Nu är den här. den sjunde reinkarnationen av Tekken 8. Är spelet större, bättre och tuffare än föregångarna? GameElites skribent Steve vet. Han har nämligen synat Tekken 8 in i minsta detalj.

Get ready for the next generation battle!

It’s time for the new generation battle! Tekken 8 finally hits the shelves, as the last of the big three fighting games being Street Fighter 6 and Mortal Kombat 1 how does Tekken 8 stack up given its late arrival to the party? Find out below as I will be making quite a few references between the three throughout, all games have been played on the day one release on PS5, so the experience and issues below will be as close to what you may also come to see.
Please enjoy GameElite.se’s review of Tekken 8.

The Dark Awakens

Outside of the general online play experience, The Dark Awakens is the new story mode released with Tekken 8 and further expands upon the previous story, most noticeably from Tekken 6 and Tekken 7 was more of a retelling and reboot to the series.

Tekken 8 follows the story of Jin Kazama the worlds final hope in his quest to control the devil gene as well as stop his father Kazyua Mishima from plunging the world in a constant state of perpetual war were the only thing that matters is power, the weak will fall and the strong survive the King of Iron Fist tournament returns once again, with new and interesting characters including that of Reina, Victor and Azucena rounding out an pretty extensive roster with still more room to grow The Dark Awakens hopes to finally put to bed the ongoing Mishima conflict, but lurking in the shadows could be so much more.. And what is the route of the devil gene itself?

The Dark Awakens is an amazing graphical experience, the cutscenes flow into the combat portions very nicely with little difference in quality or lag, while some of the characters motivations for assisting or becoming an hindrance is questionable (looking at you Azucena..) the story itself is a complete experience rounding out the story for quite a few characters as well as bringing everything full circle, with heavy references to Tekken 3 and Tekken 6 even featuring modes from said games which further add the experience.

The new characters blend into the story very well and don’t take away from the experience as a whole, the only negative thing I can say regarding this mode is that it’s too short, at only 15 chapters this game mode can be completed within the space of 2-3 hours. More of this would be appreciated and less of this next mode would be better overall…

Arcade Quest

Aside from the graphical marvel that is Dark Awakens we also have the not so graphically inclined Arcade Quest mode, be prepared as I’ll be referencing this mode quite a lot throughout the review. First and foremost while I was not the greatest fan of this mode by any means it does do an pretty excellent job of teaching players the new system mechanics added to Tekken 8 albeit quite slowly.

Arcade Quest consists of your own player created avatar (see customization below) first experiencing Tekken 8 along with other characters within the world, it serves as a quite practical guide into how the game works, tagging along with Max the self proclaimed “Tekken Prof” and his friend you will progress through multiple different arcades learning different styles of play on your quest to become the best Tekken 8 player in the world.

While this mode is a great way to get players into the content as I will state more than once in this review Arcade Quest looks horrible.. It really can pull you out of the game as a whole, here you have Dark Awakens and Tekken in general which are both graphical marvels with extremely well defined proportions and classic attires and here you have Arcade Quest.. A mode filled with frankly unlikeable characters, that follow the same generic tropes from arcade to arcade all while looking like a bootleg version of the first iteration of Metaverse avatars. Now this mode wouldn’t be too bad if this was the only issue, there are several avatars within each arcade that appear to be randomly generated and you can see some truly shockingly bad avatars run around that not only leave you confused but also can really take you out of the experience. Along with this, the mode is suppose to be “meta” in the sense that it’s reflecting the player experience of going to the arcade with friends to try out the new games while progressing, but some of the arcades that come up in this mode simply wouldn’t exist in anyway in the real world, one in particular was completely routed in the pure customization of the characters on offer and was a bright bubble gum candyland inspired eyesore of an experience.

I’m aware that there should be a mode to ease players into the content, but this Arcade Quest story mode is not it.

Super Ghost Battles

During the Arcade Quest experience you’ll also come across Ghost Battles, along with the Super Ghost Battles, now these are both interesting system, the Super Ghost system especially, SGB is the new system that allows you to face yourself as well as other players throughout the world in order to practise match-ups as well as experience harder battles at your own leisure the great benefit of SGB is that it generates a copy of your own playstyle, which mimics both the good and bad habits you make during gameplay, during gameplay, the SGB will learn from you how to block correctly, how to make use of the new Heat system as well as make use of any combo abilities you yourself have managed to pull off.

Game Modes

Moving on from the somewhat negative experience of the Arcade Quest story experience I’d like to cover the plethora of other game modes which in my honest opinion are far better overall compared to other games currently on the market. I’d like to also cover something that I also briefly go over in my previous other reviews on Mortal Kombat 1 and Street Fighter 6 which is that of…

Practice Mode

While the Arcade Quest mode does a somewhat good job at teaching the player how the new systems of Tekken 8 work nothing will beat the old classic of the staple Practice Mode, now what could be special about a regular practice mode you say? Tekken has always gone above and beyond when it comes to teaching players how there mechanics work and for once I have nothing bad to say about this mode, there is nothing lacking or missing, whether you’re just starting out or you’re a fighting game veteran Tekken 8’s practice mode is one of the best in the entire genre, while as previously mentioned I took issue with Mortal Kombat 1’s inability to pin combo calling it a “tutorial system that is incredibly extensive and is worthy of praise.” and chasting Street Fighter 6 for its inability to include button prompts stating that it “trips at the first hurdle and breaks both kneecaps” in terms of a mode.

I’m happy to say that Tekken 8’s practice to mode covers everything that you could be looking for, pin combos to practise, watch visual representations of the combos to learn button timings while easily being able to move through the command list without having to exit in and out of menus (SF6) the amount of data this practice mode alone provides, be it frame data, damage numbers or it’s in built punish system that allows you mid reply to learn the best ways to counter any move thrown at you really makes this something that should be industry standard when it comes to teaching new players about your game and I can I had nothing but a positive experience when learning how the new characters operate compared to the classical characters.

Arcade Battle and Versus Mode

Where would Tekken, or any fighting game for that matter be without it’s classic Arcade Battle and Versus modes of play, be it online or offline at a tournament or just relaxing on the couch the classic Arcade experience is right in your hands, Choose your fighter and battle through several stages of play finally culminating in a Final boss fight between a plethora of story related instances or even if you’re skilled enough a secret boss, in an effort to not spoil the story I will mention that there are at least two extra bosses you could encounter during this experience and not all of them could be considered your enemy…

Versus mode is the tried and true method, be it against friends or you simply want to brush up on your matchups, Versus mode brings the true 1v1 offline experience to the fighting game community.

Character Episodes

While the Dark Awakens is truly a breathtaking experience let’s not forget another classic gem of the Tekken series and that is of character episodes, consider these mini arcade fights consisting of 5 stages but allowing each character to express their personality and rivalries clearly to the player all culminating in a what if scenario upon completion.

Character episodes are a great way of concluding a characters mini arc in relation to the story, as the Dark Awakens still leaves some questions to answer, while these stories can be that of redemption, some others have an extremely comedic value that really bring the feel of older Tekken games back into the series.

The only negative aspect I can say in regards to this mode is that comparatively to older games in the series and other content available it is extremely short, each episode can be completed in roughly 5 minutes, perhaps a little longer if learning a new character and while the roster is quite extensive in size I would have liked more time to see the outcome of the multiple rivalries that certain characters have, however I will always love the comic aspect these endings include as it really shows that while Tekken can do a serious story when required they can also not take themselves to seriously which is much appreciated with this genre.

Online Experience

Along with the classic Arcade and Versus modes where would Tekken 8 be without the main stay feature of Online mode, a good majority of players will start the game here and not even touch the story experience, Online experience is broken down into player matches, ranked as well as quick match modes.

Along with this Tekken 8 also introduces the Tekken Lounge a mode similar to that of SF6’s battle hub allowing players to run around with their Arcade Quest avatars in of room consisting of about 100 people in order to play different modes/have a different match making experience every time they enter the lounge, Tekken lounge includes all the same modes as from the main menu along with access to the customization modes which I will go into detail a little further below.

During my experience with the Online Tekken Lounge I did run into some issues that I will further cover in my conclusion section but for the most, the Online experience is one of the best around, being able to choose exactly the type of connection you wish to be paired with as well as the rank of the player gives first timers and returning veterans and easier time getting into matches with people of the same experience. While people may abuse the new heat system as well as spamming the same move again and again this doesn’t detract from the experience, the netcode is extremely good and only in one instance did I experience any kind of lag during online play and I don’t believe that was related to Tekken 8 in any specific way (lag switch).

Tekken Ball

A very surprising edition to the Tekken 8 experience, Tekken ball was a mini game that was featured in Tekken 3 way back in 1998 and also briefly returned in the Wii U version of Tekken Tag Tournament 2, now with online features as well as the classic couch experience Tekken Ball along with Tekken Bowling (hopefully DLC) where the quitensental classic experience and best way to just relax after spending hours going through the 1v1 mayhem.

So what is Tekken Ball? The object of Tekken Ball is to deplete your opponent’s health bar by using powerful attacks and correct timings to smash the Tekken Ball into the opponent, depending on the moves used the Tekken Ball will gain more power, the more powerful hit the more damage that occurs, Tekken ball quickly becomes a game of attempting to overpower your opponent while keeping the ball in the air as much as possible. This interesting take of Volleyball is sure to bring a smile to players face as with several different modes based on unlocked Tekken Balls the game can be over exceptionally quickly or become a slow slog which some players may prefer overall.

Tekken Ball can be found not only in the Tekken Lounge but also in the offline/online sections of the main menu

Customization Modes

Now something that’s always be a staple with Tekken 8 is it’s extensive customization system and this time around, while not as comical as previous iteration I’m happy to say that not only is it much easier to unlock the content but the sheer amount of outfits you can put together and the level of detail you can apply to not only your own avatar but to every single character in the game is by and far one of the best pieces of content available, unlike other games in the genre SF6/MK1 all the content is available at base and while there may be plans to add further items Tekken 8 doesn’t start the game by offering $20 content packs for outfits that should be base which already for me puts Tekken 8 at the pinnacle of character customization.

Customization is broken down into the classic – Player Information, where you create your own profile, using titles/health bars as well as artwork unlocked purely through playing the game itself.

Avatar Customization, briefly mentioned in the Arcade Quest where you can either choose to make your own avatar, or use one of the pre-ordered / Ultimate variations are fully customizable in terms of colours and details so while the Arcade Quest may once again look horrendous you can at least bring a bit of style to the experience.

Now the crown jewel of customization in Tekken is of course the character customization and this time around while it is less comical and easier to unlock everything on offer the sheer amount of attires you can make even from other games in the genre is staggering and the level of creativity given to the player is far better than anything else on offer.

Do you want to play as Yor Forger before SF6 requires you to pay another $20 pack to do the same? You can do that, do you want to recreate another video game character? Perhaps Leon and Ada from the recent Resident Evil 4 remake? All good. Want to stick it even further to MK1/SF6? Then recreate Scorpian along with Ken and Ryu or even go beyond as Vegeta and Goku the options of customization are limited only to what you can recreate in your own mind. Tekken 8’s Character customization is simply one of the best around and there are no hidden charges at current to make your favourite character into whatever you wish.

Before writing the conclusion I just have to go back to playing my John Wick version of new character Victor. The customization is truly astounding.

Conclusion

So now at the conclusion I’ll put my thoughts togethers about the general experience in Tekken 8 when compared to its other main competitors on the market, that being MK1 and SF6, while I’ve made references to these games previously I would like to touch on the clear differences they bring to the table and how they may make improvements to the systems as a whole in the near future.

After experiencing all three of the major game titles within the past year, it’s clear to see that outside of MK1, much like in the past SF6 and Tekken 8 are once again in direct contendership. Nowhere is this more noticed than the Arcade Quest, as mentioned while the Arcade Quest does a good job at teaching players new game mechanics it again looks extremely horrendous compared to the rest of the game. While SF6 has the battle hub where you could take your created character and sit at arcade cabinets to play like in real life, Tekken 8 as mentioned above the Tekken lounge, these are both functionally the same and while SF6 did include avatar battles Tekken 8 does not. I’m not sure why Tekken 8 took this feature and did it far worse but it is something that shows a stark difference in presentation and focus.

Now while I didn’t experience to many issues, the majority of the glitches and freezes I encountered during my playtime are directly linked to the Tekken Lounge, throughout the lounge as stated above there are multiple places to visit for all the different types of modes, however there are certain sections where the player has the option to just sit down next to NPCs for some reason pressing the interact button causes the player to become locked in place unable to move or interact this is mostly noticeable near the Group match terminals which is just an odd feature as the NPCs included near these locations are interactable so it’s very easy to run into this issue, the only way I found to resolve this was to just close the game and reopen. Aside from this issue I never had any issues with the current statues of Tekken 8.

Now as for.. What I would consider improvements to the Tekken 8 as a whole going into Tekken 9 and I swear this will be the last time I harp on about the Arcade Quest mode, personally for me I would remove this mode but still teach new players mechanics through a returning Tekken Force mode, without spoiling too much this classic mode does make an appearance albeit briefly and to be honest it was one of my favourite portions to play over and over again. While speaking of Tekken Force, there is also another mode I feel could have been included along with Tekken Ball and that is of Tekken Bowling, I was quite surprised to see that this mode was not included and while I understand that Tekken Ball is the definitive classic casual mode dating back to Tekken 3, it would have been nice to see both modes being available from the start of the game, here is hoping Tekken Bowling gets the Tekken 7 DLC treatment and it won’t be too long before we’re throwing random spheres are terrifying Moukjins again.

Speaking of DLC at this point I would also urge the developers to once again look over the Jukebox mode, I don’t think I really have to state that the Jukebox lacking Ground Zero Funk is a complete travesty and should be rectified as soon as possible. It might be something simple to do but it would be appreciated by fans immensely.

So onto my final thoughts regarding the last of the big three fighting games, Tekken 8 as a whole is to me one of the, if not the best fighting game on the market currently, yes it does have some issues present, but as a whole the ability to get in and play from a new player perspective is just amazing, the overall system changes making it far easier to pull off combos and understand the all important frame data to the new Heat system, that while it could use some tweaks is still a very welcome feature and exceptionally easy to use.

The few final gripes I have would be that the Platinum trophy for this game is one of the easiest trophies I’ve ever managed to obtain it took less than 10 hours to achieve all 47 base achievements and this was without trying to target them in any particular way, these were all just natural game progress related awards, while I would have preferred something a bit more complicated/grind heavy it is interesting to see that Tekken 8 is really focusing on the new comer and rewarding them as such.

Written by: Steve Gilman