My first console was the PlayStation One. Leading up to that point, my gaming (mostly edutainment) had been done on an eMachines that punched well-above its weight. Though I had the occasional adventure and shooter under my belt, I didn’t actually touch a fighter until I played ‘TEKKEN 3’ on a demo disc alongside the likes of ‘Gran Turismo’ and some third-person alien horror game whose name eludes me. But when I booted up that game I was blown away by how fantastic that game looked. The intro amazed me, the graphics blew me away, and one character has, to this day, still remained one of gaming’s iconic characters. I guess you could say he really is the “King” of fighting game character designs.
But TEKKEN 3 was generations ago—lots have changed since then, many a fighter has been lost to time, the time wait between entries has only increased. Yet the TEKKEN series has only remained consistent in just how much fun the core mechanics can be. The series particularly found its stride with number 7 and really kicked off a strong eSports scene for the game, staying strong even at its low points. And that leads us to the 3D fighter ‘TEKKEN 8’, developed by the TEKKEN PROJECT at Bandai Namco Studios and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, a game that not only builds off the best of its predecessor but adds so much more to its core gameplay mechanics and the content that fits in the overall package.
Let me start off by saying this: TEKKEN 8 is fan-bloody-tastic.
All-out War
A bit of context is in order. When TEKKEN 7 first launched, it had the gameplay nailed to a tee, but was sorely lacking in offline content modes. Outside of its (lackluster) story mode and character episodes, all you had after that were fighting bots that were less capable than those found in ‘TEKKEN Tag Tournament 2’, a game that came some five years before it. The newcomer experience didn’t exist and, amid a time where fighting games were inserting more modes of practise for fighting game trainees, that too was a sore spot for TEKKEN 7.
So TEKKEN 8 is a world different from its previous entry. Right off the bat there are a number of offline modes that can easily eat up hours of your time. You have the action-packed story mode following Jin and his loss of his devil powers. Then there is the Arcade Quest mode that serves not only as a newcomer’s foot-in-the-door entry into 3D fighters (and fighters in general) but also a great place to take on tough challenges that will test your ability to block, block, and block. Practise mode has so many options that’ll help you learn new techniques and polish up old ones. Regular Arcade, character episodes, and of course a strong online component.
There’s also TEKKEN ball. It’s like volleyball but you can watch Kazuya get pummeled by a floaty beach ball. The series keeps its signature goofiness.
Jumping into story mode, all you need to know is that Jin is depressed, he kicks butt, and there’s a lot of explosions. This is also where, if you haven’t noticed by now, you’ll see the game’s outstanding visuals and presentation. You’ll jump between gameplay and cinematics seamlessly as the screen explodes in particle effects and cinematic camera moments that highlight intense moments and just how good returning cast members and new ones look, never mind cool character intros. The lighting across stages is gorgeous and are varied in setting and background action—gladiator rings, warzones, and alpaca-filled stages never looked so good.
Say goodbye to Infinite Azure and I mean it, because there are no more infinite stages. Instead the stages have become larger and offer more variation between transitions. You also have your stage hazards that can help you get just a bit of extra damage for that KO. The music that accompanies your battles is energetic and frantic, infusing techno madness into the stage’s cultural background in the best ways possible. I love the game’s music, the TEKKEN series as a whole really, but if a stage theme isn’t to your liking, TEKKEN 8’s jukebox (no longer PlayStation 4 exclusive!) lets you set a playlist of your choice from other TEKKEN entries across the franchise, barring some unfortunate exclusions (no ‘Sparking’). At the very least, set the Character Select theme to “Who’s Afraid Of…”, you won’t regret it.
Heat Actions
TEKKEN 8’s presentation has gotten a notable upgrade, but what you’ll notice right away is the speed of the game. It feels like you can hardly backdash, forward momentum takes the cake, side-stepping is strong, and many pressure techniques to master—TEKKEN 8 is all about playing aggressively. The game wants you up at your opponent consistently, rewarding good pressure and patience. You’ll need to consistently have at your opponent and punishes can decide matches—even more so thanks to the Heat system, which can lead to seriously damaging combos.
In Heat, players gain access to certain moves and techniques that wouldn’t normally work otherwise. Not only that, these moves help you keep the pressure going by having your character lunge towards your opponent on activation (such as Shaheen’s Back + 1) and open them up for a potential launch. This is also 50/50, as your opponent can also block your next attack and punish if they recover on time and/or block the angle of attack. They can’t sidestep in this state and can only block, which can make this moment key in keeping the pressure. It also gives you a chance to gain health back, acting as a balancing scale regarding high damage attacks.
Even better, during Heat players deal chip damage to their opponent. Once an option, chip damage is now mainstay in TEKKEN 8. But unlike other fighters, chip damage cannot KO an opponent on its own. If your opponent can keep up with you, they’ll recover whatever damage was dealt and potentially turn the tables on you as Heat can only be activated once per round. It’s really important to know when to use Heat while also being patient enough to not activate it on accident—I would know, trust me.
Just playing TEKKEN 8 feels like a breath of fresh air thanks to the Heat system. But of course there’s more to the game than that. We’re taking characters getting new moves, character refreshes, and lets not forget the new characters too. Reina is freakin’ sick as is Victor and the combo potential for the entire cast is off the charts. You can really get creative with how you play in the middle of the stage up to wall combos, keeping your opponent on edge and throwing their gamepad to the floor in a fit of rage.
All of this can seem overwhelming, but you can always take to the game’s Arcade Quest mode for a progression-styled practise mode. It’s here where you’ll make your little TEKKEN avatar that you’ll keep offline and online, challenging ghost players across multiple different fighting game hangouts complete with Namco theming. Here newcomers can learn the very basics of the game in a series of short tutorials and then get whooped by bots who will exploit your weaknesses. Blocking is the name and boy is it part of the game. You can also make your own ghost data to challenge, making you wonder why you leave yourself open so often.
Though the newcomer experience is better than what came before, keep in mind that part of learning a fighting game requires time and patience. I feel a better part of the recent releases of fighting games have tried to simplify mechanics rather than teach and those games have suffered for it. TEKKEN 8 hasn’t gone this route, instead offering a Special Styles menu that you can invoke at any time by pressing the left bumper, letting players pull off entire strings with the press of a button. I’ve always viewed features like these as a crutch and can make you a worse player.
While Special Styles will let you jump right into TEKKEN and do cool stuff, it’s better to take the time to learn what you’re doing and why it matters for a given situation.
戦闘開始
Whether its online or offline, playing the game earns you Fight Money. You’ll use these monies to buy customisation items for playable characters and your little mini avatar. Compared to previous entries, at the moment there’s not much here to work with but that’ll change over time. Besides, the cast’s default costumes are wicked enough for the average player. I cannot stress how cool these guys look: Kazuya’s unwavering mafia boss look, Azucena’s coffee-addicted glow down to her moveset, Yoshimitsu’s colourful but demonic appearance. You might not be able to dress up one character to look like the other (yet) but TEKKEN 8’s doubling down on shounen makes for wicked special attacks and awesome CGs. TEKKEN 4 would be proud.
I played this game across multiple Windows PCs and the Xbox Series X. Performance across these builds sat at a perfect 60, where all fighters should be at. There’s a lot of options you can tweak and upscalers like AMD’s FSR, Intel’s XeSS, and Nvidia’s DLSS are available for use. Controlling the menu on PC proved to be a little annoying, however, as some menus would only take input from the keyboard, some from the mouse, and some from my gamepad. Naturally, the Xbox Series X had none of these issues, and with a proper HDR set you can really see the game’s colours fly.
One last bit, I got to play a bit of online play while the servers were up. TEKKEN 8 features rollback netcode and, from what I could tell, the experience was good. One disconnection, one unplayable match due to serious frame drops likely caused by the connection or my opponent’s PC, but the rest were pretty good even at high ping. Mind, this was in the American lobby, so it’ll remain to be seen how netcode performs across regions. But thanks to crossplay, there will be a better chance of finding players in lobbies closer to your location.
TEKKEN 8 is an outstanding fighting game. An extremely strong 3D fighter with lots of offline content, strong core mechanics, and all around a fun and stylish game. TEKKEN continues to show the world why it’s the winner of the Iron Fist Tournament.
TEKKEN 8
Played on
Windows 11 PC/Xbox Series X
PROS
- Gorgeous presentation—from the visuals to the music and the characters themselves.
- Gameplay pulls off focus on aggression incredibly well—the pros will love this.
- Solid offline content options.
- Story mode is as flashy as ever.
- Newcomers have a decent way of getting into fighters through Arcade Quest.
CONS
- Character customisation is lacking compared to prior entries.
- UX/UI with mouse + keyboard is annoying at times.
https://twitter.com/LordCognito/status/1749306342601277454
Such high praise and I already bought (and shelved, mostly) SF6 and MK1.
Must resist…
Is this advisable for a single player experience?
Were you able to spectate matches on private lobbies?
No, if you don’t want to shell 70$/80€ for a couple hours of bombastic nonsense (which is cool, but not for that price tag).