Decent fighting saga
Tekken 7 marks the final chapter of the Mishima clan saga. Or does it? asks Aiman Maulana
THE King of Iron Fist is a title that is familiar to most gamers. It can only be won by defeating numerous enemies in a fighting game series and that is the Tekken franchise.
After being in limited arcade machines in Japan since 2015, Bandai Namco is finally bringing it to the home console.
SYNOPSIS
The game’s story takes place right after the events of Tekken 6, where Jin Kazama has successfully taken down primary antagonist Azazel and has gone missing.
Heihachi Mishima plans on having people boycott his rival organisation, G Corporation, by exposing the CEO’s deepest, darkest secret.
He makes a deal with Claudio Serafino of the Sirius Marksmen organisation to help expose G Corporation CEO Kazuya Mishima’s secret to the world. This will turn public opinion to Heihachi’s own Mishima Zaibatsu.
However, Claudio senses that there is an unknown individual with devil-ish powers in the land who is unrelated to the Mishima bloodline.
This unknown individual turns out to be Street Fighter’s Akuma. He claims to represent Heihachi’s late wife, Kazumi Mishima, with one specific purpose — to take down both Heihachi and Kazuya Mishima.
And thus, another war takes place and the lands become even more chaotic. What will happen to the Mishima bloodline now that a new destructive force has joined the fray?
GAMEPLAY
The number of things you can do with Tekken 7 can be considered both a little and a lot, depending on your perspective.
You have the Offline Mode, which consists of a Practice Mode, Treasure Battle, Versus Mode and an Arcade Mode. Both Practice and Versus modes are self-explanatory.
In Treasure Battle, you will continuously fight enemies using any character of your choosing until you either lose or quit.
With every win, you earn in-game currency which can be used to unlock cosmetic items for characters such as skins and alternate outfit schemes.
In Arcade Mode, you will fight a total of five enemies in five matches over two rounds each. There will be three normal enemies, a sub-boss, and the final boss, which may differ depending on the character you use.
While Treasure Battle mode is great to play the game endlessly, the Arcade Mode is too short.
In the past, you would have at least seven matches but they had shortened it to a number that would be more suitable if this was a PS Vita game instead.
The AI opponents aren’t exactly difficult but can get cheap with their combos when played with harder difficulty settings, which can keep things intense for most gamers.
The Online Mode, on the other hand, is split into ranking matches, quick battles and lobbies.
Lobbies and the invitation system work very well, with stable connections making the experience easier, but the game continues to frustrate, particularly in 1v1 lobbies.
There is no simple re-match option, kicking you back to the lobby whenever you want to fight again, causing minutes of waiting time between matches.
You can also run online tournaments for you and your friends to enjoy, which is a straightforward affair.
THE STORY MODE
If you are expecting expect a game with a good and lengthy narrative, you will be disappointed here.
Tekken7’s Story Mode focuses on the Mishima Clan’s struggle. This is supposed to mark the end of the Mishima saga, with the key here being Heihachi Mishima, Kazumi Mishima, Kazuya Mishima, Jin Kazama and, in a surprising turn of events, Street Fighter’s Akuma.
While I don’t want to spoil the storyline, this is what I can tell you. It takes less than two hours to complete the storyline, maybe even an hour if you’re good with fighting games, and it’s not even close to being the end of Mishima saga.
The game explains why Akuma is brought to Tekken 7, and there is a certain “matter” that ended by the conclusion of the game.
But with a cliffhanger ending, we expect to see a continuation of the Mishima saga in another instalment.
I thought they would end the saga but it’s not to be. If anything, this is merely the beginning of the end of the saga and it may not even be a direction that fans will be pleased about.
While the game’s main Story Mode is short, there are character-specific episode quests that you can go through.
This effectively pads the storyline content of the game and enables players to know what each character of the game is up to during this timeline.
CHARACTERS AND CUSTOMISATIONS
Tekken 7 has a decent roster of playable characters, with 36 characters in total (37 if you pre-order the game).
All of the characters are available from the get-go, so there is no need for you to unlock anyone.
To me, I see this as a missed opportunity. Unlocking characters like the fighting games of yesteryear will keep people hooked and encourage people to try out and master a variety of characters.
While there are two additional characters for the game via DLC, it simply can’t beat the joy of unlocking them through sheer hard work of playing the game.
As far as customisations are concerned, it’s a great way to personalise your favourite characters - from wearing silly items to making them look even more serious than before.
However, these are just cosmetic items and nothing more, which makes it feel like you can just skip through it if you don’t mind the default looks.
CONCLUSION
As a fighting game, Tekken 7 is an enjoyable game. I’ll recommend it to people that enjoy the genre.
The key here is you must be willing to play with other people if you truly want to enjoy the game, as that’s where the bulk of the gameplay is. If you enjoy playing solo, it is better if you avoid this and opt for Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy or Valkyria Revolution this month.
Not that it’s a bad game. It’s just not a game that suits everyone, especially since it’s lacking in narrative content. But it is worth the money if you enjoy competitive gaming. Overall, I’d give Tekken 7 a 6 out of 10 rating.
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