Man I love Tekken games. Sadly I haven't played a Tekken game since the 3rd entry back on the PS1. So imagine my surprise when I loaded up Tekken 7 and jumped right back into playing it like I was a kid again. Tekken 7 instantly felt familiar and yet new at the same time to me. I was very happy with the game after spending quite a few hours with it in the online versus mode, trying fighters, remembering old favorites and feeling out some possible new ones. It was great.
Then something occurred to me. I haven't played a Tekken game in forever, yet combos were exactly how I remembered them, button inputs the exact same. What have they done to change the game in the past four generations? Sadly the answer to that is not a whole lot.
So Tekken 7 is simply a Tekken game. The fighting is as tight and as deep as it has always been, because it hasn't changed. If you have been keeping up with the series throughout it's lifespan then you'll not find very much different here. You might think of it as a good thing, all your combos will be the same, all your tactics will continue to be effective here, which means after maybe a round or two of shaking out the rust you should be back to just about where you were with the last game.
That isn't to say Tekken 7 isn't adding anything new, it just isn't really changing anything enough to make any meaningful differences in my opinion. What they did add was something call "Rage Arts" which basically act like super moves that you can active once your character falls below 20% health in a fight. They are designed to be a comeback mechanic that don't really work that way. Unless the match is one-sided this Rage Arts are going to be activatible for both opponents pretty evenly. Which boils down to whoever connects with their Rage Art first, wins. It's a neat concept in theory, but it just stinks like Tekken is trying to complete with the other fighting games on the market which all have super moves now, something that never really fit in Tekken before-hand.
It's an okay mechanic, and I suppose it does allow for flashy endings to matches. They aren't a game-changer though and the majority of the fighting remains unchanged from previous Tekken games.
So what else is new? Well there is a big story-mode now (again like most other fighters on the market except Street Fighter V), in which you follow the story of the Mishima family through the happenings of the previous Tekken games. It's shit. Really. The story makes no fucking sense, it isn't told well, and it fails as a story-mode when compared to other games. In Tekken's story you only play a handful of characters, mostly the Mishima's, and the fights are pointless or simply make no sense in the context of things. It is a failed attempt to do what Netherrealms has done with the previous Mortal Kombat and Injustice games.
It's so bad, I skipped through the story about half way through and just rushed through the fights.
The biggest disappointment for me though, is the lack of a individual character arcade mode. In previous Tekken games, you beat the arcade mode with every character and every character got a little movie at the end of it. It was awesome, and the reward i most looked forward too when beating the game with every character. In Tekken 7 that doesn't exist.
Sure there is an arcade mode. But you get no story from it. It's just a handful of fights that end with the same boss characters and that's it.
There is actually tiny little story bits for each character that you unlock after beating the trash main story. But these are stupid too. Basically you pick a character and get some text storyline, then you fight ONE round, and winning gets you a short little story movie that is more often than not, completely lackluster.
So to sum it all up Tekken 7 is more Tekken. Personally I have been away from the series for so long, it is nice to just be able to jump into a Tekken game again and being familiar with everything out the gate. The online play seems tight to me, I didn't notice any lag or connection issues (I played on PC so console online experiences may vary). The new stages are cool, and some have some cool transitions like round two changing the stage completely or being able to knock your opponents through walls and into new portions of the map, all cool stuff but nothing really unique to fighting games anymore. The game runs beautifully, the fighters all feel great, the controls are responsive.
There isn't much more to say other than it is a Tekken game. If you have played Tekken games in the past, but have been away from the series for a while, this is a worthy game to get back into. If you've been playing every previous Tekken entry, chances are you aren't going to find much worth while here. Not enough has changed in terms of the fighting itself, and the new modes are trash.
I'm having fun with fighting people online though, and it is nice to play Tekken again. However I can't honestly give the game as high of a rating as I would like because it just doesn't feel new enough and what is new here isn't very good. So 6/10. There is fun to be had here if you don't have high hopes for new fighting mechanics or modes.
Then something occurred to me. I haven't played a Tekken game in forever, yet combos were exactly how I remembered them, button inputs the exact same. What have they done to change the game in the past four generations? Sadly the answer to that is not a whole lot.
So Tekken 7 is simply a Tekken game. The fighting is as tight and as deep as it has always been, because it hasn't changed. If you have been keeping up with the series throughout it's lifespan then you'll not find very much different here. You might think of it as a good thing, all your combos will be the same, all your tactics will continue to be effective here, which means after maybe a round or two of shaking out the rust you should be back to just about where you were with the last game.
That isn't to say Tekken 7 isn't adding anything new, it just isn't really changing anything enough to make any meaningful differences in my opinion. What they did add was something call "Rage Arts" which basically act like super moves that you can active once your character falls below 20% health in a fight. They are designed to be a comeback mechanic that don't really work that way. Unless the match is one-sided this Rage Arts are going to be activatible for both opponents pretty evenly. Which boils down to whoever connects with their Rage Art first, wins. It's a neat concept in theory, but it just stinks like Tekken is trying to complete with the other fighting games on the market which all have super moves now, something that never really fit in Tekken before-hand.
It's an okay mechanic, and I suppose it does allow for flashy endings to matches. They aren't a game-changer though and the majority of the fighting remains unchanged from previous Tekken games.
So what else is new? Well there is a big story-mode now (again like most other fighters on the market except Street Fighter V), in which you follow the story of the Mishima family through the happenings of the previous Tekken games. It's shit. Really. The story makes no fucking sense, it isn't told well, and it fails as a story-mode when compared to other games. In Tekken's story you only play a handful of characters, mostly the Mishima's, and the fights are pointless or simply make no sense in the context of things. It is a failed attempt to do what Netherrealms has done with the previous Mortal Kombat and Injustice games.
It's so bad, I skipped through the story about half way through and just rushed through the fights.
The biggest disappointment for me though, is the lack of a individual character arcade mode. In previous Tekken games, you beat the arcade mode with every character and every character got a little movie at the end of it. It was awesome, and the reward i most looked forward too when beating the game with every character. In Tekken 7 that doesn't exist.
Sure there is an arcade mode. But you get no story from it. It's just a handful of fights that end with the same boss characters and that's it.
There is actually tiny little story bits for each character that you unlock after beating the trash main story. But these are stupid too. Basically you pick a character and get some text storyline, then you fight ONE round, and winning gets you a short little story movie that is more often than not, completely lackluster.
So to sum it all up Tekken 7 is more Tekken. Personally I have been away from the series for so long, it is nice to just be able to jump into a Tekken game again and being familiar with everything out the gate. The online play seems tight to me, I didn't notice any lag or connection issues (I played on PC so console online experiences may vary). The new stages are cool, and some have some cool transitions like round two changing the stage completely or being able to knock your opponents through walls and into new portions of the map, all cool stuff but nothing really unique to fighting games anymore. The game runs beautifully, the fighters all feel great, the controls are responsive.
There isn't much more to say other than it is a Tekken game. If you have played Tekken games in the past, but have been away from the series for a while, this is a worthy game to get back into. If you've been playing every previous Tekken entry, chances are you aren't going to find much worth while here. Not enough has changed in terms of the fighting itself, and the new modes are trash.
I'm having fun with fighting people online though, and it is nice to play Tekken again. However I can't honestly give the game as high of a rating as I would like because it just doesn't feel new enough and what is new here isn't very good. So 6/10. There is fun to be had here if you don't have high hopes for new fighting mechanics or modes.
