode is sure to be a crowd pleaser.
But let me tell you the rest of the story. For all of its bells, whistles, and splendor, the story mode didn’t hit that well for me for a few reasons. First, it is rather short, and while that’s not a particularly horrible thing given the plethora of content across all of the other modes, it is a bit of a bummer to complete the mode in an hour or two when the story modes from Tekken 8‘s rivals, namely Street Fighter 6 and Mortal Kombat 1, were much longer while telling much better stories.
So let’s get into what really went wrong for me in an otherwise fun and spectacular mode. Besides a few moments of surprise, such as the aforementioned genre change, there is a lot of repetition. Sure, it’s epic and wondrous, but it basically amounts to nearly the same fight over and over, which can be grating even with its spectacular form.
Imagine, if you will, an incredible battle from a favorite game of yours, say something like the epic boss encounters from the recent Final Fantasy XVI. Remember how you felt when you first completed whatever you’re thinking of? Now, imagine that you did all of that, and then this happens:
One of the characters says, “So, you’ve increased in power!”
Now do that fight again.
The other character says, “Unlike you, I know how to use it!”
Now do that fight again.
The first character says, “But you haven’t faced my real power yet!”
Now do that fight again.
The other character says, “I could say the same to you!”
Now do that fight again.
“I thought you said you had real power?”
Now do that fight again.
“It takes more than power!”
Now do that fight again.
…and on and on, you certainly get the point. There are a few parts of the story where a similar scenario to this happens, but it goes on far longer. You fight the same, boss-level fight, over and over. Now, there are some slight changes here and there to the characters sometimes, but the same two characters are involved in at least seventy to eighty percent of the battles, and those bouts amount to basically what I wrote above.
As I stated, though, it is a lot of fun! But even the most incredible fight sequence can be a bit much to take when repeated time and again. Other fighting games brought us deeper stories with better writing, and I don’t mean only Street Fighter 6 and Mortal Kombat 1. Luckily, Tekken 8‘s story mode is just one mode, and it still is exciting with some very welcome surprises, though most of it is spectacle over story.
All The Single Players
Once you have finished the Story: The Dark Awakens mode, you may take on the “Character Episodes” (you can do these before, if you wish, but new content appears here after story completion). These amount to a quick, arcade-style story mode with each character, complete with opening story set-ups, a few matches with key characters, and closing cinematics. They are fun and engaging, and each offers inter-personal glimpses at the characters in a way that I wish the main story did more often.
Though the Character Episodes feel like an arcade mode, there is still the traditional arcade offering in “Arcade Battle.” In this mode, you pick a character and face eight opponents, back to back. Once you complete it, there is no cinematic ending, however; those are reserved for Character Episodes. Still, it’s nice to have the option to play Tekken 8 in traditional arcade style.
For a single-player arcade experience quite unlike any other, however, Tekken 8 provides “Arcade Quest.” This mode allows you to create an avatar character, and then use that character to go to different arcades, challenging the NPCs there to matches. Each character has their own rank and style, and there is so much that Arcade Quest does right that I now wish every fighting game would have a mode just like it.
At its most basic level, Arcade Quest is simply the “Treasure Battle” mode from previous Tekken games, which, itself, was much like similar modes found in the Virtua Fighter and Dead or Alive series of games. In those modes, you choose a fighter and face bot characters that would mimic players from real life. As you win matches, you gain ranks and customization items for your fighter.
Arcade Quest takes this concept and adds a story to it. You engage with fighters from different arcades and compete in their tournaments with the goal being to win the biggest tournament of all: the Tekken World Tour.
As an aside to this mode, there is a “Super Ghost Battle” mode where you face other players’ “ghosts,” and you, in turn, create your own ghost simply by fighting matches. It learns your tendencies and places your ghost into the world so others can battle against it. Your rank and item progression is the same in this mode as it is in Arcade Quest.
To round out the rest of the offline offerings, there is a “VS” mode where you can face off against the CPU or others in your household for some couch competition, there is a fully-featured “Practice” mode, there is “Tekken Ball” which is a quirky but fun mode from the past where you try to land a ball in your opponent’s zone to do damage, and there is a “Gallery” mode where you can view movies and illustrations.
Multiplayer Madness
Ok, that was all offline. But what if you want to play against players in the next town, across the country, or around the world? Tekken 8 doesn’t skimp with online modes, and it starts by taking inspiration from Street Fighter 6 with “Tekken Fight Lounge” mode. Here, you can use your avatar to interact with other players and, of course, play Tekken 8 matches with them. The entire experience nails the feel of an arcade, perhaps even better than Street Fighter 6 did with its Battle Hub. But there is one let down for me: unlike Street Fighter 6, you cannot play on the other machines in the arcade. You can only play Tekken 8, and while that’s the heart of the entire experience, it would have been nice to actually get to play some Dig Dug, Galaga, Pac-Man, or the other games that the NPCs are enjoying.
The other online offerings are “Ranked Match,” “Quick Match,” and “Player Match.” Ranked Match is exactly as it sounds: you face one computer opponent to determine your initial ranking, and then you battle your way up the ranks against real-life opponents. Quick Match quickly finds an unranked match for you to participate in. Finally, Player Match allows you to set up a room where up to 17 total players can match up together, and up to eight simultaneous groups can engage in battle at once within the group.
Across all of the multiplayer modes, finding a match was quick and easy, and the matches were nearly always smooth and lag-free. Given the complexity of the matches and the spectacle of it all, that’s no small feat.
System Of A Crown
We went over all of the playable modes, but none of it would matter much if the battle systems were not fun and engaging. Since this is Tekken 8 we’re talking about, a certain quality standard was already expected. Tekken 8 plays very much like previous offerings, which are 3D technical fighting games, but it adds nuance in how its systems function. For instance, Rage Arts can be used more easily, but only when a player’s health is low. Also, when doing a Power Crush, recoverable damage is added if you absorb blows, allowing you to regain your lost health by striking your opponent.
New to Tekken 8 is a “Heat” system that can be activated once per round. When active, the player has a few moments where all of their strikes do recoverable chip damage. Special heat moves can be utilized during this state, doing massive damage should they connect at the expense of ending the Heat timer early. It all adds up to the best-feeling Tekken experience to date, and that’s saying something.
Of course, the fighting system needs a strong character roster, and the roster is sublime! Thirty-two characters are made up of twenty-nine veterans and three newcomers. The newbies are Azucena, Reina, and Victor, and they each are incredibly fun to play. As such, it is very common to see a lot of players using these characters online, so you will quickly become well-acquainted with them. Meanwhile, the returning characters have added moves, and they all feel like they flow better in the Tekken 8 systems. Every character is unique (Kuma and Panda aside) and a blast to play, and even Kuma and Panda have some fun tricks up their sleeves.
Accessible
Accessibility is something that BANDAI NAMCO wanted to achieve, and they do this in a number of ways. A new control scheme was added, called “Special Style,” which allows a player to truncate all of the character controls into a sort of action game-style button scheme where you press one button repeatedly and watch a magnificent combo appear on screen. It limits much of the nuance available with the standard controls, but it also allows anyone to mash buttons and feel awesome about it. The combat design also lends itself to feel less punishing by adding recoverable damage which is added anytime a character is getting comboed in the air, making the punishment much less daunting since it can all be healed.
One disappointing aspect of the accessibility is that, while combat accessibility was accounted for, overall accessibility is a bit anemic. There are options for colorblindness, but nothing beyond this. Still, the changes in combat accessibility are a welcome step forward, and here’s hoping there will be more accessibility options added going forward.
Closing Up Shop
There is so much to talk about with Tekken 8. It bridges the gap to welcoming newer players while adding more depth for seasoned Tekken veterans. The graphics are fantastic, and they show the emotions of the characters very well through facial expressions and animations. The music is the best in the series, in my opinion, and each track sets the scene for the incredible battles. And those battles are always engaging due to the revamped and streamlined systems blending with the Heat and Recoverable Damage additions.
Tekken 8 is a complete package. Even if parts of it may miss their mark with you, others are sure to shine. The matches are fast-paced, strategic, and full of spectacle. Plus, they are fun, and that is something Tekken 8 truly succeeds at. Whether you are venturing through the epic story, rumbling with friends and strangers alike in the Tekken Fight Lounge, or engaging with any of the other numerous modes, Tekken 8 serves up a mighty banquet of fun. And you will be satisfied with every serving.
