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Tekken 6 isn’t the series’ best soundtrack. I don’t think Namco are ever going to touch the awesomness that was Tekken 3’s soundtrack. But 6 is certainly the most varied of the bunch sonically. Each piece is completely different in style and tone to the last. Many of them you wouldn’t associate with a Tekken game at all.
Amongst the various styles that the Namco sound team play with, “Fallen colony” is my pick of the bunch. It’s just a bad ass piece of music. Distinctly Japanesey, yet with many musical styles thrown into the mix. Live drums, kickin’ guitar solos, strings, chants, trumpets, percussions, drum ‘n bass, synths and several bars of awesome.
Dishing out cans of whoop ass to this song feels incredibly gratifying. More so if you manage to smash your sucker of a victim through the glass floor of the stage this music features on, and then juggle their arse up off the floor. Good times…good times.
I was a bit taken a back when I first booted up Street Fighter IV and heard a guy start singing “I can feel it coming over me” as Ken and Ryu went at it. Street Fighter games and theme songs with vocals have been long estranged, so it’s both odd and refreshing that Capcom opted to change things with their latest Street Fighter game.
More often than not when games get themes sung by Japanese artists and said themes get translated into and performed in english, I opt for the Japanese version. But in Street Fighter IV’s case, I’m in preference of the English theme. The lyrics and timing suit the music better, where-as in the Japanese version certain parts of the song don’t sound right. Almost makes me wonder if the song was written in English first and then re-worked into Japanese. Both versions are performed by Japanese boy band EXILE, and their English is perfect. No Engrish to the ears here! Okay…so there’s a little. But cleverly, the engrish is masked by loud guitars and synths. As a cool in-game option you can set whether you’re greeted with either the Japanese or English version of the song – so everybody wins!
I love this theme. I’d always avoided EXILE’s music like the plague, because frankly: Japanese boy bands suck. But I may check out more of their stuff as a result of their contribution to Street Fighter IV.
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.
Ridge racer type 4 was one of only 2 games in the Ridge racer series I actually liked and played extensively – the first being Rage racer. Believe it or not it was not the allure of short haired, big eyed, mini skirt donning Reiko Nagase that hooked me. But a mix of the cool game play and kick ass soundtracks. Seeing as I’ve mentioned Reiko, I may as well re-cap the short ‘n sweet intro to R4 for those who don’t remember it: Reiko waking up in a hot sweat, turning up her stereo, walking to work, stumbling in a tunnel as her heel breaks and then hitching a ride off of an anonymous man in a really fast car. Gotta love that her!
Then there was the theme song: with a well produced dance beat, a decent vocal, a little Japanesey mid section and the full song clocking in at under 2 minutes – it was more than enough for me to love. The whole of Ridge racer type 4’s soundtrack was pretty top notch. But I couldn’t sing along to any of the other songs, which is why “Urban fragments” ranked out on top.
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.
When I first booted up Soul blade and saw the epic intro and heard the theme song, I was in complete awe. Even 12 years later, Soul blade still (in my opinion) ranks as being the ‘Soul’ game that delivered the best opening cinematic and theme song. What was not to love!? Seeing the Soul edge cast handle their business, Sophitia bathing as she cups her perfect breasts, Taki’s chronic jiggling (from the front and back), all backed by a kick ass song laced with orchestrated strings, killer drums, fierce guitars and a hot lead vocal. This is the shit hot anime and video game themes are made of! For me, it’ll never get old. Namco did not miss a beat when it came to creating a lasting first impression when it came Soul blade.
The version below is the full version which features on the official soundtrack and not the edited version which featured in the intro. Enjoy!
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…
That’s my man right there. Darth Vader looked boring, Yoda looks fun. I could imagine him being a right bastard to fight against though. He’s so small that most attacks will probably go straight over his little green peanut head. It’s going to be interesting to see how throw and grapple animations look on Yoda. He’s of a completely different stature to the rest of the cast – so one does wonder.
If I had to choose between the PS3 and Xbox 360 version, I’d go for the 360. Yoda all the way!
Thursday 29 May 2008 @ 7:04 am | By Chris 'Taco' Martinkovic
In a seemingly out-of-left-field release, the group TransGen has released a Beta ver.2 of their translation patch for the not-so-well-received Strategy/RPG Namco x Capcom. The patch was a year in development and translates the interface, the story, and other in-game text.
Being a beta, however, TransGen warns that there are still bugs that cause glitches and even the occasional lockup, so be sure to save often. Now we can finally see how the plot attempts to justify Tales of Destiny’s Stahn joining forces with Dino Crisis’ Regina. One can only hope we’ll be so lucky with dedicated fans willing to translate once the huge crossover game Cross Edge is released.
On a similar note, to those who enjoy Namco x Capcom I strongly encourage you to check out Mugen no Frontier: Super Robot Taisen OG Saga for Nintendo DS. While not a Strategy/RPG like Namco x Capcom or a typical Super Robot Taisen game, the combat works in a very similar manner to NxC.
Namco have unveiled 2 brand new characters for their forthcoming Soul title: Goth lolita inspired robot girl Ashlotte and dual Katana wielding beauty Shura, as well as revealing the new look for Soul Calibur III’s Setsuka. It seems big breasts are the watch word for the ladies of Soul Calibur, more so in installment number 4 than ever. Setsuka’s rack has been upgraded to drastic levels just like Ivy’s were and Shura has a big old rack too. Ashlotte’s are quite small and modest, but she is an android and a young one at that. Not that this would stop Namco mind you. They had no qualms about having Xianghua’s big ol’ teenage rack swinging around in Soul Calibur 1.
I’m loving the dual katana wielding chick. Easily one of the best looking new characters so far. It’s probably because she reminds me so much of Taki, who has been my fave character in the Soul series since Soul blade. And also because she reminds me of Psylocke from X-Men – who I’ve always liked and favoured in the Capcom games she featured in.
The character models on the ladies look great (as always), but I still have a nagging issue with the girls all having the same big eyes, round face and zero ethnicity. Setsuka looks like a white woman and not Japanese at all. Shura is the only character I’ve seen in this game with some ethnicity to her facial features. She looks more like Taki than Taki herself because of it.
It’s look as though Soul Calibur IV will have the biggest character roster of them all, which is great. But I just hope Namco balances them all correctly and has them all fight uniquely – because many of the new characters share similar weapons and look to have similar disciplines to the veterans.
, Music 
When I first booted up Soul blade and saw the epic intro and heard the theme song, I was in complete awe. Even 12 years later, Soul blade still (in my opinion) ranks as being the ‘Soul’ game that delivered the best opening cinematic and theme song. What was not to love!? Seeing the Soul edge cast handle their business, Sophitia bathing as she cups her perfect breasts, Taki’s chronic jiggling (from the front and back), all backed by a kick ass song laced with orchestrated strings, killer drums, fierce guitars and a hot lead vocal. This is the shit hot anime and video game themes are made of! For me, it’ll never get old. Namco did not miss a beat when it came to creating a lasting first impression when it came Soul blade.
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Abraham 'Velcor' Duarte
David 'KidKobun' Bruno
Ivan 'Nahu' Lozano
Random J
Sol