How can anybody like this game? Ok, stupid question, lots and lots of people do like this game, the sales figures (not to mention the previous two writeups) say it all... I suspect I'm in a minority here...
(The following rampant criticism is based on the PSX version. It may just be that it doesn't compare favourably with arcade games)
Why
I intensely dislike this game:
- It may have 21 characters, but 13 of them are hidden. That's more than half. So you have to complete the game 13 times to get them all.
Fun.
- The move to block high is to do nothing, but to block low you must pull down. Stupid and inconsistant. Every fighting game since blocking was invented has forced the player to actively block. That was the point. Even
Mortal Kombat had a block button. Having to actively block one type of attack, but passively block the other isn't even consistant within the game.
- It's possible to beat the crap out of the AI by using the same move over and over again. It's even possible to beat the crap out of experienced humans by the same method.
(nice ones to try... (pick
Hwoarang and hammer either kick button, occasionally walking forward. pick
Yoshimitsu and try (-O -O kick)x5 - perfect)
- Combos in tekken don't come about as a side effect of the engine, waiting to be discovered. They're all pre-programmed, with special animations if they're tapped in correctly. Half game, Half
Typing Tutor.
- It doesn't look good to a third party. In the hands of anything but the AI, the characters lurch and stumble like they're
drunk or
stoned or something. They're meant to be the best fighters in the world! They should look impressive from the word go, and get even better with practice (see
X-men vs Street Fighter).
For a good 3D timing-based fighter that doesn't throw years of convention out the window, and actually looks impressive to onlookers, play
Rival Schools.