Tekken 8 (2024)

15th Game Completed in 2024

Tekken 3 was one of the best-selling games on the PS1. It, and Tekken Tag following it, were the height of late-90s "cool", with blasting techno, leather jackets, and bowling.

(I will preface by saying that I am evaluating this game strictly as a single-player experience, and that I do not play the online meta.)

Fast forward to 2024 and Tekken is just kind of... Old, and tired, and lame. I've played Tekkens 6, 7 and now 8, and I'm just kinda bored with the direction this series has been headed in. They've been dragging out this Heihachi-Kazuya-Jin-Lars family drama for way, WAY too long, and it has literally never been interesting. Tekken 8's campaign does have some genuinely great moments, where the hype is cranked right up and you're excited to see some of the series's cool characters doing cool things... Until the mid-way point, where it feels like every single fight is between Jin and Kazuya. Over. And over. Again. Just like in 7 - Kazuya and Heihachi fighting over and over again. While the far more interesting characters just... Have nothing to do.

Tekken frequently sniffs at these ideas of ancient, supernatural dieties and secrets buried in the past, and while that stuff is there, the series does nothing with them. It's all centered around this family feud, and even world-threatening ancient evils are just set dressing in service of this one boring-ass family and their bombastic shounen fights.

This is a character roster that has a fucking velociraptor, and it somehow manages to focus on the boring human characters and this nonsensical corporate military hogwash that isn't interesting and doesn't matter. Do you know where Tekken shines? Where a giant bear that really, REALLY wants to beat this washed-up fighter as revenge for his father, and he accidentally blocks a rocket launcher salvo aimed at said fighter. And, being unable to communicate with humans, reluctantly accepts thanks from the man he wants to kill. That fucking rules. That's fun writing. You have this massive, storied roster of weird characters with decades of rivalries and back stories... And most of them just kind show up, throw some punches, and disappear. My main guy, Hwaorang, has literally nothing to do in this series. He has no stakes, he has no reason to be there, and he just kinda... Shows up, fights, then rides away into the sunset.

Speaking of Hwaorang, what the actual fuck is going on with his design? He started as a slender, but athletic, fighter that played fast and had good combo potential. He still has those things, but now he's built like Arnold Schwartzenegger. In fact, nearly all the male characters are. The lack of diversity of male body types in this game is weird, it almost feels like fetish material at this point, they're all built like the guy from Fist Of The North Star and it's weird. It makes sense for a guy like Heihachi that's slow and strong, his physique projects exactly what kind of fighter he is, but it makes no sense for the more agile characters. I'm not gonna sit here and say the female bodies in this game are particularly diverse either, they definitely all skew althetic and slender, but they vary widely in style, mode of dress, and personality.

The fighting in this one, compared to earlier entries, feels a lot more chunky and deliberate too, and I can't say I like the game feel as much as I like Tekken 3 and Tag. There's too much particle effect "noise" going on, and too many obnoxious camera cuts and slowdown that make clicking into combos really frustrating.

But to my original point... Tekken just isn't cool anymore. It's way too self-aware of how stupid it is to be truly exciting, and the Mishima Family stuff has to end ASAP. Mortal Kombat, as a point of comparison, looooooves to redo the story of the original trilogy. It's in its third iteration now. But the writing is those games, while not high art, sets up really interesting scenarios and gives the characters a lot to do. They often manage to write even guest characters into the narrative in interesting ways that make sense in-universe (although Mortal Kombat's insane multiverse, multiple timeline shenanigans makes pretty much anything possible, which is why it's so fun). That's the bar that's set for single player fighting game story modes, and it's a high one. Tekken's presentation values are there, but the writing and the story simply are not.

I'm confident Tekken 8 is an amazing multiplayer experience, probably best in class. But as a single player experience, it's just not where it needs to be, and I'm really hoping it can take a step up in its next entry.

Oh, and bring back Tekken Bowl. And Alex. Cowards.

Tekken 8 offers a ton of ways to fight whether you want to head online or you’re looking for a fully featured single-player experience. A lot of them are just okay, but when you have this much variety, something is bound to stick, and even when some of its modes weren’t blowing me away, the fantastic combat at the center of this experience did. This isn’t a massive evolution for the Tekken series, but fans looking for their new fix will get what they want, while new players will find perhaps the most accessible Tekken yet.

Peak fiction meets fist meets fate meets arcades meets wacky customization.

Tekken 8 is one of the best financial crisis a game has ever gave me. The amount of content in this games is there for you, even as a new comer to learn the basics of the game:

-Story mode: Absolute peak fiction with anime like scenes and moments. The only thing I didn't like as much were plot conveniences and not enough screentime for secondary characters. But is an aspect we can ignore, as the main story follows Jin to end Kazuya.

-Character episodes: Its some sort of: "What if blank character were to win the tournament", it plays:1 introductory video about the character you picked from the list, 5 consecutive fights with unique dialogues and a special unique CG ending, short but precise.

-Arcade quest is a "story" tutorial that you can complete in 2 hours or 1 hour if you are deathfisting everything that moves. the game takes you by the hand and leads you to understand all the basics like combos, attack properties, attack positions, highs, mids, lows, heat mode, combo tutorials and suggestions, etc. Is packed with cpu opponents that are there to test your newly found knowledge.

-Regular arcade mode: Consecutive fights to reach a final boss, if you win matches with a perfect the final boss is different. Its okay to practice combos and gameplay before jumping online.

-Online: As a veteran player I can say that the netcode is a BIG upgrade compared to tekken 5dro, tekken 6, tag 2 and tekken 7. First matches are really easy as there are many new players, but, when climbing the ladder you feel the huge rise in skill. there is also a central lobby where players can see and interact with other players, play some matches, add friends, play tekken ball to relax and even fight the other players ghosts. ¿Oh, what is a ghost?

-Ghost battles: ¿Have you ever wanted to fight a pro-player like JDCR, Knee, Ulsan, Anakin, Sephiblack, PhiDx, kirakira and many more? ¿fight your favorite content creator? ¿or maybe just play another player but you are too afraid to jump online? Well, there is an answer for that, the Ghosts. Ghosts are AI trained versions of your own character and gameplan, they mimic your actions and replicate them when another player fights your ghost character. Or at least they try to mimic, they are not perfect, but, they feel reaaallyyyy close to a real human match. I absolutely love this feature.

-Replays and tips: THE BEST feature in the game. You can watch replays from people around the world and while you watch online replays you receive tips about punishment counterplay and also you can take control of one of the players to try this option like it was a real match in that precise instant. You can watch and practice with high tier players while learning about punishment and frame data. Is gorgeous.

-Customization: I don't have to pay for making my character look cool or senseless, there are many ways to customize to your own style and maybe replicate some characters external to the franchise, you can look on google and see all the crazy stuff people are making with this option. ¿You don't like victor? then try making him into french Big Boss or french Leon S. Kennedy. The options are limited, but is something the competition don't have.

I love Tekken as a franchise, I love Tekken 8. Is the most tekken game from tekken 3 back in psx and arcade era. If you like fighting games, Tekken 8 is a must buy.