I’ve always had a soft spot for the Tekken franchise. In fact, Tekken 3 was one of the first games I ever played, back when I got my original PlayStation all those years ago. Since then, I’ve stuck with the franchise, and while most entries have been good, not all have been great. Be it the lack of modes of incoherent narrative, certain entries always seem to bring one or the other to the table.
Tekken 8 stands as one of the best entries in the long-running franchise, simply because it’s firing on all cylinders. It manages to blend all the successful elements of its past with grace and confidence. Its dedicated story mode is engaging and well-paced, its combat is fluid and deep and the list of remaining modes and features only seeks to strengthen the grip this latest entry has on me.
Family Matters
Tekken’s over-arching narrative has always proven a little tricky to follow because previous games have always focused on their stores in different ways. Tekken 8’s dedicated story mode, titled The Dark Awakens, is pretty much front and centre, with a four-or-so-hour string of cutscenes and battles that focus on multiple characters. If you’ve played any of the recent Mortal Kombat games, you’ll feel right at home with the general pace and flow of this mode.
Thankfully, Tekken 8 allows newer players to catch up on the story with some slideshows that highlight some gorgeous artwork and concept designs. I’m surprised to see just how far the story has come, to be completely honest. It’s a little ridiculous at times but does its best to keep things moving along.
Set six months after Tekken 7, Jin has returned and now wishes to claim back the Heihachi corporation from his father Kazuya, ridding the Devil Gene from their family once and for all. It takes some weird turns, but given its shorter runtime, never fails to present its point with a consistent cinematic quality, complete with some decent voice acting across the board.
It’s worth highlighting the story mode upfront, as it’s the best way for fans and newcomers alike to get to grips with the newer controls and combat systems across an extensive roster of fighters. The new Special Style fighting system allows newer players to take advantage of powerful moves with single button presses, but we’ll dive into this in more detail down the track.
The Devil Inside
General combat feels as good as it ever has. It’s snappy and responsive as far as controls go, while animations are both smooth and detailed. Hits seem to land with a sense of weight and impact, as it all builds to feel like a choreographed dance after you get the hang of things. While most characters will feel familiar to hardcore fans, some newer systems are bound to keep players on their toes.
Two new additions, in recoverable health and the Heat System shake up the formula, adding a new layer of strategy to each encounter. Enemies can chip away at your health bar if you let them, but smaller attacks can be blocked to turn damage into what is otherwise referred to as ‘grey damage’. While the damage looks like it has worn away at your health bar, players can go on the offensive to claim some of that health back, encouraging bouts to bounce back and forth throughout. While it pays to be defensive, it’s never going to get you over the line.
The Heat System comes in the form of a meter that sits below your health bar. It fills throughout the fight and once full, can be activated in small bursts to give your attacks a damage boost and give you an edge when you need it the most. A Heat Burst can be used to give additional power to a particular combination of attacks, while a Heat Engager is usually activated once a special move is performed, and puts the player into a state of Heat for 15 seconds, boosting your offensive damage.
Players can also activate the new Special Style mode with the tap of the left shoulder bumper (L1 on PlayStation and LB on Xbox), which essentially simplifies certain controls and special moves should players want to take advantage of them without the hustle of combinations and multiple button inputs.
There are a few things I like and dislike about this feature. I like that while in Tekken 8’s story mode, it serves as a great way to understand and utilise the various special moves of newer and returning characters as you’re trying things out. It’s easy enough to activate and deactivate, so it never gets in the way. But as far as competitive play goes, it’s a little cheap. Minimising the effort it takes to learn and input these special abilities on a controller, strays further away from the dedication and finesse that skilled players seek to employ, particularly when playing online.
Ways to Play
Outside of its dedicated story mode, there are plenty of ways to engage with Tekken 8, across both online and single-player modes. Arcade Quest is quite a unique mode at its core, which allows players to learn the ins and outs of Tekken 8’s newer systems, acting like more of a detailed tutorial of sorts. Players get the chance to create a customer avatar and roam around various arcades, each of which is filled with their own unique battles. Players can then climb the ranks for new and exclusive rewards. There is even a replay system that allows you to watch and relive your favourite encounters, which is a win for competitive players.
There’s also a standard Arcade Battle mode which is the more traditional mode of the bunch, allowing players to take any of their favourite characters through five fights, to uncover a personal ending within the broader Tekken story and lore. It’s a great way to understand your favourite characters and learn their moves.
Super Ghost Battle allows players to take on their “ghost”, a new AI opponent that essentially learns and adapts to the way you fight. It provides you with the opportunity to take on your best self but also goes as far to allow you to download the ghosts of other players and developers around the world, saving your own unique data to each and every character on the roster. While this mode feels more like an advanced training mode of sorts at times, it’s a great way for competitive players to work on their flaws and repetitive tendencies.
Tekken Ball mode also returns, which takes players to the beach to belt around a volleyball. While it’s appeared at various points in the franchise, I tend to forget just how fun and intense it can be.
The Tekken Fight Lounge acts as the main battle hub for playing online, in which players can take their customised avatars out to compete with other players across the globe in Ranked Matches, Quick Matches, Custom Matches, and even play some Tekken Ball, a personal favourite of mine.
The mode itself certainly feels fancier than it is, but I can appreciate the effort that has gone into making this online portion feel like a separate, living world that players can engage with in new and exciting ways. Online play is also generally snappy,m and I rarely had any issues with laggy serves and randomly disconnected encounters.
Look the Part
Aside from how good Tekken 8 looks, there are also plenty of ways to dress things up. Unlockable goodies allow players to customise their own avatars and fighters with a range of clothing options and accessories for use across almost any mode. You can even edit titles, gauges, player cards, and even the jukebox to change the background music during fights.
Visually, it’s also super clean. Character models are detailed and polished, while environments are also subject to some nice backgrounds and lighting. It all feels incredibly smooth too, practically locked in at 60fps on consoles. To date, I’ve rarely experienced a frame rate drop across any mode.
Final Thoughts
Tekken 8 gathers a bunch of new and existing ideas to make for one of the best entries in the long-running franchise to date. The Heat System adds a surprising layer of strategy to each encounter, while the Special Style moves to add a layer of simplicity and accessibility for newer players and those who have not spent as much time with certain fighters.
With the same solid combat, engaging narrative, slick visuals and plenty of ways to engage, there’s very little to complain about in Tekken 8 when all is said and done.
FOUR AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Highlights: Engaging narrative; Satisfying combat; New Heat System; Various ways to play
Lowlights: Special Style combat can feel a little too easy at times
Developer: Arika, Bandai Namco Studios, Tekken Project
Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment LLC, Namco Bandai Games America Inc.
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows PC
Available: Now
Review conducted on PlayStation 5 with a code provided by the publisher.
