The Tekken series is rooted with history. Each new entry carries a tremendous load, from the technical abilities and knowledge required to play at the highest levels, to its famous soundtrack and characters, to inside jokes spanning three decades and a continuous tale that dates back just as long. How can you honor that tradition without feeling weighed down by it? That is the topic Tekken 8 thoroughly analyzes, and the solution it provides is simple yet profound: you accept what has come before, but you do not allow it prevent you from moving ahead. Whether it's a physical rush ahead with the strong new Heat system, remarkable training tools, or the riveting narrative of a guy attempting to break generational Tekken 8 constantly honors its history while seeking to enhance its current. Most importantly, it's just some insanely awesome Tekken.
They say that if it ain't broke, don't repair it, and Bandai Namco has wisely avoided changing any of Tekken's already excellent combat systems. Movement, spacing, block punishing, and whiff punishing are all as important as ever, but two big innovations twist those fundamentals in intriguing new ways: recoverable health and the Heat System.
For the first time in Tekken history, aside from the Tekken Tag Tournament games, recoverable health plays an important role in battles. Blocking large strikes and receiving chip damage, absorbing them with a Power Crush, or being struck after being knocked airborne all cause partial gray damage. The only way to gain this health back is to send out your own attacks, because you will not recover at all. To recover your life, you cannot simply stand still and block; you must be on the attack, and this forced me to change my thinking in a positive way.
It's also a significant move, considering Tekken has always been a defensive game. It’s very uncommon to watch high-level Tekken fights of the past and witness two characters appear to nearly flicker across the screen as they continually cancel their sidesteps and dashes and block everything while waiting for the tiniest opening. A lot of stuff hasn't changed in Tekken 8, but recoverable damage put continual pressure on me to go on offense while I still had health that could be restored, and it never made me feel out of the battle while being juggled about the stage.
The new Heat system complements this new attacking approach nicely. There are several methods to enter Heat, including landing standard moves from a character's move list or just pushing a button, and you begin each round with a full bar of Heat, so there's no excuse not to utilize it. Heat improves your offensive in every way: you cause more chip damage while recovering more of your own health, you unlock new actions or properties for each character, and you may utilize the remainder of your meter to perform a strong combo extender or finisher.
Do you use your advantage while your opponent is on the ropes, or do you wait for an opportunity to restore health? Do you add some damage to a combination right away, or do you keep the pressure up after a knockdown? Because you restore all of your Heat after each round, you get to answer these questions on a regular basis, and Tekken 8 makes it much more interesting.
In addition to Heat naturally smoothing down the beginner's on-ramp, Tekken 8 has some of the greatest training tools I've ever seen in a combat game. The new Arcade Quest mode is an excellent method to gradually increase the challenge level of CPU rivals, and the Training Mode is extremely feature rich, with combo difficulties, save contends (so you can easily drill specific situations like wall ruptures), retribution instruction, moves you can attach to the screen while practicing, and useful notes and icons which tell you the particular characteristics of each assault.
As for the tale itself, I largely loved it. There are some really "capital A Anime" moments, and not everyone gets a chance to shine, but Bandai Namco prioritizes key character arcs that span several games, and there are unmistakable fan-service moments that work well. It's also easy to comprehend as a novice, as the connections and stakes are spelled out rather clearly from the start, and the Gallery mode provides multiple overview movies of previous games. One of the main drawbacks in terms of presentation is that the real-time action looks so beautiful that transitioning into pre-rendered cutscenes may be startling at times, especially with some slightly smeary effects and various color grading overlaid on top.
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