User Review : Tekken 6: Bloodlines

Lackluster performance and removed features makes Tekken 6 a huge disappointment.

There have been several successful franchises in gaming history from Resident Evil to Super Mario and from God of War to Halo but there are only a few franchises that have been flawless through out their runs. Except for a few exceptions at least one game in established franchises turns out to be mediocre. Some may have thought that Tekken, a series which had begun on the PlayStation and went through to the PlayStation 2 totaling five games, would have always stayed true to its fans but sadly these hopes have now been shattered as the latest game in the series Tekken 6 has taken the mantle of being the most disappointing and under-performing game in the franchise. It all started when the PlayStation 3 was released, as soon as that happened an exclusive Tekken title was considered obvious and when the announcement was made there were of course satisfaction among the fans that an almost guaranteed game of the year would come on the console. There were many angry when the series finally let go of its exclusivity when it was announced that the franchise was going multiplication but even then others believed that the game would still be a success. Now that the game has been released will mainly be disappointment at the fact that what could have been a great game was turned into mediocrity. Pretty much every fun feature of the game has been cut off including the story.

Unlike the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions there is no scenario mode to appease the PSP fan base instead the very small, or what should have been small, story mode is available. It would have been alright had there at least been a decent plot heading in the game yet there was none. The story picks up from where Tekken 5 left off, Jin Kazama defeated his great grandfather Jinpachi Mishima and claimed the throne for the Mishima Zaibatsu but has not destroyed the organization as thought but has started waging war around the world and spreading a whole new evil even more horrific than what Kazuya and Heihachi had done previously. The overview sounds good enough but that just about it other than this there is nothing else, only those who have played the console versions can understand the story. The characters individual endings don't even make sense, for example Asuka Kazama and Xiaoyu set out to find Jin but there endings don't even relate to it and we are shown a 5 seconds long clip of something entirely non sense. On the other way the endings of Hwoarang, Yoshimitsu, Baek and Wing are exactly the same except for the characters themselves and here too they are only shown for a few seconds. There is not one ending which makes sense which implies that Namco just didn't put any effort on the great epic of a story that used to be Tekken. So if you want to buy or have bought Tekken for the storyline prepare for the dissatisfaction of a lifetime.

The Tekken series' game play was usually criticized by some as having the same thing with enhanced graphics but purists argued that they found some innovations in the game play and new combos. This time round they may well be the critics themselves as there are no signs of innovations whatsoever. The usual comfortable controls have been changed maybe in attempt to improve the controls have instead been ruined. Formerly the R and L buttons could be assigned a combo move each which usually made a grabbing hold easier to execute, these features have now been removed taking away a chunk of the fun and giving a lesser opportunity for the player to be aggressive. The heavily touted 'rage' mode, which is activated when the player's health is near it's end, is perhaps the most useless thing in the game. It really doesn't seem to be of any use as it activated when only a small punch can result in a loss. The team mode which was a fan favorite as players could play with a variety of characters has also been removed for some unknown reason. Arcade mode is also a shadow of itself, the ghost mode is an endless bore.

The hands down most annoying and disappointing aspect is the final boss of the story mode, perhaps Namco wanted to make up for giving the player only 3 stages prior to the boss fight. This only backfired as the boss is the worst thing you can come across, Jinpachi Mishima in Tekken 5 was a supernatural character who was also big and used powers but he was seen as a challenge and playing against him was fun. Azazel, the final boss, however is far from fun. Fighting against him is the most exhausting as well as exasperating part of the game giving the player more reason to stay away from the story mode. Azazel for starters doesn't have any moves yet incredibly still wins. The reason is that he never plays fair, his arsenal only includes three attacks throwing scarabs, taking out boulders from the ground and shooting lasers. It takes a good ten tries to beat him on the first play through and one can never feel like playing against him again. The game play isn't all that bad, it is good enough but doesn't compare to the previous games.

There is one place the games doesn't disappoint and that is it's graphics. Even with the inferior system of the PSP the graphics are smooth and realistic. In game the environments look great. The colors blend perfectly with the background and the characters. The cut scenes, short as they are, still are nice to look at. The rain gives a real impression of a shower while Azazel's body colors are illuminating especially in CGI, it is a pity that there isn't much to look at but it's good while it lasts. The previous extra features are also gone, there isn't any Tekken Bowl any more neither is the superb Tekken dojo. The theater scenes are still available but as there aren't any big cutscenes to watch this doesn't really count as an asset. Another hyped thing was the customization option which is another dud. Even with so much money thrown around there are hardly any items to purchase and those that are, aren't even interesting and the most it can do is make your character look ugly.

The Final verdict stands that Tekken 6 joins the dubious group of underachieving games, there was so much expected and so less delivered. Be it the console or the handheld versions this game just doesn't hold the player's interest and can only be described as a rental at best. Hopefully Tekken 7 can return to the series roots and finally give consumers a real next generation 'Tekken' experience