Tekken 4

Heihachi Mishima hosts a fourth King of Iron Fist Tournament two years following the previos one, promising the prize of his entire wealthy international empire, in order to lure his son Kazuya(who has dusted himself off from that whole "gettin' tossed into a volcano" business... frankly, I think he's a bit of a pushover, who *hasn't* had that happen to them? Honestly) into a trap. Yes, this actually has a plot, and if you play as one of the three people involved(the two aforementioned, and Jin, who dons a hoodie and behaves slightly emo), you will see a resolution to it. Whether you find it completely satisfying or not is... erhm, individual. There are roughly 20 characters, from a fairly wide range of backgrounds(albeit most are human, this time around... the exceptions being the grizzly Kuma, Panda, Combot(a robot that imitates the others... that makes an awful lot more sense than a magical tree) and Yoshimitsu) and using distinct styles of martial arts(everyone in this can hold their own, if you know how to use them), and all have two outfits(and they are great, if there are really unfortunate choices here and there... the top pick definitely being our villain choosing to wear Sumo garb, complete with the thong part... whose bright idea was it to put a senior citizen in that? Who wanted to see that, or for us to?) and a coherent, personal tale(of differing tone, seriousness and... how engaging they are) that you will see both a prologue and epilogue to if you complete it as them. Old favorites return, such as the temperamental short cook Law, the strong psychopath Bryan, the assassin Nina, the teenybopping Xiaoyu(who, in her Summer dress, is a non-stop upskirt shot... well, I suppose that can serve as a distraction technique...?), the biker Paul and the determined police officer Lei. There are surprisingly few new faces, and one might wind up missing some of the ones that didn't make it here from 3(which I will be comparing this to, and for most other aspects, this one is superior). Other than the already mentioned, this gives us Christie(Eddy with boobs that she doesn't mind showing off, in spite of the obvious fact that they do not follow Newton's laws... what? I'm a male and I have a pulse), who is indeed a mere reskin of the one we already know, Violet(an AI expert who gives the returning Hwoarang a run for his money as far as who is better at taking out others with little trouble using only the lower half of their body), Marduk(a... wrestler. Another one. We already had King, and he's still here, so...? Well, he's bigger, and he can dish out punishment) and Steve, who genuinely does add something. He's a boxer, and thus he does not use his legs at all. Instead, those functions are replaced with dodging(ducking and weaving), sacrificing range for swiftness. He can even use these to "sneak up on" the opponent, who will have trouble hitting him, allowing for powerful uppercuts. There are tons of cool moves, and they tend to be easily accessible even to beginners. The four buttons on the joystick are for low and high, punches and kicks. Adjusting the exact strike can typically be done by combining it with one of the directions, and there are combos that you can pull off right away. This can be fun for both new players and more expert ones, not scaring anyone off and yet rewarding honing(and learning how to execute the grander stuff). The new physics engine has you feeling the impact of every blow, the muscles and joints tend to behave as they should, and you can even use the surrounding area to your advantage, knocking the foe into a wall or a large object(which may even be breakable, such as a phone booth). The level of interaction is reasonable, with such things as crowds/civilians that you can move towards and that may then try to run away. This also has proper 3D, where you can wander slightly around the richly detailed(complete with beautifully done water, that splashes and otherwise acts quite realistically; that also goes for the fog), gorgeously lit, impeccably designed and varied stages(with airports, an underground arena with howling onlookers, the top of a building, etc.). In general, the graphics are astonishing, with almost everything looking natural(including the expressive faces... and yes, there are some that look unsettlingly fake), the colors being nuanced and enunciated, the The fighting is addictive, tense and remarkably smooth. Controls are responsive and largely intuitive. This is stylish, with deep atmosphere, a memorable mix of rock and techno music, and well-directed, impeccably animated full CGI cut-scenes that tend towards being compelling storytelling(a couple of them are confusing, and/or don't add up). The length is appropriate, and there are several difficulty settings(thus making it a challenge to newcomers as well as veterans), unlockable combatants, and the extra modes of Survival(last for as long as you can), Time Attack(see how fast you can get through the entirety of Arcade), Team Battle(assemble a group and eliminate all members of the adversary's, each time one is defeated, the next in line takes over), Training(where it tells you how to do certain tricks, and you try to do them in the best time), Practice(take on someone to teach yourself how to use different people in the cast, in a safe environment) and Tekken Force. In the last one mentioned, you take on waves of enemies of increasing volume and toughness. You will have to change what direction you face and move at an angle, and this is much easier and less frustrating than it was in the third one. There are new features such as storing replays of entire matches(all rounds of them!). There is disturbing content and brutal violence(albeit no blood or actual gore... still, bones are broken, death occurs) in this. I recommend this to any fan of the fighting game sub-genre and of this series. 8/10

The Tekken sequels have always been cosmetic updates. Namco's never really had it in them to make too many significant changes to the fighting engine. Even in Tekken 3 when they `scrapped' many of the original Tekken and Tekken 2 characters, really all they did was replace them with `new' characters who fought exactly like the old ones. (Forrest Law, Julia Chang, King, Jin Kazama.)

Now we have Tekken 4, Namco is obligated to leave a number of old characters off the roster and introduce a few new ones. Some play like old characters (Christy) and others are all new (Steve). A handful of new moves per character, new improved graphics, and motions that still seem unnatural, unrealistic, and far less interesting than when Tekken first debuted. Oh yes, and the obligated new feature of Tekken 4 - enclosed fighting. We have walls now. In other words, Namco is doing just enough to warrant a sequel without everyone pointing an accusing them of pulling a Capcom.

Typical fighting game-sequel plot where the makers are digging too deep for something that's not there. Character subplots range from lame to interesting, but like the other Tekken games you always feel like they could have skipped even making endings for the characters and had the game be just as effective. Most of the better endings are there to provoke maybe a chuckle, the serious-geared ones tend to provoke a groan. I used to like the whole Mishima regime storyline and father/son/grandson family issues, but since Tekken 3 it's just ridiculous.

At least the Mortal Kombat 5 was ambitious enough to -really- break new ground for the series instead of pull the obligatory sequel-itis stunt Namco has done. Tekken 4 is the best Tekken game in the series, but it's best played if you're a Tekken nut, have skipped Tekken 3, or are just coming to the whole world of Tekken. For the rest of us, Tekken 4 is just Tekken 3 with a handful of minute improvements.

I used to consider myself a fan of the Tekken-series. I have played every instalment in the series since the original was released way back in 1995. Of course I bought "Tekken 4" for PS2. The graphics are the best in a "Tekken" game, but the game seems to be missing something very important; that undescribable something that used to make "Tekken" so much better than similar games. The series have not really changed much since the original and now it has some series competition in the form of such titles as "Dead or alive 3" for X-box. "Tekken 4" may look like a new game, but it feels like an old game that just is not as fun to play as it used to be. As a veteran of the series, I must sadly admit that if the developers do not give the inevitable "Tekken 5" a complete overhaul, than I do not wish to follow the series anymore.

7/10

Tekken in many ways is more of an in depth fighting game than most fighting games out there in my opinion. Its always focused on the combos and such. Instead of the violence and gore.

Tekken 4 takes away and adds to the Tekken series. The not so great Tekken ball mode is gone. Tekken Force has been upgraded and is slightly harder. There is still survival, training, and practice there also.

Most of the Tekken favorites have returned with a few new characters added. All the characters have voices. The still pictured prologues with a narrator is a good addition. My only small complaint about the game is the music. The music isn't as good in this game as is in past games.

I'm glad I only rented this game! I must admit that the animation and aggressive nature of the characters are appealing but I couldn't gain any motivation for playing this game. All of them seem to be rip offs of different games, especially Street Fighter! The Street Fighter series pretty much ruined it for tournament fighting games to have any originality to it. Even Mortal Kombat copied the Scorpion/Sub-Zero thing off of the Ken/Ryu idea in Street Fighter. In summation, Tekken was an over complicated game with too many moves and combos to memorize and almost no reward!!!