Over the past weekened, I've had one of my contacts in Japan scouring the Tekken 6 location tests noting as much as he could in regards to all of the changes, nuances, and noteable additions in Namco Bandai's latest arcade fighting game. It's been a rough weekend* of fighting huge crowds and jockeying for a place in line, but even so, he finally sent to me his list of his impressions so far.One of the primary things that he stressed about this weekend's location tests were that at least in his location, Tekken 6 drew more crowds than nearly all of the other previous location tests that he had participated in. A sign of the strength of the arcade industry in Japan or a sign of the power of the Tekken brand?
Either way, it seems there is enough depth behind the game to satisfy any Tekken fan. Here's what he had to say:
Stop complaining about the game's visuals!What a way to start, huh?
The YouTube! location test videos and even some of the test screens and trailers released by Namco have not done the game justice. The game is a technical feat that not only far exceeds the visuals displayed in Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection, but also could very well be one of the best looking fighting games ever made.
One thing that was noted here about the game's design is that the "plastic" look of Virtual Fighter 5 and Dead or Alive 4 isn't a factor in Tekken 6. Tekken 6's animation and models look and move naturally with a level of detail that can't be compared to any other game on the market. A good example of this is both in Zafina's silky smooth (and disturbingly realistic) movements and Lili's hair which is modelled in a way that would put even Square Enix's motion picture division to shame.
Furthermore, the stage and move lighting effects that the Tekken series is known for has been completely revamped with a new engine behind it. Each stage is lit differently, whether it be the undergrowth of a jungle with only the occasional stream of light that breaks through the canopy of trees overhead or a ruined highway during the middle of a warzone (literally) with dozens of planes flying overhead causing all sorts of chaos in the background.
As a side note here on the stages, the relatively hyped multi-tiered stages that were mentioned are hardly a factor in the game due to their difficult to break nature. There were two specific multi-tiered stages mentioned in the report, one of which was a temple that featured breakable walls that expanded the arena, and the other a fight on the rooftops of a building that allowed you to crash through and shatter a glass wall. Unfortunately(?), to get the walls to break, it required anywhere between 3-6 hits against the wall. It was stated that the number of times he saw the stages open up into their multiple tiers could be counted on one hand really. That was until the players began trying to force the stages to open...
The list of stages that were playable were a bit limited (but diverse enough to satisfy), and included a snow field stage, a temple on a beach shore, a jungle/forest with water, a highway with a raging battle in the background, and a night-time cityscape with all the neon advertising that you would expect. There were a few more, but the notes about the stages were not kept up very well over the course of the time that he was at the location test.
Gameplay wise, the changes in the Tekken system from Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection to Tekken 6 seems to be a bit of a step backwards (which can be a good or a bad thing depending on how you feel about Dark Resurrection and the pre-DR Tekken era).
Combos are still the butter of the game's fighting system, however wall combos and juggle combos have had their total damage potential lowered slightly. With the natural recoil on different strikes, even a simple quick jab juggle combo is a bit more difficult than in Tekken 5/Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection. Furthermore, timing is going to be incredibly strict on all moves (more similar to Virtual Fighter than recent Tekkens). The game will require clear inputs on most juggles, as simply bashing the buttons and hoping for the best will more than likely result in your character being punished... thoroughly.
Side stepping is huge it seems. Despite dashing being slowed to the point of being dangerous, side stepping more than makes up for it by being extremely quick and extremely effective. This is only a small change really, that has positively affected the gameplay in a great way. It seems that everything (due to the improved side stepping) has become quite a bit more dynamic during the course of the match. It's now possible to side step out of traditional mix ups upon wake up and launch your opponent into a juggle of your own. The risk vs. reward aspect of Tekken will need to be revisited before a competitive scene is really ironed out, but for now, the subtle improvements to the existing system pushes Tekken close to the level of Virtual Fighter competitiveness.
Unfortunately the report didn't go into too much in regards to specific character changes. A lot of people seemed to be playing around with old staples and favorites rather than trying out the new characters, but even those that did play with the new characters were struggling a bit with getting their hands around them. Leo is bad. Plain and simple according to the report. She is slow, underpowered, and contains one of the worst move-sets of the game. Zafina on the other hand has the most potential. Her stances are deadly, and the ease that she moves around the arena (unless she's caught in one of her backwards stances) is remiscent of a good Voldo player in Soul Calibur. Miguel also has some potential, but wasn't used enough for anyone to get a real good feel for his character yet.
Other than that, the overall impressions from everyone seem to be positive so far. There are some concerns about balancing older characters who would previously rely on "old" tricks to win matches, as most of their tricks no longer work in Tekken 6. Outside of that, it seems that the latest title in the series is putting Tekken 6 into a more demanding arena. The system is still intuitive and simple to adjust to, but it now requires much more patience and timing to master.
I'll have some pictures posted of the event (including a line for the machine that was literally a 90 minute wait at some points) a bit later.
* - So he says - he's traditionally a little bit of a complainer and I can't feel sorry for someone who had the opportunity to test out the game - sorry Jim.
