Tekken 6: Hands-On Preview

We get some play time with Namco's anticipated PS3-bound beat-em-up.

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There are four proper new playable characters and they all bring something new to the table. Leo, a 19 year old practitioner of Hakkyoku-Ken Kung Fu excells at close range with explosive fist, elbow and shoulder strikes and hip checks. He's very fast and should be relatively easy to use fior newcomers to the series, but appears to have a deep enough move set to appeal to more advanced veterans too.

Miguel, who looks like a Mexican mariachi, uses a strange foot boxing fighting style and has a wealth of powerful throws, kicks and torso level hooks. His moves aren't very flashy, but much like boxer Steve Fox who was introduced in Tekken 4, he'll no doubt generate a sizable following.

Zafina, the only female addition apparently has moves that Game Director Katsuhiro Harada has likened to that of a spider, but I'm unable to comment at this time as I haven't actually played as her, and the reason for that being that the vast majority of my playtime with the new characters has been with obese 27 year old Free Style Karate practicing Bob.

I was initially put off by the Bob's size, fully expecting his to be a slow and powerful character like Jack or Marduk, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that he's actually as fast and agile as Raven, Tekken's Ninjitsu practioner. Bob has a large variety of spin kicks and ariel moves, and is easily my favourite addition to the series since Jin Kazama, way back in Tekken 3. Bob, who's fun to play is also fun to watch. He defies the laws of physics with almost every other move - and I may be alone in this - but watching a really fat guy perform a spinning flying scissor kick is hilarious, even within the confines of Tekken's already over-the-top nature.

The rest of the cast are pretty much how we left them in the last game. Their new animations and frames make a couple of them easier to use, and a couple of them harder to use. Kazuya, a character generally reserved for more advanced players - is now a little easier to wield. He's no less potent and still devastatingly deadly in the right hands, but he's now more button mashing friendly.

I personally wouldn't dream of playing a game like Tekken with a gamepad, but it will be interesting to see whether these changes make performing more advanced combos and specials any easier with a DualShock controller whent the game is released on PS3 later in the year.

Graphically the game impresses. It's clear that a lot of care and effort has gone into the game, and you can instantly see the gererational leap from Dark Resurrection. The character models don't look as realistic as say Fight Night Round 3, but they're certainly at the same level as the super gorgeous Virtua Fighter 5. The new animations mean clipping is far less frequent and the game runs at a constant 60fps.

The stages all look fantastic, featuring far more detail than ever before, complete with their own unique colour palette and lighting scheme. The characters don't look as realistic as those in SEGA's fighter, but they're no less detailed. All in all, from my playtime so far I've been suitably impressed and the concerns I had last year after seeing the terrible announcement trailer and less than flattering initial screenshots have been completely alieviated.

It doesn't have the depth to be found in VF5 (a game I consider to the the gold standard of beat em ups), but it is easily the best Tekken game yet. It's blatantly clear that Namco have taken the key strengths from their previous games, improved on all of them and re-arranged them into a tight new package. Tekken 6 is penned for a Q3 release on PlayStation 3 this year, so be sure to check back for our review closer to the time.

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