Just a quick note everyone, I intended to do a review of this much sooner but capturing pictures to use is kind of a pain with this game. I guess there is not a photo mode outside of looking at character customization. I much prefer if I am reviewing a game to capture footage of my own to use as it represents the experience I had. So there are no pictures for this one as of right now.
Tekken 8 has been a game through its closed network tests and demo I struggled to find good in, if anything every time I walked away. I felt more concerned about the game, as launch day neared I was going to get it anyway fighting there must be something here to keep me coming back. Also, a demo is much like a book cover: you don’t judge the final product by that.
The Stats:
Played on: PlayStation 5, with my arcade stick Tiny (a Hayabusa series arcade deck)
Acquired by: I got it on launch day at Target but paid with a discount
Played: twenty-three hours as of the time of writing, finished the main story (not unlocked alt endings yet) done a good amount of ranked and casual matches played arcade quest, arcade mode, customization, and tried the super ghosts and replay.
TL:DR: If Street Fighter 6 was the return of the Grand Master of fighters, Tekken 8 kindly asks them to hold their Saki….
Tekken 8 is a fighting game, you know what to expect from here, however, there is quite a bit of single-player content. For starters, there is the usual arcade mode, along with training mode, and can alter your characters as you want. I mean I made my Steve Fox Orange Cassidy so go nuts and everything. The main draw is naturally the story mode for single-player people. I will say, that this is a dramatic improvement over the last game’s story mode. If Neatherealm sort of modernized or improved the story mode of a fighting game. Then Tekken has taken the baton at this point, it knows what it needs to say. It really beyond that does not stick around longer than it needs to. It’s fun kind of goofy and totally Tekken. I will say, kudos to all the people to can know instantly the language another person is speaking that isn’t native...they fight and study Duolingo it seems.
The next big single-player and probably the most new person-friendly is arcade quest, its basically if arcades still were a thing and people hung out at them Tekken would be the best thing since existence was started. I’m not even going to lie and say I paid attention to the story, cause I hit skip and just went right ot the battles as I knew the skills already and just wanted to run reps against the computer. So I would not know anything about the story other than Dipper from Gravity Falls is taking you to various arcades to make you the best Tekken fighter ever...and your final boss is a chibi Kazuya...kind of person...does anyone even care really?
Story aside it’s a great place for new players to learn the tricks and trades of the game and when to use what. So for new people yes I would recommend enduring whatever plot there is there and hanging with Tekken-skinned Dipper Pines, maybe there is DLC of Tekken-skinned Bill Cipher? Come on Harada, it is good DLC and you know it.
The online is I have to be honest here damn near flawless, I rarely have a long wait for an online fight, and the transitions move well and load times are bordering on non-existent (to me anyway). My only complaint is the same as the last game with its online. Can we please have a training mode-style computer-controlled nonmoving opponent while we wait for a match? Right now it won’t matter much cause it is easy to get a match but in time those waits may get longer and a lot of us just don’t wanna destroy a non moving target. We may wanna work on things or warm up before a fight. It’s a minor nitpick but one I’d like to see improved.
For people wanting to go to the next level or just improve their skills, Tekken 8 has it seems used some AI-enhancing features. While I am not the biggest fan of AI, I have to give them credit here, it is well-implemented and helps rather than hinders. For starters if you fight someone you can download their ghost, you can then run over to a super ghost battle and work some reps against a friend or rival’s ghost and improve how you fight. All modes you play outside of training are implied to have AI watching and learning so your ghosts are more how you fight. In fact, why not mirror-match yourself and see where you’re fucking up. Well, you can so, know thyself…
The only real drawback I can see is the “Simple Controls” These are at best a handicap and at worst an exploit in my opinion. You can turn them off and on with the push of a button, and I’m seeing the same problems I see in SF6, people are using them to grind out wins but not gain skill. To me, this is an insult to a lot of people who have played this game for a long time. Not only that, but with all the tools to get better most people who jump in will not bother and use simple controls to grind out wins so they can inflate their ego. I think I’ve made my stance on simple controls clear…
Gameplay-wise, whoo boy did this thing go to 11, if you thought the last game was not offensive enough this game will make you question your own opinion. The heat system introduced does make the game move a lot faster, also the health gain is another interesting little wrinkle that I enjoy and usually makes you just ground them and pound them to get the W. More advanced players will of course have counters and it will like most Tekken turn into a game of chess/battle of attrition. Some characters are also given some new moves/stances/weapons(?) that make the game more aggressive. It’s interesting as the battles can go from slow games of wills to outright slug fests in a matter of a round. I rarely have had the same battle twice. That’s something, not many fighting games can say these days as everyone studies lines and goes with the best stratagems to win.
So, should you be playing Tekken 8? Honestly, yes you should if you a fighting game fan there is a lot to like here, and if you were ever curious I would say you take the time and learn the damn controls and not use simple mode. You’re gonna get the grasp of the game quickly and know what is what. It is new player player-friendly in every way but controls. Also for a game at 70 dollars in an age where were asked to plunk more of our hard-earned money into. This game gives you a lot for your money and can probably go for years on just the base game unless you see a DLC character you like. A very strong game in a still-rising series, which is saying something as this thing has been around for almost two to three decades now. I’ll see you online, you’ll probably get a free win from me but hell hopefully we’ll have some fun getting there.
-The Chaos Director
So I really agree with you about this game being having more options for single players. Tekken 7 felt like it was mostly just online gameplay, and all you had left really was just arcade battle and like the story mode. But Tekken 8 really gives you more things to do as a single player like you could play with ghosts. Even Tekken ball you can play against the computer if you want. It’s a game that can really be played offline.
I also really like the fact that your main character has a story. But this is a really great article like I think T8 is perfect for beginners to either the franchise or fighting games in general or a veterans of tekken. each Tekken has just been approved upon immensely and it’s just great to be a part of this community because there’s so many enthusiastic people and the community that doesn’t go dead people stick around.
Oh, and by the way, I have the saddest story I read on Twitter about somebody’s ghost. Their brother had passed away, but was able to play Tekken for like a month and this guy was trying to figure out if there was a way to save his brothers tekken 8 ghost so that he could play with him still... It’s amazing where technology is so that you could still keep somebody’s memory alive within a video game. It’s crazy.