| |
 Tekken
6 (PSP)
Releasing a full-fledged fighting game
on a handheld is a risky proposition, but Namco-Bandai have delivered
another excellent release in the form of Tekken 6. Bringing the intense
action of its arcade and console versions to the PSP, this uncompromising
release features more than 40 characters in dozens of stages. The game
looks and feels quite polished and its production values are superb in
terms of dramatic stage battles and design. Multiple modes of play allow
for solo or versus play which should extend replay value substantially and
makes Tekken 6 a solid fighting title that should please PSP owners.
|
Namco's Tekken series has a long and
storied history and the latest installment solidified its reputation when
it came out on consoles last year. The PSP edition was also promised, but
had a few delays, but not to worry, since it's a fantastic conversion of
the arcade title. Tekken 6 on the handheld comes with a few minor
scaled-down elements, but that doesn't detract from its overall quality
and entertainment value. The game includes several modes of play for both
single and multiplayer action. These are all very solid and the game's
most traditional element is its arcade mode where you defeat a series of
competitors through various rounds. Most of these are traditional bouts,
though there's a bonus stage and a boss encounter thrown in. These
mini-games can either be seen as annoying interludes or fun diversions,
depending on your point of view, while the boss battles can be very
frustrating at first. The game also keeps tracks of your total wins and
losses in this mode, which is helpful when competing online and building
up your record. Arcade mode also includes ranking matches that allow you
to move up to the next level when you defeat an opponent. Moving up in the
rankings gives you more difficult opponents in subsequent matches, but
beating them allows you to earn more money. Successfully winning matches
gives you fight money that you can use in the customization modes to buy
additional outfits and items for your character. This is definitely a
strong motivating factor that should keep you playing and going for more
customization options adds to Tekken 6's overall enjoyment.
The arcade mode is fairly decent and
allows players to jump right into the action, but dig a little bit deeper
and you'll find plenty of additional play modes. You can choose to play
through each character's arc in story mode, which lets you see their
background and motivations unfold in cinematic sequences, which gives you
a deeper sense of why they're fighting each other in the first place.
There's also a couple of challenge modes, including a survival mode where
you have to defeat as many opponents as you can on a single life bar and
time attack, where you have to win quickly. If you want to earn fight
money quickly, you can also go into the gold rush mode, where you fight
opponents as usual, but earn money for damage, but lose some when you're
hit. This seems like the fastest way to build up your bank account in the
game. These single player modes are all fairly entertaining, but the game
adds a fairly robust online mode where you can compete against another
player online with the PSP's ad-hoc connectivity. Additionally, players
who own the PS3 edition of the game can unlock more extras by connecting
their PSP to the console. This helps to extend the game's replay value
substantially, making Tekken 6 a good fighter that rewards players with
persistence and patience.
From a gameplay standpoint, Tekken 6 a
fairly traditional one on one fighter in many ways, and the solid
strategic play offers the usual mix of massive combos and dexterous
evasion moves that have become the series' trademark formula. The gameplay
remains very fast and intense by fighting game standards and most rounds
are over fairly quickly, with many ending before the opponent can get a
hit in. This leads to a somewhat unbalanced set of characters and moves,
but Tekken has never been about realism. Tekken 6 offers a large cast of
40 playable characters right from the start, so you won't have to worry
about unlocking too many additional ones. Most of the famous characters
from the series including King, Jin Kuzama, and Paul Phoenix are included
in this edition, along with some new characters such as the rotund Bob
from America and the mysterious Leo. Each character brings their own
unique fighting style to the bouts, most of the fun is finding the
character with a style you're familiar with and then mastering their
moves. Of course, the PSP handheld's interface is somewhat limiting, but
controlling the game is surprisingly intuitive. Using the standard d-pad
moves the characters while punch and kick functions are assigned to the
face buttons. Players can also configure the controls to their liking, but
the default settings are fairly decent. The game definitely has the arcade
feel of the original and its pacing is very fast. While there are somewhat
annoying load times between rounds, they aren't long enough to hurt the
game's overall momentum and most players will probably enjoy the breather
between rounds.
Tekken 6's production values were superb
in the arcade and home console ports and this edition does nothing to hurt
that legacy. The sheer number of polygons has been reduced dramatically,
but the characters still look natural and fluid as they battle each other.
Tekken 6 moves at a smooth frame rate on the PSP and there's none of the
jerkiness you'd expect from a handheld title. The backgrounds look sharp
as well, with 3D objects and light sourcing giving each stage a dramatic
feel. There are a few stages where things seem to be a little dark and
this reduced visibility makes for a few annoying areas. Tekken 6's
high-energy techno soundtrack helps to keep your heart racing while you
battle and matches the series' futuristic aesthetic perfectly. Namco has a
pretty good track record on the PSP with the previous Tekken entry, Dark
Resurrection, offering a sleek fighting game experience while the Soul
Calibur port was another solid addition to the PSP fighting library. This
conversion of Tekken 6 remains consistent with those earlier releases and
is likewise solidly entertaining. It successfully delivers the intense
arcade battles in miniature format effectively. The fact that Namco-Bandai
has achieved this without compromising Tekken 6's aesthetic looks and most
of its gameplay mechanics makes it an impressive technical achievement. It
plays and feels exactly as you'd expect it too, and while its easy to take
these things for granted these days, Tekken 6's highly polished production
values, solid gameplay mechanics and deep selection of modes make for an
entertaining fighting game that delivers the quality and fun players have
come to expect from Namco.
- Michael Palisano
|
| |
|
