“Tekken” is a true legacy game in that experience with the game’s deep systems will carry over to future entries. It’s a legendary name in the fighter genre, and “Tekken 8” brings the series to new heights while also making it more accessible than ever.
A big focus in this game’s updated fighting engine is the heat system. Every round a fighter can enter an enhanced state by doing a specific move. From there, they’ll have access to powerful and a heat smash attack that does a lot of damage.
The heat system encourages an aggressive play style, and even though it doesn’t last that long, it can turn the tide of an otherwise one-sided fight. The main drawback is that because it’s available in each round of a fight, it can feel like victory is mostly decided by who makes the most out of the heat system instead of who’s more skilled with the game’s deep mechanics.
The game’s story mode picks up where “Tekken 7’” left off. Jin Kazama is out to defeat his father, Kazuya Mishima, after Kazuya killed his own father, Heihachi, and fully embraced the
devil’s blood in his body.
It’s another story where the fate of the world depends on a group of martial artists duking it out with plenty of ridiculous moments jammed in, and it’s great. The story is nonsense, but the spectacle makes it all entertaining, and the graphics are stunning. Unfortunately, this story mode is quite short, so players won’t get the chance to play that many different characters.
Another thing that will help many players get into the game is the “special style” that can be toggled in the middle of a fight. Turning it on gives a player access to simplified inputs to combos and special attacks.
Most people who are new to fighting games are intimidated by the idea of having to learn long combo inputs for each character they want to play. “Special style” is great because it can toggled easily, so if a player wants to take the training wheels off to try something out, they can do so with ease. Other fighting games have used a similar auto-combo option for new players, but this is the best I’ve seen for giving people access to a variety of solid moves that can help them learn the game over time.
Most longtime fans will spend the bulk of their time in the online modes where they can fight other people. It’s great to say that a “Tekken” game finally has a rollback to help against lag and latency issues in online fights. It’s something that makes all online fighters feel a lot smoother.
On top of that, “Tekken 8” also has crossplay, which means that friends can all play together regardless of what system they’re on. It also means that the pool of players to fight against online is much larger, which helps with matchmaking times. It all makes for the most fun I’ve had with an online fighting game in a long time and ensures that “Tekken 8” will have a long, healthy lifespan.
“Tekken” has always been a deeply rewarding and fun fighting game, and this entry showcases the best of what the series has to offer. A varied roster, customization options and new tools for new players go a long way in making this game stand out in a competitive genre. The biggest shortcomings are the lack of more single-player modes and a short story mode. “Tekken 8” remains a king of the fighting game genre with four-and-a-half stars out of five.
