Tekken 7 Review

Heihachi and Kazuya Mishima are preparing to settle once and for all the great battle, that they have been keeping for years. And for the occasion, Harada and his team offer us, a robust and forceful delivery of the franchise Tekken, a seventh installment in which not everything shines as it could, but in the truly important knows how to expose his successes without his hand shaking.

Duration

Tekken 7, and like any fighting game, doesn't have a specific time of duration, since it only depends on the player and his ability, but nevertheless, you will have at our disposal several game modes that can extend this time of gameplay, as the traditional story mode or the story of each character, in addition to the classic arcade.

Gameplay

Tekken 7 refocuses on one-on-one combat and continues with some of the mechanics introduced in Tekken 6, such as multi-story scenarios or attacks with personalization items, but also changes in rebounds during combos influenced by Tekken Revolution.

One of the novelties is the rage arts, which use the energy rage, the equivalent of the devastating movements of Street Fighter or the last Soul Calibur. Like those, it gives rise to a brief animation that can cause 30% damage - it's inversely proportional to our health. The Power Crushers instead allow us to continue attacking while receiving high and medium attacks - the damage received applies equally. In Fated Retribution was added the Rage Driver, an attack - or series of attacks - that is are a good alternative to the Rage Art - can be combined.

These changes introduce new strategies to the battle of Tekken and modify the game more than it seems. For the classic player may assume elements too unbalanced, almost unfair, but are tools available to all characters. It's reason for being: to prevent a user with a clear advantage can not lower guard at any time, and encourage the user with a weak health to turn the game that he believed practically lost. These changes are great, but lets will see how the community reacts.

Very few hits can be put to Tekken 7 in gameplay and variety of characters. Although there are more fighters announced for downloadable content, something that doesn't escape any fighting game, at no time gives the sensation of launching half-finished. But equally important are the game modes, and Tekken 7 offers a good handful of options although you may miss others.

In offline modes there are arcade, treasure duel and practice modes. Arcade confronts us with a series of enemies controlled by artificial intelligence and ends with a boss, in this case Kazumi. It's very brief, half the fighting of the usual, and it doesn't give a video CG as in past Tekken, so it may not have much more utility than the one to train in high difficulty levels.

Combat treasure becomes, in the absence of Survival, Time Trial, a Tekken Force or minigame of bowling/volleyball, in the main mode for a player, once you complete the stories. You face endless rivals, earn money, upgrade, experience and personalization elements. There are hundreds of clothes and decoration for the user's card, so keeping the game as far as possible rewards us with better prizes - and difficulty raising. Occasionally the conditions of play are changed, for example games with more speed, double damage, etc.

The practical mode is typical of Tekken, and even with some more adjustments. The pity is that it's only about that, try combos on our own. The novices who approach the saga for the first time will be very lost, and is that the closest thing to a tutorial you will see in story mode. At no time are explained in detail the new mechanics or the best strategies of each fighter, new or veteran.

And of course, there is "The Story of the Mishima family", the story mode that tries, finally, to order and tell everything that happened in the saga from the beginning. History is what it is: the eternal confrontation between Heihachi and Kazuya, accompanied by the alliances that form on each side. In general it sums up well the argument of the Mishima, but if you need to refresh the memory, Tekken 7 also includes galleries with all the videos of the saga - to acquire with the money obtained -, they are important or mere gags.

This story mode - which will end in less than two hours - also hides episodes of characters, which are the small adventures of the rest of the staff. The arcade doesn't conclude with a video and it's true; more or less, are moved into this category. Of course, they consist only of a combat and a short sequence, but you can assume that most fans will want to take a look at all these adventures.

There are online modes, with qualifying games and the great idea of integrating tournaments for up to eight users, with round or double adjustments, viewer mode, text chat ... It will probably become Tekken's favorite community option . However the option to save and sort the replays of our games other than using the re transmission or video capture functions will be missed.

Graphics & Design

Although more than a decade ago that the saga has ceased to be a leading title in graphics - as it was in 32 and 128 bits -, you can't put too many hits to this section except one: the irregularity of their scenarios. It seems a simple problem of originality or lack of time. There are a number of sands that look good, although sometimes they remind too much of landscapes of old Tekken - some of it's blunt, Dragon's Nest case of Tekken 5- but probably because of the need to appear in the main story, most are very sober subject, without the spark of the first deliveries.

This doesn't mean that it doesn't have very striking scenarios and climatic changes. The Mishima building - a lift that climbs to reach the roof - the dojo, the Duomo di Sirio, the arena - very similar to some of TTT2 - or the market are among our favorites. On the other hand, Arctic Snowfall - the characters leave no trace in the snow.

Conclusion

Tekken 7 is undoubtedly one of the best games of the genre, and today, the best in 3D fighting. The incorporations will quickly make us forget the absence of some classic fighter, and the new techniques present the most important changes in the gameplay since the introduction of physical limits in Tekken 4. Taking advantage of the new strategy requires a little learning, but the effort it's worth it, if you plan to squeeze the staff.

In the end, Tekken is played by the online and local pikes. Bandai Namco can be appreciated for their effort to make a story mode with good production values, but once finished, Tekken 7 is a bit lame in solo options - except for collectibles. Luckily, we're talking about a fighting game that easily compensates us with dozens, hundreds of hours of fun. What more could you want?