2017 managed to please us with two great fighting games. I mean, the recent superhero epic Injustice 2, and is also an extremely unusual game ARMS from Nintendo. But veterans of the genre with bated breath were waiting for the release of Tekken 7 – games, released for Japanese arcade in 2015. Their wait was rewarded in full. “Iron fist tournament” returns to the game console (PS4 and Xbox One) and PC in all its glory, bringing a huge amount of new content in the arcade version, as well as a few surprises like support helmet virtual reality VR PlayStation.
Briefly back in time to the very beginnings. The beginning of the 90-ies became the key moment for the genre, because that’s when the light appeared the game Street Fighter II (1991). She laid down the basic principles, techniques and systems that are actively used in most fighting games to this day. For example, combinations of buttons to perform special moves, chain attacks, multiple characters with unique fighting styles. In the Wake of the success of this game came to light the first fighting game series Mortal Kombat (1992), gave the world a system of finishing moves Fatality combos in the air (so-called gaggle) and strongly battened down the bar of violence in the gaming industry.
With the advancement of technology, the developers turned their gazes towards three-dimensional graphics. The first full 3D fighting game in history was the arcade game Virtua Fighter (1993), which was later ported to consoles, Sega 32X, Sega Saturn and PC. Behind her there was a 3D game Battle Arena Toshinden (1994), for the first time allowed the characters to break out of the shackles move within the same plane and cut circles around the arena. In the same 1994 was born the first game of the series Tekken arcade. A year later it was ported to home video game console Sony PlayStation. It was then that your humble servant was still a student, met with the “iron fist Tournament”. I truly loved this series, especially not making it a fighting game as such. Was in Tekken is something inexplicably attractive. What could offer the rest of this popular series.
The seventh part of Tekken has come a long way, before appearing on game consoles and personal computers. Initially each game of the series run in Japanese arcades and numerous Championships, with the direct participation of the honored veterans of the genre. Year it took the developers from Bandai Namco Entertainment only in order to release an update of the arcade version with the subtitle Fated Retribution (2016). In the updated version of the game was fixed several minor bugs, almost perfectly balanced characters, new combos, additional visual effects, a brand-new arena and bonus music tracks. Another year went on to adapt the game to home game consoles PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. It is not excluded that in the near future the developers will please fans of the series release a DLC with additional content.
Initially I really wanted to write a review of it on the game version for Sony PlayStation 4 console, because it contains support helmet virtual reality VR PlayStation. Last year, when I interviewed the “father” of the Tekken series Katsuhiro Harada at the exhibition “IgroMir 2016”, specifically asked: what will look like the VR-mode in his future games? Harada-San thoughtfully scratched his beard and said that initially they planned to create a completely new experience battle in a virtual reality first-person. In the end the idea had to be abandoned because to implement something similar with the current generation iron is just not possible. In the end, experience in the field of VR was the basis of the Dating simulator Summer Lesson, which will be released for PlayStation 4 in the West and in Europe later this year.
Tekken 7, however, virtual reality is also presented in two different modes. The first one is called “Fight in VR” and is a single combat between chosen characters in the virtual space. First you can fight someone in a VR fighting game, at least looking at the characters. You can slow down time to enjoy the animations of the fighters, as well as zoom in or zoom out the playing camera. The second VR mode allows you to see the characters and their animations from all angles. A nice bonus for fans, nothing more. But the presence of such exclusive features in version Tekken 7 for PS4 still me incredibly happy. An increasing number of developers are interested in creating content for virtual reality and in future this segment of the gaming industry will only expand.
First the game offers fans a full story mode. Not just a set of endings for different characters, which sometimes is not so easy to reconcile with each other, and just a real storyline that leads the player through a long history of hostility within the family dynasty Mishima. You retell the events of the previous games in the series, I will not. After all, for such a case in Tekken 7 are collected all (!!!) cutscenes from previous games. You can head out of nostalgia, revisiting long-forgotten CG cinematics from Tekken, Tekken 2, Tekken 3, and other favorite games. But that’s not all! In the main menu you can find the item “jukebox”, where it is possible to listen to the soundtracks of the previous installments of the series, and even the creation of the huge number of available songs own playlist, and then replace the music the seventh game.
Story mode is called “history of the Mishima family” and talks about the key events of the series, and then transferring us to the past. The story is on behalf of a nameless reporter trying to understand the complex twists and turns of the relationship of father and son of the Mishima clan. Duels between key characters are interspersed with panels in the format of an animated comic book, prerendering video on the game engine, as well as rollers, obschityvat in real time. In addition to the main 15 story chapters, the game offers us the additional 28 episodes from the life of favorite characters. Each of these small stories are interesting, though, and lasts only a few minutes, not counting the match. With a laugh I remember the episode about the ninja Yoshimitsu, but don’t want to spoil the intrigue. All this fun you have to see with my own eyes. Story mode is replete with the coolest, in terms of setting scenes, when right during the battle, the game camera may, for example, fly into space and show the Earth from the geostationary orbit. A couple of times, the game even prompts you to perform a QTE tiny that your character was able to react to his danger.
The list of local game modes in addition to the story also includes arcade battle, the battle with AI opponents behind boxes with treasure (inside game currency and bonus items), fights with friends on the same couch and exercise regime. The online component of Tekken 7 contains a ranking battle with the possibility of pre-heating custom battles, when you can set the appropriate parameters, or to find already created by other session, as well as the tournament mode. Here, as expected, you can own hands to create all conditions for the full tournament Tekken 7, or to participate in someone else’s someone else’s event. Initially, the game suffered from a few crooked matchmaking, when it was impossible to reconcile the connection with other players, but the developers quickly found the root of the problem, so a new patch coming this week will fix all the roughness. Fights occur on dedicated servers, which ensures (after a connection is established, of course) stable communication speed and minimum discomfort. A few I was upset with the lack of traditional previous games in the series beat em up Tekken Force mode (Tekken 6 it was called Scenario Campaign), but given the huge amount of content, this problem can safely close your eyes.
To facilitate the introduction of new players to the series, the developers have created so-called “companion story” — a system that allows beginners to hold the L1 button on the controller and combining it with several other buttons, to reproduce special moves effortlessly. Of course, this auxiliary button is active only in “story mode” and allows you to get your feet wet in the game and understand how things work from the inside cunning mechanics of the series. Before you decide to battle with real opponents in the online modes, you have to train if not months, at least for several weeks (or even months). Each of the 36 represented in the roster of game characters has a unique fighting style, which includes hundreds of different combinations of punches and special moves. To remember all of this and keep in mind – almost impossible, so the ideal option would be to choose any character and sharpen his skills from his face.
Among the characters, in addition to numerous migrated from previous games characters, there are ten debutants. For example, the Italian member of the Holy order “Archers Sirius” Claudio Serafino, the meaning of life is to fight demons. Or latina Catarina Alves, fluent fighting style savate. But the most interesting of the newcomers is a guest character from the Street Fighter named Akuma. I think fans of fighting games it needs no introduction. Akuma skillfully woven into the storyline of Tekken 7 and plays it far not last role. His fighting style and control mechanics are very different from the rest of the fighters, making the character the most interesting out of the entire roster. Fans of Street Fighter will be able to feel in Tekken 7 like home. It affects long-term friendship between the creators of these two series. In 2012, he even published “crossover” Street Fighter X Tekken, in which overlap between the two game universes.
In terms of the basic game mechanics of Tekken 7 remains true to its roots. Something to radically change the developers simply do not dare, afraid to break the fragile balance, established over more than two decades. In the new game decided to abandon matches “pair by pair” that were present in the novels of Tekken Tag Tournament. The main innovation is the system of Rage. Once the scale of the character’s health drops to a critical level, it falls into a state of rage and begins to illuminate red. At this point, a normal attack becomes slightly stronger, but you can donate the received power in order to perform one of two special moves. First, Rage Art, when a powerful blow it is possible to carry most of the health of the enemy (the number depends on how much health remains the player). While Art Rage is easy to cut block. The second move is called Rage Drive, and it does not respond to interrupts. After you complete one of these two attacks, the fury ceases. Another new feature is Power Crush attacks, ignoring the high and mid attacks of the enemy, representing something like a Combo Breaker from Killer Instinct series. Otherwise, we face the same old Tekken, focusing on jiggly when you throw the opponent into the air and with a series of blows does not allow it to touch the ground.
The balance of difficulty in story mode somewhat disturbed by the presence of really cool bosses. I was just taken aback, when even at the lowest level of difficulty (I needed to warm up and learn the new mechanics) was able to fill some of them with only the third or fourth time. Sometimes the bosses at some time cut in invulnerability mode that turns the match in ruthless beating of your character. The window for attacking the bosses are so small that to seize the initiative is almost impossible, and you have to just rely on luck and mistakes by AI. Online same regimen with balance, everything is just perfect – you don’t have to worry. But, as I said just above, to go to fight with other players only when you can learn how to cope with computer opponents on the highest difficulty. Otherwise you can fight before you have time to figure something out.
Tekken 7 is surprisingly flexible configuration and deep customization of all and all. You can dress up each character to your liking. Clothing, accessories and other “decorations” can be purchased at a special store for play money. After you create the unique appearance of the hero, it can be viewed from all possible angles in virtual reality. The game interface is also very flexible. The dashboard of the player presented in the form of numerous variants, is made in a unique style. Can even scale their health by choosing from a heap of options. Get new items to customize the user interface through the story mode of the game, and embossing bonuses in the mode of hunting for treasure.
Visually, the game looks nice, but there is a constant feeling that it was released more than two years ago. Myself, I can note a rather strange physics of the clothing, where the fabric behaves very unnaturally, and this directly hurts your eyes. Somewhere muddy teksturki, and where three-dimensional models noticeably missing polygons. Tekken 7 gives a stable 60 fps on all three platforms, however, at the basic models of game consoles, developers were forced to sacrifice resolution. The Xbox One the resolution is 720p, while PlayStation 4 – 863p. More advanced PlayStation 4 Pro and a powerful PC give honest 1080p. Therefore, I strongly recommend my readers to play with these two platforms to enjoy the maximum image quality. The developers added to the game in a spectacular effect of time dilation in a moment of simultaneous committed by opponents at approximately the same bumps. Katsuhiro Harada during our interview with him noted that this was done in order to raise the voltage on the screen and make the players worried: whose impact will eventually reach the goal? In my opinion, a very cool innovation.
Pros:
- Before us is a significantly updated version of the game from the arcade.
- The game has gained the much-anticipated many of full story mode.
- 28 additional chapters dedicated to different characters in the series.
- The balance of the game, adjusted for two years, just perfect.
- The game has got several new and rather curious mechanic.
- Fine tuning of the gameplay, interface and appearance of the characters.
- A huge roster of characters with unique fighting styles.
- The presence of story of videos from all previous games in the series.
- The opportunity to create my own soundtrack for the game.
- The system of “companion story” will help beginners to join the game.
- First you can try out Tekken in virtual reality.
- The presence in the game is a guest character from the Street Fighter universe.
Cons:
- The release version of the game suffers from the mistakes of matchmaking.
- From the game disappeared without a trace beat em up Tekken Force mode.
- The graphics in the game sometimes feels a bit outdated.
- Bosses in story mode is almost invincible.
Tekken 7 – the best in my memory game in the series since Tekken 3 almost perfect. Someone will say that the best game of the series was, is and will be Tekken 5, but my heart belongs to the third numbered game in the franchise. The developers at Bandai Namco literally filled up the players a huge amount of various content, why first, even a little lost. An impressive number of characters, including Akuma, many superb locations, music, archive videos from the previous parts, full story mode with bonus chapters, the broadest opportunities for setting the appearance of the soldiers and of the game interface, multiple game modes, capable to satisfy even the most capricious players. All this makes Tekken 7 real gift for fans of the series and fans of the genre fighting game. I put the game 9 out of 10. In my two previous reviews, I tried to abandon the traditional scoring evaluation system, however, readers literally bombarded me with requests to put everything back the way it was before. In the end, persuaded.
Review game Tekken 7: the triumph of the legendary series
Sergey Grey