Tekken 4 review

Story Mode
The Story Mode is in my opinion by far the best thing about the PS2 version of Tekken 4. In fact, Tekken 4 might have the most thorough and interesting storyline of any fighting game. To me, a good storyline is really important! To other people, it doesn't mean a damn thing (they just wanna fight). Anyhow, before each fight, you learn about your character's history, and why they're in the T4 tournament. And after you win, there's a really good ending that ties it all together, and opens some new paths for the future.

I don't know how you play, but I like to get into the game and play with passion! For instance, if I'm playing King, I can't wait to get my hands on Marduk! In King's storyline, you learn that Marduk killed King's mentor, Armor King. So, when I play as King against Marduk, I don't just go for a simple win... I wanna make the bastard suffer! Whenever I beat him, it makes the win extra special (and a loss extra infuriating! ^_^). Besides putting things into perspective, and making things interesting, the storyline can add that extra bit of passion to your game. Tekken 4's storyline should be a role model for all!

Characters
Most of the great characters we've loved in the series are here, and there are a few very cool new ones as well. What's also cool is that almost all the characters were changed to some extent, and that's kept it from being more of the same old thing.

Most improved has gotta be Xiaoyu. She was fun to play in Tekken 3 & Tekken Tag, but she looked so lame. Now, she's one of the coolest looking characters. Julia has also been improved a lot. She's got pigtails like Cammy and some cool new outfits. However, the one complaint with Julia is that she's gotta have one of the dumbest storylines ever! Anyhow, other characters, like Hwoarang, King, and Yoshimitsu, have changed too... some for the better, and some for the worse.

There are also a few hidden characters like Eddie, Miharu (Xiaoyu's schoolgirl friend), Panda, and Violet. However, I wish there were more characters! There are just 18 basic characters in the game, and it just doesn't feel like that's enough. I really wish the home version would have had some extra characters from the old games, or maybe even one or two completely new characters.

Gameplay
The home version of T4 feels a lot different than the arcade version (at least I think so). I didn't play in the arcade all that much, so I can't go into much detail, but T4 basically feels more or less like all the other Tekken games. I'm no expert gamer by any means. I'm better than average, but that's about it. I play mainly for the graphics, the characters, and the storylines. So, I guess I'm not much good at telling you about the technical aspects of the gameplay in T4.

However, from my experience, it seems pretty good. I kinda feel like button-mashing isn't as effective as it used to be, and that's a VERY good thing! Controls are very tight, but sometimes is seems like you've gotta be a little to exact to pull off some of the moves, so you find yourself sticking to the basics.

Tekken Force
This is the one really big add-on in the home version of Tekken 4. However, it's really not all that fun. It seems like it's more of a gimmick than anything else. I think the idea behind Tekken Force is great, but it just didn't work.

On some of the stages, camera angels will drive you absolutely nucking futs! It's bad enough that you've got guys pounding at you from every direction, but when you can't even see them, it's extra annoying. Movement is also very frustrating because your character locks on to one particular enemy in a group, and that's not always where you wanna go. And on top of all that, it's insanely difficult! I have yet to clear Stage 4. And you're also forced to pick characters like Heihachi, Christie, etc., who can clear things out. Characters like Julia or Law are just too vulnerable because their attacks are mostly linear.

Anyhow, like I said, it's an idea that's well-intentioned, but doesn't quite work...

Stages
There are tons of stages in Tekken 4! That's one of the cool things about the game. Also, unlike the stages in previous Tekken games, the ones in Tekken 4 are in true 3D. You can go up hills, knock down pillars, etc. It's nothing really all that special, but it is an improvement.

Training Mode
You're timed on how fast you can pull of 20 given moves for your character. It really doesn't do much to train you. It was kinda interesting to go through it all, but I don't really get the point of it.

Miscellaneous
1) Aside from the stuff I mentioned, there's a Survival Mode, a Practice Mode, a Time Attack Mode, an Arcade Mode, a VS Mode, and a Theater. It sounds like a lot, but it's really not.

2) In the Theater, you can listen to all the music, see the CG movies, and watch the fights you've recorded. One of the other really cool things about T4 is that you have the option of recording a fight after it's over. That's cool, but one thing that annoys me, is that whenever you pause the characters on the screen disappear. I hate it when games don't have a 'clean pause' option! And when you watch a saved fight, there's no slow motion, or anything like that either.

3) The intro movie has been improved from the arcade version. Besides simply showing the Mishima Zaibatsu raid on G Corp, there are short cameos showing a few of the other characters. Steve get's a pretty big part of the new intro. You get to see him absolutley destroy some guy in a boxing match (it's really cool!).

Conclusion
Well, the bottom line is that Tekken 4 is good, but not great. I'm used to great Namco games on my home systems, so I'm a bit disappointed. Tekken 4 was lotsa fun while it was new, but once you play through the Story Mode, and waste about 2 hours on the Force Mode, there's not much left unless you get some buddies to come over and fight with you.

There's still about a 6 month delay before T4 is released in North America, but I don't understand why. Almost everything in the game is in English! There really shouldn't be that much work in readying it for English speaking fans, so I'm hoping that maybe Namco will use all that extra time to do something besides make all of you wait... like add in some more stuff!

Anyhow, here's a breakdown on my rating so you can see how I came to my score...

Characters = 9
Storyline = 10
Graphics = 9
Gameplay = 8
Challenge = 6
Extras = 4
OVERALL FEELING/SCORE = 8