Tekken is a game that doesn’t set out to try and win over any new fans. But instead keep the old ones happy, in the hopes that perhaps one or two curious souls will want in on what the fuss is about. But for the most part Tekken 6 is very much for the old skoolers who have been rolling with The king of iron fist tournament for years. It’s not to say anybody new to Tekken won’t enjoy the game. But they probably won’t go wet in the pants as fans will when they first boot up the game.
I think Soul Calibur IV is a bloody awful game. But it was an awful game with kick arse graphics and also a pretty decent soundtrack. The soul series’ soundtrack has a patchy history. They’ve definitely fallen off a little with each new game. Soul edge’s soundtrack was a masterpiece which I will forever hold in high regard and every now and then am partial to listening to. But the sequels featured soundtracks which were mundane and forgettable, save for the odd one or two stand out pieces.
Whilst Soul Calibur IV’s soundtrack isn’t amazing, it is solid and probably one of the more grandiose and atmospheric soundtracks of the bunch. My favourite piece from the soundtrack has to be “Immaculate pledge” – hands down. It’s dramatic, melodic, memorable and captures the partial essence of what made Soul edge’s soundtrack so brilliant. The piece also has a sense of familiarity about it. Every time I listen to it I keep trying to rack my brain on which other Soul Calibur piece it reminds me of.
First Dark resurrection and now Bloodline rebellion. Namco seem to have caught the bug that had Sega re-release Virtua Fighter 4 and 5 in Evolution and R forms. The new version of Tekken 6 features 2 brand new characters: a dude named Lars Alexandersson and Alisa Bosconovitch and also 2 new stages. Players will also have access to new accessories and have the option to customize the hairstyles of characters. Splendid!!
Lars is some crazy dude who wants to create a new era and has a full name which makes him sound like a member of ABBA. And Alisa doesn’t really have much of a story, though her surname name bares more than a slight resemblance to Dr. Boskonovitch’s. It’s unknown whether or not there’s a relation between the two, but it’s highly likely. Both characters sport a futuristic style and look like they belong in an RPG’s. Lars’ design is somewhat decent – we can work with it. But Alisa looks like a Phantasy star reject. I’m not sure what it is with Namco and their re-release female characters. First Lili and now this Alisa chick. Both look like crap compared to the staple females Nina, Anna, Julia (in the denim mini skirt, cowboy boots and waist coat combo), Xiayou and cool recent addition Asuka.
Tekken 6 doesn’t have a PlayStation 3 release date as of yet, but it goes without saying it will end up on the system at some point and that Bloodline rebellion will be the version of Tekken 6 which gets ported. It will be interesting to see if Namco will let Xbox 360 owners in on the Tekken action; given that Namco spread the Soul Calibur love across both systems and that Sega did the same with Virtua Fighter 5.
Look out for this game in your local arcades. If your arcades are anything like the one I go to, the Tekken 6 machine will be surrounded by guys who eat and sleep on the machine and won’t let anybody else play it.
Well, for now anyway. Producer Yoshinori Ono says “lag will be a huge problem for online play,” and that eliminating lag will be tougher for the Street Fighter IV team than it was for devs working on Soul Calibur and Virtua Fighter, adding “It’s quite difficult for 3D Street Fighter at the moment.”
Unfortunately Ono’s current answer to the problem sounds more confused than hopeful: “we’re thinking about trying to balance it up at user interface level and input timing by using joystick or something like that.” Oh ok, that makes perfect sense. Wait, what?
Lag has always been a sore spot for gamers, and especially for fighting game fans (as any hardcore Super Smash Bros Brawl will let you know). Capcom is dedicated to delivering great multiplayer experiences though, so I have faith in them.
This trailer was first shown at Square-Enix’s secretive DKΣ3713 event. Lots of things surprised me about the gameplay footage here. First, it’s a fully 3D fighting game (no sidestepping like Soul Calibur or Tekken), and second, it features impressive aerial pyrotechnics, looking like a fantasy-themed Vitrual-On.
The two characters shown are Onion Knight and Cloud of Darkness, who are able to cast many spells and even undergo some transformations. Cute old-school menus and lots of tiny numbers liven up the RPG-flavored display. If this game actually plays anything remotely like Virtual-On, I might just have to give in and buy a PSP.
The next entry in the Soul series is here. After a rather mediocre third installment and surprise guest stars from everyone’s favorite galaxy far, far away, has Soulcalibur IV found its way back to the ever-elusive Good Sequel Bay, or is this another crash landing on Bad Game Rock?
(This review is based on the Xbox 360 version. PS3 users’ mileage may vary.)
Sunday 27 July 2008 @ 6:48 pm | By Ivan 'Nahu' Lozano
Slightly late news from the front. Friday Acclaim held a Mortal Kombat vs DC Comics panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2008. Velcor and I were there covering the event, we were promised a giant poster in the press release. We were giddy as a couple of schoolgirls.
Highlights of the panel:
MK wanted to do a crossover with Tekken and Street Fighter.
This game is a reboot of the MK franchise, back to a clean slate.
Heavy focus on the story, you get to pick sides in character-specific chapters.
New gameplay mechanics: Free Fall Combat, Klose Fighting mode, clothes damage, improved scenario transitions.
Jax, Kitana, Green Lantern and The Joker announced into the rooster.
Heavy hinting at Aquaman being there.
Mortal Kombat compilation announced for release on September.
The conference started a few minutes behind schedule, and then got off to a slow start, giving us a history lesson about the PlayStation Brand’s success, then talking about PSN, PSP, and finally the PS3 lineup. Here are the big announcements you need to know.
130 Titles coming to PS2 in 2008
PS3 Greatest Hits line, games for $29.99
You can download Movies and TV Shows for rental or purchase on the PlayStation Network Store
Home service can access custom environments based on games in your library
Some version of Valkyria Chronicles will be available for PSP
A partnership with Google that has to do with news and user-based content via PSN
80 GB PS3 for $399.99
New Game: Infamous by Sucker Punch. Gritty action game with telekinetic hero
New Game: Massive Action Game, fight with up to 256 people in online skirmishes
Honestly I am really looking forward to Infamous, and the Store/download stuff sounds cool. IMO, it was the best conference of the hardware camps; Sony delivered a few new games, price cuts, and new online functionality. Their goal of highlighting the increasing value of the PS3 seems to have been achieved.
What a bad journalist I am; I didn’t even know that this game existed until today! Konami is making a fighting game based in the Castlevania universe for the Wii, and now we’ve got a few juicy tidbits to speculate over.
Besides being obviously weapon-based and 3D, the game’s visual style is also a bit similar to Soul Calibur, down to the health bars. However there is also some kind of mana/super bar at the bottom of the screen.
So far we know that Simon, Maria, and Alucard will all be playable characters. The character design seems to be more based on stylized shiny anime look of franchise entries like Dawn of Sorrow, rather than the elegant lineart of Symphony of the Night’s concept art. Belts and zippers ahoy! Also, lol wii graphix.
As the trailer showed, breakable armour has been brought to the Soul arena! It’s nothing new, because many fighting fans (Sega ones in particular) will recall Fighting Vipers featuring breakable armour and that was released well over 10 years ago. Plus, characters could be placed at a defence disadvantage by being disarmed in Soul blade. But none the less it’s a cool new addition that will change the flow of fights greatly. The armour system works in the exact same way it did in Fighting vipers: with a character able to lose armour from their top, midriff or lower part of their body and their defence dropping as a result. I’m such a picky bastard that I hope the armour stays on the floor when it’s broken off. None of this disappearing into thin air bullshit. This game is rolling on PS3 and Xbox 360 – it better make use of that extra processing power.
As one of the earlier trailers showed, characters will have critical finishers. If a characters soul gauge gets depleted twice, then they’ll be open to get critical finished like a silly sucka. As if ring outs and after K.O grapples weren’t humiliating enough – you can add critical finishers to the list. I can’t wait to see them all. If Seigfried’s Ice slash, Ivy’s alchemist sword blade rape, Voldo’s sex rolly polly bomb and Kilik’s Phoenix smash (these are not official attack names) are anything to go by, you know they’re going to be over the top, razzle dazzle, pyrotechnic laden smackdowns.
I wasn’t really wowed by this game before, but it impresses me more with each new trailer that gets put out. If Namco really fine tune the characters and give the game some substantial game modes – this could be something special. The jury will be out until this game releases on whether this can better the original Soul Calibur on Dreamcast. Perhaps third time will be the charm…
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Abraham 'Velcor' Duarte
David 'KidKobun' Bruno
Ivan 'Nahu' Lozano
Random J
Sol