Joystiq hands-on: Tekken 6 (PS3/360)

by Randy Nelson { Apr 29th 2009 at 8:00PM }

We don't know what's taken Namco so long to bring Tekken 6 home -- it was released in arcades November 2007, for crying out loud -- but we can finally say, after a not-really-all-that-unexpected announcement that the game would be appearing on Xbox 360 as well as PlayStation 3 and seeing loads of screenshots of the console version, we've finally played it. On a real, honest-to-goodness PS3. (We checked to make sure the cables weren't running to a hidden arcade cabinet.)

This was our first experience with the game, not having access to an arcade willing to shell out beaucoup bucks for a machine. But we'd played enough Tekken in the past (most recently, Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection on PS3) to be able to get a feel for this new installment. So, what makes it worthy of being one more than five? find out after the break!

Gallery: Tekken 6 (04-29-09)

As we said, the version of Tekken 6 being demo'd at Namco Bandai's "Editors Day" in San Francisco was running on PlayStation 3. Although we counted 40 unlocked characters, company reps were quick to yank the controllers away when we tried to select anyone apart from Jin, Kazuya, Bob and Zafina -- the latter two being new to the series beginning with this installment.

Bob is a big (and we mean big) bruiser reminiscent of Street Fighter IV's Rufus, only with a blatant disregard for anyone seeing his boxers. Zafina, we found, actually played a lot like Soul Calibur's Valdo, only without the bondage gear and general ick factor.

Does it make us bad people to admit we had fun kicking pigs 'til they went flying?

16 stages were available in this build, and the handful of fights we participated in took place on a destroyed freeway overpass, the roof of a rain-drenched skyscraper and -- our favorite -- in the middle of a village, surrounded by livestock. Does it make us bad people to admit we had fun kicking pigs 'til they went flying?

Tekken 6 hasn't really been a #1 stunner in the screenshots released thus far. In fact, we'd started to worry a bit after comparing it to the likes of Soul Calibur IV. Seems it was all for naught, as it looks absolutely jaw-dropping in motion. We immediately noticed that every character's animations have been completely re-done; the result is something that, to us, made the fights look more like they were out of a choreographed martial arts film. Other details, such as fabric textures, environment details and really nice lighting were also much more effective in action.

In terms of the fighting system itself, we weren't able to get too deep as newcomers to its nuances, but we definitely got a feel for the newly elongated life meters and the lengthier juggles that necessitated. We didn't get to knock anyone through walls or floors as seen in the trailer above, though.

The build was also bare bones in terms of any content beyond versus mode. Namco assured those in attendance that the game "will include console-specific content the team is known for." We'll hopefully get to see some of that -- not to mention play as the 36 other characters -- between now and the game's fall release. From what we played, it's clear Tekken is at the top of its game -- but are you still game to play it? Let us know in comments, and enjoy the gameplay video below!

Tags: namco, namco-bandai, tekken, tekken-6

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

whazam1337 @ Apr 29th 2009 8:08PM

DOA style breakable environment = Win in my book

Jrinswand @ Apr 29th 2009 8:11PM

I've gotta say, I stopped caring about Tekken after Tekken 3.

sinergy @ Apr 29th 2009 8:21PM

Same :p Spent so many quarters during high school lunch hours on Tekken 3!

Alex @ Apr 29th 2009 10:19PM

I've gotta say, I've been done with fighting games since High School....what adult with a job wants to remember special moves for 10 much less 30 characters?

acefondu @ Apr 30th 2009 8:44AM

I still like Tekken. Just wish I didn't suck so bad at them... Beating on the computer hardest difficulty is a really false confidence booster, lol.

Boffo the $ock @ Apr 30th 2009 9:12AM

You quit too early. Tekken Tag Tournament was the best game of the series.

zero2dash @ Apr 30th 2009 10:42AM

+1

TTT was DEFINITELY the best in the series; I'd love a prettied up remake of TTT.

vbshinra @ Apr 29th 2009 8:13PM

Damn cant wait and i love the music.
thanx for the vid

JDHexen @ Apr 29th 2009 8:17PM

So basically DOA 4 with SC4 graphics.

Antagonist @ Apr 30th 2009 9:44AM

minus the inordinate amount of over-sized breasts used to distract you from the over-simplified combat system

wocyob @ Apr 29th 2009 8:18PM

after buying tekken 5 for the ps3 and Soul Calibur 4
im have to say im done with these 2 fighting games... i just might pick up one more fighting game and thats marvel vs capcom

Jon D @ Apr 29th 2009 8:21PM

another Tekken installment, another great set of pants ruined....Fall 2009 can't come soon enough.

Kanjou @ Apr 29th 2009 8:24PM

Those orange smoke bursts still look terrible. The sound effects of most of the hits still sound pretty muted and plastic-y, I guess is the best way I can explain it.

Still, Tekken does have a certain charm. If Yoshimitsu is included and I can still seppuku a draw I'll give it a shot.

ThornedVenom (of the Fidlious Clan of Wong) @ Apr 29th 2009 9:42PM

The day they remove Yoshimitsu will be the day I consider Tekken to be dead.

Alphathon @ Apr 30th 2009 5:10AM

Likewise, but I doubt it'll ever happen. He has been in every Tekken game to date AND Soul Calibur (I don't know if he was in Soul Calibur 1 or Soul Blade, as I never played them, but I wouldn't doubt it). Yoshimitsu is more a part of Namco Fighting games than any other character in my opinion.

Boffo the $ock @ Apr 30th 2009 9:47AM

Yoshimitsu has been in every Soul Calibur game, but was not in Soul Blade/Edge.

MLC (PSN ID: Myke-Myke) @ Apr 29th 2009 8:25PM

LOL! The video asks "What are you waiting for?"

How about this damn game to release. Wasn't the CG video shown in 06??? Oh well.

I like Tekken a lot but this doesnt look as good as i thought right now. I'll have to see it on my tv in person to judge it better. UFC and FN4 may be the only fight games i get this year...

Maverick Saturn @ Apr 29th 2009 8:44PM

The Irony of it, lol

'What are you waiting for?'

Hm, I wonder....

Jacob @ Apr 30th 2009 1:38AM

What's there not to love? The only difference here with nme is that I'll have one more fighting game next to Fight Night Round 4. 40 Characters, seriously? That's a win in my book. And I did play the UFC demo, and, it seems good, but definitely a yearly thing, like WWE vs Smackdown. Tekken and Fight Night get more time to get better with every iteriation. I'm hoping for a nice 8.5. : )

B0E0S @ Apr 29th 2009 8:32PM

Maybe they wanted to get as much money as possible out of the arcade version.....maybe not.

JDHexen @ Apr 29th 2009 8:33PM

It will be a great game but toe to toe I don't think it will surpass SC4 and it definitely won't touch SF4 sales so is going to be a good game at best(what else can you ask for).Fight Night and MVC2 wil be all the fighting I need.

rov947 @ Apr 29th 2009 8:33PM

as a huge tekken fan i can honestly say...meh....

I like SCIV as well but it seems like it's just the same game over and over again with a new coat of paint (and star wars)..when will the next huge leap in fighting games like Soul Caliber for DC come along?

Maverick Saturn @ Apr 29th 2009 8:42PM

Same, I can accept this on PSP, but I was looking for a bit more for the 360 and PS3 counterparts.

Maverick Saturn @ Apr 29th 2009 8:41PM

All I see is more floor breaking, falling through floors and keeping your opponent in the air as well as unrealisticly fast attacks.

Theres no Jackie Chan / Jet Li movie fighting to be found in that vid :(

WWE has always been the closest to real hardcore fighting I've come across. God knows why they kept the lighting effects when you punch or kick a person, what exactly is it's purpose? I know I've kicked the person, its pretty obvious to see that based on thier reactions or the fact that they WERE standing up and are now on the ground, no need for lighting effects :S

xFenixKnightx @ Apr 30th 2009 10:21AM

UFC Undisputed 2009 is the new KING for Fighting/Combat games. It friggin ROCKS!
FNR4 who?

Moptimus Slime (Ziggy played Guitar Hero, but not Smash Hits) @ Apr 29th 2009 8:43PM

meh, the series died after 3, maybe 4 if you stretch it. After a while, I could beat 3 by selecting Jin, sidestepping then hitting triangle. Though Tekken Ball was an awesome bonus

Clinton @ Apr 29th 2009 8:51PM

tekken ball was super fun

aristokrat @ Apr 29th 2009 8:54PM

Man I used to love me some Tekken 3 on my PSone. I still get reminiscent when I see Jin. I loved reversing my friends' attacks over and over.

STEVEPAYNE @ Apr 29th 2009 9:06PM

It has everything to do with that.

Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Apr 29th 2009 9:07PM

still not seeing a big enough improvement over Tekken 5 yet. I mean it looks just like Dark Resurrection....I'll be waiting for it to drop below $40

ccc @ Apr 29th 2009 9:15PM

I'll be getting this as I am a huge Tekken fan but I'm still really turned off by the breakable enviroments that fall and then suddenly dissappear.
I've always hated that.

Since I havn't player 6 in the arcade I've waited a long time to play this but honestly it looks like a two year old game and thats because it is.

There are a hand full of other games this reminds me of.........Dark messiah and Quake Wars both were out a long time before they hit the console then they came and noone cared.

Not saying that will be the case with Tekken but it's the wrong foot to be stepping forward with on it's first multi platform release.

The fighters I'm most looking forward to are Fight night Rd 4, Blazblue, KOF98, KOF12, MVSC2 and UFC.

Also I'd like to say none of these other old school 3d fighter franchises recent versions still can't even begin to hold a candle to Virtua fighter 5.

mikemaj82 @ Apr 29th 2009 9:38PM

ok...this game looks like any other fighting game today, ESPECIALLY Soul Calibur IV.

JDHexen @ Apr 29th 2009 9:48PM

Judging by everyone response here and every where else this game is not going to sell well at all.They probably knew this from the beginning "it looks like they didn't to much effort into this" so it explains why they went multiplatform.I think they might as well port it to the PC and maybe the wii so they can make as much as possible.

Twisted @ Apr 30th 2009 1:47AM

wala siguro pambili to ng PS3, kaya pinipilit magkaroon ng Tekken sa Wii at PC =))

mgsrocks1 @ Apr 30th 2009 2:43AM

@Twisted: Say what now?

ed @ Apr 29th 2009 9:55PM

Valdo lol

In all seriousness, I'm tired of ppl complaining about fighting/racing/fps/etc games look like every other fighting/racing/fps/etc games. Quit cryin and play what you like and dev's will get the hint when it doesn't sell well like sc4.

I wish ya'll would've said these things when 2k series started instead of hangin on Madden's.

Blackronin357 @ Apr 30th 2009 2:21PM

@ccc I can't see how your a huge tekken fan and like the vf series. That series is garbage when compared to Tekken! I see alot of bandwagon mofos up in here hating this game! Its so much more in depth than the other fighters its ridiculous! Keep ufc, sf4, sc4, vf, doa (extra garbage), and kof! MVC2 was official, but I ride out w/ Tekken all day! Steve Fox or Heihachi

biller42 @ Apr 29th 2009 10:28PM

Didn't see King once. Come on.

Phi Nguyen @ Apr 29th 2009 10:42PM

Am I the only one who thinks the breakable floors look like a terrible gimmick?

Deadpool @ Apr 30th 2009 1:57AM

I'm sensing a strange vibe with my Tekken Force powers within this comment section.

-_- ....Ah.......Yes...........Umhmm..........Ok.

According to my Tekken Force powers, most of you got your butts handed to you after Tekken 3. Ahh yes! Seems as though Eddie Gordo can't button mash his way through real competition. "Keep mashing the kick buttons!!!! He's does cool stuff with the kicks!!!"

Jrinswand @ Apr 30th 2009 2:04AM

To be fair, I never liked Tekken all that much to begin with. The only two fighting games I've ever really been able to get into (and by "get into" I mean "spend a ridiculous amount of time playing") were Soul Calibur for the Dreamcast and Street Fighter Alpha 3 for the Dreamcast/PS1. Dead or Alive 4 was pretty good for a while, but I didn't like it anywhere near as much as those other two games. For some reason, games like Tekken and Virtua Fighter just never felt quite right to me.

Deadpool @ Apr 30th 2009 3:11AM

Tekken and Virtua Fighter are the most technical 3-D fighters out there. So I can understand why most people can't jump into them. I have to do warm-up in arcade mode in Tekken to get into my rythme, before I go online. It's almost like fighting for real, minus the real.

j.howlett @ Apr 29th 2009 11:52PM

i've played through every console tekken and don't plan to stop now

MRBlue @ Apr 30th 2009 12:31AM

Compared to the SFIV remake this looks like Tekken: DR with slightly better animation and maybe some better textures but what's with the same red and blue bursts during punches.

Wow. Breakaway floors. Way to blow the dust off of that idea.

yyr @ Apr 30th 2009 1:10AM

The breakaway floors basically are just fun to watch and don't affect the gameplay very much. If you're quick you can extend your combo as much as a normal bound combo, but that's about it.

Shadow_neji @ Apr 30th 2009 12:51AM

i nwwd this game so badly
i play it since tekken 1 and i have play all the games
my fav character is lili and xiaoyu

yyr @ Apr 30th 2009 1:05AM

To everyone who doesn't think this game looks good: you need to see it in motion. It really looks a LOT better than T5:DR. The bound combos force you to change up your strategy and the update balances everything very well.

By the way--and I would expect mainstream Web sites to get this wrong--the game that's releasing is NOT Tekken 6, but the update Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion instead. There are two new characters, improved graphics and tweaked game balance.