[8/17/04] Tekken 4

[Fatal Rose]

Game: Tekken 4

 

Genre: Fighting

 

System: Aracade, Playstation 2

 

Release: 2001

 

Well the highly anticipated Tekken 4 is finally out on the ps2, was it worth the wait? Did it live up to the hype? Well let’s dissect this game and find out.

At first glance after seeing the CG intro you would expect a monumental step forward in the Tekken series and fighting, well if you were expecting that (like I was) get ready to be let down. The system has been changed much since the last Tekken (some may hate it, some may love it) I for one liked and dislikes some aspects of the game play changes in tekken 4. Well the backgrounds are fully 3D now and interactive, and eight way movement among other things. For all the cosplayers out there the stories and endings have been expanded and dialogue has been added. But that almost seems like it wa sput in there as a last ditch effort hide what Tekken 4 really is, a broken unbalanced fighting game. For example any stage with walls, 1/2 around the stage could bounce you off the wall for infinite with anyone,

and lets not get started with the unreasonable cheap Jin.

Characters moves were tweaked and changed, and some (like Jin) were taken away out right all in the name of balance. But sadly in the end the game is far from balanced, it is actually very broken.

Now lets move on to the graphics and presentation. The character models look cool and stylish, sadly the animation is not that fluid, and could get real choppy, like clothing does not flow like it does in VF 4 or SC2, instead you get little break up and clippings. The characters movements aren’t that fluid and real looking like vf. It hurts it a lot, there is too many shared animations also.

Virtua Fighter 4 took a page right out of Tekken’s own book with in-depth tutorials and loaded feature set, there is a training mode is included, but it’s the same basic practice session seen countless times before. The sound is overall good, nothing memorable but it gets the job done. The controls are very good also, if you practice long enough you wont have much trouble pulling off those 10 hit strings or Kings muti throw combo's. In the end the overall game feels rushed and it was just thrown out there, seems like Namco has forgotten about tekken and is focusing all there efforts on Soul Calibur. Sadly Tekken has lost a step; hardcore fans of the series will be disappointed. Hopefully Tekken will address all the issues people have with Tekken 4, and it will live up to the legacy Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag Tournament left behind.

 

Control's: 9.5

GamePlay: 6.5

Graphics: 7

Sound: 7

Overall Score: 7

Grade: C

Overall I give this game a

[Wizard]

From what I hear, the controls are the crap.

 

About everything else is good.

 

Greatest Balanced Game Ever = 3s kthx.

[Ghosty]

Great Review, And This Will be M<y First Review Post I Post In, YAY! Now Thx To The Review I'll Probly Stick To Marvel Anc Capcom Games...

[Alpha]

Great Review! Keep them coming, hopefully we'll have nicely made reviews section for 1Emu v3.

[Gryph]

Nice review Fatal. You should write some up for the Virtua Fighter series now.

[Fatal Rose]

Thanks guys, I kinda huried it up so i can get it done before i got to work.

[Weirdy]

compare it to the arcade version and you'll see the ps2 version is a lot better

[OverlordMondo]

Wasn't Tekken 4 just reviewed by Magnis? Should we combine the topics or something? Having the reviews at the top and saying the topic was started by both of them...I dunno. Just rambling I guess.

[Fatal Rose]

Wasn't Tekken 4 just reviewed by Magnis?  Should we combine the topics or something?  Having the reviews at the top and saying the topic was started by both of them...I dunno.  Just rambling I guess.

Our reviews are to different to be combined.

[Gryph]

Combining the reviews would undermine both of the reviews. Each of them have a different perspective on Tekken 4 which warrants 2 separate threads.

[Mag]

1/2 around the stage could bounce you off the wall for infinite with anyone

Absolutely false, as long as you continue getting up, you will continue cornertraped on to the wall, after the second punch, you should be fall evenly to the ground, where you could just roll out. This is rookie level defense.

 

and lets not get started with the unreasonable cheap Jin.

No such thing as cheapness in any tekken game, everyone is an individual, each and single of em has a variety of attributes, weaknesses, offense and defense. Anyone who can master counters and finding yer oponent's weakness, that's your winning ticket.

[wacko_jacko]

1/2 around the stage could bounce you off the wall for infinite with anyone

Absolutely false, as long as you continue getting up, you will continue cornertraped on to the wall, after the second punch, you should be fall evenly to the ground, where you could just roll out. This is rookie level defense.

 

and lets not get started with the unreasonable cheap Jin.

No such thing as cheapness in any tekken game, everyone is an individual, each and single of em has a variety of attributes, weaknesses, offense and defense. Anyone who can master counters and finding yer oponent's weakness, that's your winning ticket.

Characters aren't really that cheap . It's the person who use them. I can play Jin like a cheap B#$#%tch, but i prefer using Lei. Super weak, but super fun.

 

But it is unfortunately true that Jin was severely overpowered in Tekken 4. I sorta gets boring watching those tournaments movie, where most of the time you will always see a Jin vs Jin match.

 

At least Tekken 5 is on it's way and from what i've seen so far, its gonna rock

[shin_nihon_kikaku]

I completely disgree with your review of Tekken 4. I am a hardcore Tekken fan and I see Tekken 4 as a mega improvement over the others. I absolutely love it and can now compare it against the best 3D fighting game series - Virtua Fighter.

 

Seems a bit daft giving the game a thumbs down when you gave it a better than average score of 7/10. Stupid magazine reviewers seem to think that 70% means it's average, you seem to think it means it's bad and people who know better think 7/10 means it's better than average.

If you dislike it as much as you say, you should give it about 4/10 (less than average) - Anyway I love this sequel and class it as my 2nd favourite 3d fighter ever, just behind the wonderful VF3.

 

Changing the subject from your review now:

At least you weren't daft enough to hate the removal of Jin's moveset.

The way I see it, if you loved Jin's moves - choose Kazuya (he was originally the main character). and if you love Jin's personality or look - choose Jin.

 

Also, some people say Christie is a waste of a new character and should have a new moveslist. I say that Namco are the exact opposite of lazy by completely redesigning the character instead of just shoving Eddy back in. If you all remember, Namco originally wanted a female Capoeira fighter for Tekken 3, but hardware limitations wouldn't allow for it.

 

Anyway, Just wanted to say that you were criticising the game just because you prefer how Tekken used to be, some people do love part 4 even more than the other 3.

[Wizard]

Fatal is hardcore T/VF also, but yeah. I'm not a hardcore player of these games but I loved 4 more then 3.

[Fatal Rose]

I completely disgree with your review of Tekken 4. I am a hardcore Tekken fan and I see Tekken 4 as a mega improvement over the others. I absolutely love it and can now compare it against the best 3D fighting game series - Virtua Fighter.

 

Seems a bit daft giving the game a thumbs down when you gave it a better than average score of 7/10. Stupid magazine reviewers seem to think that 70% means it's average, you seem to think it means it's bad and people who know better think 7/10 means it's better than average.

If you dislike it as much as you say, you should give it about 4/10 (less than average) - Anyway I love this sequel and class it as my 2nd favourite 3d fighter ever, just behind the wonderful VF3.

 

Changing the subject from your review now:

At least you weren't daft enough to hate the removal of Jin's moveset.

The way I see it, if you loved Jin's moves - choose Kazuya (he was originally the main character). and if you love Jin's personality or look - choose Jin.

 

Also, some people say Christie is a waste of a new character and should have a new moveslist. I say that Namco are the exact opposite of lazy by completely redesigning the character instead of just shoving Eddy back in. If you all remember, Namco originally wanted a female Capoeira fighter for Tekken 3, but hardware limitations wouldn't allow for it.

 

Anyway, Just wanted to say that you were criticising the game just because you prefer how Tekken used to be, some people do love part 4 even more than the other 3.

I gave it a thumb’s down because I expected much more out of Tekken. I know 7 is a decent scare but when comparing it to the last two previous releases in the series that is a disappointment.