We have already pointed out several times in previous reviews that how the fighting game scene is experiencing a particularly flourishing time. 2023 was a turning point for the genre, with the major fighting game giants deciding to flex their muscles new versions of legendary sagas like Street Fighter (here is the review of Street Fighter 6) and Mortal Kombat (here is the review of Mortal Kombat 1), accompanied by some exceptional outsiders such as Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising. However, the positive trend in fighting games shows no sign of ending and 2024 begins with another very important title that will leave its mark in an already thriving and varied environment. The excitement and hype from the Tekken 8 community is palpable: Without further ado, let's outline the salient features of Bandai Namco's latest offering.
Audiovisual pleasure
The first aspect that obviously catches the player's eye will be the audio and video section. Well, we can say it right away without fear of contradiction: Tekken 8 is the most aesthetically pleasing fighting game on the marketas well as the first real fighting game of the new generation. Unreal Engine 5 shows its iron fist, drawing vivid and realistic bodies, stunning animations and Constantly animated and detailed stages.
The improvement over its predecessor is clear and it is immediately understandable why the developer decided to only develop the game on current generation consoles. The audio design is also extremely satisfactory: the fighters hit hard and you can also hear the power of their blows acoustically, while thanks to the new heating system It will be possible to indulge in choreographed attack sequences. The approach used by Bandai Namco to manage the graphical aspect of the game in offline and online modes is very interesting. The reason why some users complained about a downgrade in the final product compared to the first trailer sequences is finally clear. The development team has actually decided to go all-in on story mode battles as the visual quality will be superior to online battles. This has two main reasons: Prevents too many particles from ruining the perception of enemy shots in a competitive environment, and since rollback netcode is strictly tied to the graphics engine, Reduce lag and stuttering in the multiplayer experience.
The main single player mode will be full of epic battles, Explosions, rain and lightning strikes also put the computing power of the new generation consoles to the test. We're not exaggerating when we tell you that certain battles will be memorable, especially in the final stages. the choreographed boss fights of titles like Final Fantasy XVI(The Final Fantasy XVI review is waiting for you here).
Story battles will also be full of slowdowns, dialogue, and quick events that are difficult to reconcile with a competitive one-on-one experience. This decision to offer such visual spectacle in non-competitive modes and to “streamline” resources and particles in multiplayer seemed really appropriate to us and we succeed fully meet the needs of different target groups.
The Heat System: the beating heart of the gameplay
Tekken 8 is one of Bandai Namco's most experimental chapters. Over the years, the saga has preferred to follow the path of “evolution” rather than “revolution”, often following the motto “You don't change a team that wins”. The epic of Jin and Kazuya is one of the most popular for this very reason: when you buy a chapter of the Tekken series, you are already sure what you will find in it. in terms of roster and gameplay.
Although long-time players still have the opportunity to find familiar movesets and fighters, the system that governs combat has some key differences. The heating system consists of a number of Mechanics intended to make the plot more readable For both players and viewers less familiar with the fighting game genre, the stages of combat are highlighted much more clearly than in the past and everything becomes spectacular. Each member of the roster has an indicator called “Heat meter“ or Heat Bar, which, once activated in various ways, allows him to perform various extremely useful actions in battle and receive character-specific enhancements. This enhanced condition can be activated once per round and lasts for a few seconds, which can be extended or reduced depending on the actions the beneficiary of this activation will take.
The first problem that the player will have to face will therefore be to enter Heat mode, and this can be done in two main ways: with a Heat Engager or a Heat Burst. Both techniques are very easy to explain.
Heat Engagers are specific moves within the moveset that, if successful, immediately put the attacker into heat mode and let them execute automatically a sprint towards the helpless opponent; The Heat Burst is a single shot that can be activated by pressing two buttons and can absorb hits. The Burst can be used as an “anti-panic move”, while the Engager has a longer duration but is subordinate to it Success of the offensive technique carried out.
Simplified Controls One of the new features of Tekken 8 is the Newbie control scheme. Usable in real-time with the press of a button (which you can set to your liking), this simplified scheme allows you to perform combos with a single button, reducing the extensive movesets of the fighters in the squad to four or five simple maneuvers. We need to understand the big difference from Street Fighter 6's “modern” controls. Tekken 8's simplified scheme, unlike Ryu and Ken's fighting game, is not intended as a competitive alternative to classic controls, but is intended to help you do that as quickly as possible once you've learned the basics of a character. They should be thought of as the auxiliary wheels of a bicycle when learning to pedal. However, we greatly appreciate the developers' efforts to give new players the opportunity to immediately familiarize themselves with the character's key offensive maneuvers. The beauty of this control scheme lies not so much in the simplicity of execution, but in the reduction of the movesets to a few basic elements. In general, the moves intended by the developers are a punch to absorb the opponent's offense, a low blow to open the opponent's defense, and a simple juggling combination to maximize damage. Let's remember that the main difficulty of the Tekken series lies not so much in the manual skills required to perform air combos, but in the number of moves available to each character. The newcomer will therefore again have the opportunity to gradually enter the moves of each member of the squad, create a basic attack structure and gradually add other moves to his repertoire, without being forced to study the existing move lists from the start in training mode. Also perfect for an evening with friends without competitive ambitions, the new controls are certainly a welcome addition.
Once you switch to heat mode, you will benefit from several benefits. First, attacks deal damage even if they are blocked. You can take advantage of a devastating new technique called “Heat Smash.” (at the push of a button, therefore very suitable for beginners, somewhat similar to the Rage Drive from the seventh chapter); and it will be possible to immediately cancel some moves with the “Heat Dash”. Most moves canceled while sprinting can therefore be used to start combos that were previously inaccessible, maintaining a decent advantage even if they are blocked. The icing on the cake of a combat system that seemed well-tested to us are the specific improvements to some aspects of the fighters that are achieved by switching to Heat Mode. For example, Claudio has full access to his Starburst; Steve he will be able to make new lightning-fast sprints forward and penetrate the opponent's defense with a clinch; king He has devastating holds that can absorb the opponent's blows. The upgrades during the “Heat” state vary from character to character and help to add further “personality” to the 32 members of the squad. to differentiate them further. Ultimately, the Heat system seemed extremely choreographed and easy to understand even for a beginner. Every successful Heat Engager is accompanied by a Zoom and an aura that surrounds the attacking player, which very clearly defines the phases of the fight and allows everyone to immediately understand which of the two players has the advantage. A concession to the comprehensibility of the clashes that seemed untouchable to us. The newcomers are undoubtedly interesting: Victor is a charismatic and beginner-friendly character with simple combos and very long levers; Azucena, the caffeine-addicted MMA fighter, is designed for advanced players who need to juggle her evasive “stances”; Reina will delight Mishima players, especially players orphaned by Heihachi, and will prove to be a fighter suitable for experienced players.
This is obviously impossible Squad Balance Predictions and the combat system, as months of testing and tournaments will be necessary to understand its true potential.
But we are faced with a title that is both more spectacular and easier to understand, definitely “eSports ready”: The Heat Engagers are nothing more than big “highlighters” that help newbies juggle the huge move lists available to each character, and each attack is accompanied by flashy, easy-to-identify visual effects that make it make the battles more readable.
A rich single player offering: Story Mode
Fighting game developers now agree that they need to include two types of users in their products: Single player enthusiasts and online gaming die-hards. For this reason, most modern fighting games have an extensive offline component that can provide any type of user with several hours of gameplay. Tekken 8 is absolutely no exception, offering multiple modes for solo entertainment.
The main mode is “Darkness Awakens”, a story mode with an average duration of around 6 hours (which can also become 9 depending on the number of game overs), in which Jin Kazama is the protagonist. The young karateka, constantly in balance between the human and the demonic, he will have to free himself from his evil sidefinding a new identity and seeking redemption from the sins committed in the previous chapters.
All while trying not to succumb to the blows of the mighty Kazuya Mishima, as powerful as ever in his demonic form. As is easy to understand from the beginning of the story, The two owners of the devil gene will be great protagonists of the story, with epic battles without limits. Despite the unexceptional narrative depth, which tends to standardize and reduce many characters to a simple “Team Kazuya” or “Team Jin” instead of highlighting their special characteristics, this mode seemed extremely spectacular to us, with gigantic clashes and choreographed accompanying musical , which can provide energy at the right moments and a fast pacealways press.
However, do not expect a particularly detailed psychological analysis and forget about the desire for realism: as many could see from the demo that appeared on digital stores a few weeks ago, the style of clashes is the furthest thing from the glories of the first chapters. In Tekken 8, destroying buildings is normalShoot energy beams from your forehead and throw cars at the enemy.
Depending on your personal taste you can find This seems very “supernatural”, pleasant or disgusting, but it's certainly one of the cheesiest and most epic story modes available in the fighting game genre. Fans of the saga will certainly appreciate the powerful editing of the final stages.
Furthermore, they will be present within the story some delightful references to old chapters, which we definitely don't want to spoil, but which will certainly put a smile on the face of even the most nostalgic gamers. “The Awakening of the Dark” is a mode suitable for every type of user, and in this regard, some maneuvers have been simplified: just a few buttons are enough lead to deadly combinations and some characters will be extremely more powerful than their counterparts in the online modes, just to give less experienced players an opportunity to have fun.
In addition to the main mode, which is about a single story, they will be present the “character episodes”short battle sequences, at the end of which we can see personalized cutscenes specific to each warrior, helping to delve deeper into the story of the selected fighter.
Arcade Quest, Tekken Ball and more
The Arcade Quest It's the mode that made us smile the most as old arcade goers. Unlike the story mode, which is deliberately cinematic and exaggerated, this second single-player mode will have a more educational and eSports-based background, allowing you to slowly learn the basics of the game and prepare for online play.
Think of it as a narrative tutorial of sorts, with tons of nods to arcade culture and the Tekken World Tour, the official (in real life) competitive round of the Tekken series. In Arcade Quest we play our avatar on a journey of self-improvement, starting from the small arcade in the village and ending at the main sports fields. We will improve together with him and slowly and gradually learn the basic techniques that will help us in multiplayer games. The narrative plot is deliberately kept simple and mainly serves to “sweeten the pill” so as not to discourage the newcomer through confrontation to an aseptic training mode without any gradation. However, the personalities of the chibi-style mini-players that populate the various arcades have amused us more than once, as they represent the arcade culture of the 90s in a quite realistic way: from the newbie who plays for fun, to… The arrogant one The neighborhood bully was convinced that he was the best player on the planet and had lived through the era of cabinet games You won't be able to help but feel a pleasant feeling of déjà vu (Here's our interview with the Tekken 8 team about the game modes).
Looking at the single player modes offered by Tekken 8, it's clear that the developers had a specific order in mind to appeal to casual players to regular visitors to online lobbies, which offers it an exclusively cinematic mode without competitive ambitions and a kind of “transitional bridge” to multiplayer mode. A thoroughly commendable educational effort aimed at broadening the audience of competitive and semi-competitive gamers.
However, the surprises are not over yet: In fact, Tekken Ball is back, one of the most acclaimed side content of the historic Tekken 3, playable offline and online. Inside, the game arena turns into a beach volleyball court and we can use our fighters' movesets to hit the ball in the most brutal way and throw it at the opponent to empty their energy bar. Excellent for an evening with friends or for break the tension of the evaluated online modes.
The gigantic single-player offering of the Bandai Namco title ends with the classics Arcade Mode, Training, Versus and with Ghost Modein which we can “train” an opponent using artificial intelligence and teach him strategies, combos and techniques.
Even though the challenge obviously doesn't compare to that of a real player, it was still fun Seeing the CPU use our own techniques against us and blew us away more than once. The entire production exudes love for the franchise, a desire to project the series into the future, but also numerous allusions to the saga's glorious past.
If the sound doesn't satisfy you, you have the option to choose between numerous titles from the old Tekken. which will completely replace the musical accompaniment of menus and selection screens. The aspect that impressed us the most is that the music “fits” into the soundtrack of the title in a rational way.
For example, if you choose to use titles from Tekken 2, the character selection screen will automatically be replaced with that of the second chapter. In summary, The Harada-San team has done its homeworkand offers one of the best single player experiences in the genre.
A rich but problematic multiplayer
The online battle lounges will be visually similar to what we saw in the Arcade Quest mode. The parallel is absolutely no coincidence: the developer's intention to give the player a “feeling of well-being” is clear See the lounge as an extension of the offline methods you already practice.
A “cuddle” that newbies will hopefully appreciate. Our chibi avatar will therefore be able to enter a virtual gaming space and challenge real opponents in various modes, similar to Street Fighter 6's Battle Hub. However, the bulk of the online experience is giving her Ranked mode, friendly and with private rooms where you can invite your friends. A big improvement over the previous chapter is the ability to enjoy fully functional training while waiting for the opponent in matchmaking. We will be able to access all the features of Training Mode instead of having a “toned down” version while we wait. Ranked mode will be similar to that of the seventh chapter, with multiple ranks to advance and advancement encounters. However, battles in “Deathmatch” mode will no longer be endless, but will be limited to a best-of-3 set. We do not take a position on this change as both solutions have strengths and weaknesses.
Continue to allow infinite rematches It would certainly have helped to study the character of the opponent over extended periods of time (which is very important in a fighting game with over 80 moves per character), but encouraged abuse of various kinds; While forcing shorter battles allows for higher player turnover, it only relegates study of the specific character to private rooms, assuming you know users who are particularly knowledgeable about the use of a particular member of the roster.
Another benefit of next-gen exclusivity These are the missing loading times between one game and another, which significantly shorten waiting times during gaming sessions. At the end of each game you have the opportunity to watch the games played again with a really interesting replay system: the artificial intelligence will actually give you some useful tips and advise you, for example more damaging combos or punishments for certain situations. An undoubtedly excellent addition that will help players of all skill levels navigate the “magnum of the sea” that consists of the move lists from the Bandai Namco title.
But now we come to the “meat”, i.e. the netcode, Elephant in the room of this production. As already seen in the various online betas, Tekken 8 offers players the opportunity to choose three settings: “Responsiveness Priority”, “Standard” and “Smoothness Priority”. The setting refers to how the game engine “transforms” any lag on the player’s screen.
If we prioritize response, we will see microshots or stutters during delays, while in the other two modes the compensation is through a slight delay in commands. After extensive testing, we unfortunately find that the netcode is inferior to other modern productions. Let's avoid any controversy right away: designing rollback netcode for a three-dimensional fighting game is not an easy task. This netcode is based on a predictive system that considers all options during a collision and “corrects the target” if latency spikes occur. If such a mechanism works very well on two-dimensional securities, it goes without saying that adding an additional axis of movement makes everything more complicated, since the prediction system has to take many more variables into account. Bandai Namco's attempt is still notable: Most games under 100ms ping run fairly smoothly, with two or three rollback frames depending on the stability of the connections. In addition, good work has also been done in the crossplay area, big mistake of the previous incarnation of the saga.
Although it cannot strive for excellence, we can say that the online sector of Tekken 8 is superior to its predecessor, but it is difficult to compete with other current fighting games. We strongly advise against using the responsiveness setting and especially not playing over Wi-Fi. as this option is almost completely impractical.