Gaming News Can Tekken 8 revitalize the fighting game genre after almost 20 years of existence?
Tekken will soon be 20 years old! Rare are the series that manage to stand the test of time, and that’s even more true for fighting games. Genre very popular with experienced gamers, but much less popular with most regular video gamers. Anyway, we at JV want to be very clear: “No, the fight is not dead” and should actually do pretty well over the next few months with Street Fighter VI, but also with Tekken 8, which we only recently got to play!
Tekken (54 million games sold for the entire series worldwide) is first and foremost a series of video games that managed to make its way from the beginnings of 3D in arcades (video games in cafes or special rooms) and in living rooms up to the very first PlayStation . Between a 3D that is always state of the art in terms of rendering and a combat system that associates each button with a member of his character’s body, Tekken is easy to understand and play. However, it is difficult to win a round with high-level players and that is also why we can consider Tekken as such a saga of games that are easy to play yet difficult to master.
The beauty of a well-placed slap
We could discuss this for hours, but often the first thing that strikes everyone about a Tekken is its graphics. For this eighth opus (although there are more in the series with the consequences in passing) the observation will be the same. you would have understood Tekken 8 is clearly a tech showcase for Bandai Namco. While the characters in the trailers didn’t really impress us, those of 7 were already terrific, we changed our point of view during the game, namely up close and especially during special attacks with their impressive camera movements, Law, Paul, Jack , Xiaoyu, Kazuya, Jin, Nina, King, Lars and Jun (all characters available in the tested version) were stunning realism. And that’s no coincidence, because it took a break with Tekken 7. So, beyond the tech, the developers went for it all characters redo and that explains their new look. Between the drops of sweat on some, the improbable cuts on others and the great furs of King or the dresses of Jin and Kazuya for example, let’s not go overboard, Tekken 8 will surely be one of the most beautiful fighting games of the moment. And I think that’s even more the case with the sets, some of which span multiple floors, forcing you to change your play style when you’re stuck between a wall and an opponent. In short, the overall rendition is absolutely gorgeous!
Tekken 8, a game that wants to be easier to understand?
Another important element for developers: making Tekken 8 even more accessible. If you can now use shortcuts that select your character’s best moves when you press one or more specific keys, Purists can rest easy, this system is an option and not mandatory. The aim is obviously to allow those who don’t have time to invest in the game to arm themselves for casual matches against their opponents or simply to discover the title. But that’s not the only innovation on the accessibility side, no. From now on, All fights are much more readable (Easier to understand again, even with a very quick exchange of blows). Despite the many lighting effects (Tekken’s specialty), it’s easy to read what’s happening on the screen. And as if that weren’t enough, frequent replays, even in the midst of combat, ensure a constant understanding of what’s happening. Enough to understand, for example, why such a player managed (or failed) to do something extraordinary during this promotion.
Tekken 8 is very different from Tekken 7
At first glance, and if we forget the graphics, which are clearly superior to those of the seventh part, Tekken 8 formally resembles its predecessor. However, this only applies when the characters come into the ring (and now they come with different settings depending on the winner of the previous round), because as soon as the fight starts, we see it immediately The pace of the game is not at all the same as before. It turns out to be much more intense. For what ? Just because the developers changed the game system, now Tekken does even more on the offensive, on the attack. Depending on the context and moment, some of your punches will trigger a special action that causes your enemy to retreat and then you to run to hit them put under pressure. It’s simple and works very well, especially since an opponent who’s already under pressure can do it again if they manage to place a punch at the right moment. The result offers us muscular games full of twists and turns. But beware, if you don’t like the sequences that keep the enemy in the air, you should know that they are still there, despite more ways to reverse the situation than in previous episodes.
Of course, those slashes that make you run at the enemy aren’t the only novelties. They are linked to the new system that we will explain below. NOW, Below your life bar is a “Heat” bar that you can spend all the way (or not, but only once per turn) to land powerful punches to gain the upper hand. There is obviously a strategic dimension added to knowing when and how to use the “Heat” feature. But it’s also possible to use the “heat” over length (for a period of time) to benefit again from new shots that are often heavier and more aggressive. What happens if your opponent protects from these hits when you use the “Heat” gauge? It’s a bit technical, but to summarize, the life meter in Tekken can eventually go up depending on the context. These special hits associated with the “Heat” gauge reduce the number of hit points you can recover when protecting yourself from it. Let’s briefly point out that the state of Rage and Rage Art (players used to Tekken will understand) are always there to take advantage of big, powerful punches used to turn around a badly started situation.
What should we remember from Tekken 8 today?
But there’s no need to go into detail for now because what you really need to remember from those first few hours of play on Tekken 8 is here: Bandai Namco’s flagship fighting game is revealed particularly beautiful and can even position itself as a leader in terms of graphics compared to certain references published in recent years. Its gameplay changes significantly, not to say that it changes completely. Make room for aggression and attack significantly higher and more powerful playing speed who benefits from it numerous and spectacular turnarounds. Tekken 8 is also easier to understand while watching a game as it is much more readable than before. So much for this first overview of the eighth installment in the Tekken series, but there is still one terrible unknown: how to sort tekken 8 ? Today nobody seems able to answer that, but when you think about it, there’s a very good chance the game won’t arrive until early next year, although personally I like the idea that it could end up at the end 2023. Hope lets you live, as the saying goes!
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