TEKKEN 7

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What is TEKKEN 7

The Tekken series' colorful selection of fighters returns in Tekken 7, a technical one-on-one fighting game that leans hard into the technical elements and draws from an extensive number of fighting styles to create a unique identity in the genre. Tekken is a game that trucks in absurdities. Its cast includes raptors and panda bears, a protagonist who can transform into both an angel and demon form, and any number of young women in scantily clad clothes. Over years of games, it's developed a dense and inscrutable mythology, and with separate endings for each character, it can be next to impossible to decipher exactly what's going on in narrative terms. But that also means it's a game with personality, and each of the vibrant characters has a story that's told in their costume, their pose, and their style without having to know anything else about their history.

Tekken leans hard into this absurdity, and it reads almost as a love letter to everything that came before. Rather than simply offer a linear challenge mode where you pick a character and play through until you see their short and often inexplicable ending, Tekken 7 opts for a more structured story mode, one that maintains a sense of flow throughout as you jump from character to character. It's a great way to get used to the way different characters play, and it's a surprisingly cohesive if largely forgettable story riddled with anime tropes.

While this story mode, dubbed the Mishima Saga, is a great addition for new players and classic fans of the series, it's really just an appetizer for what's a multiplayer game at its core. If the story and setting are uniformly silly, the dedication to mechanics are deadly serious. There's no way to argue that this isn't a highly technical game designed with professionals in mind. Combat happens at close quarters, and projectile attacks are a rarity. That means that positioning and predicting your opponent's moves are a high priority, and players who go in without an understanding of both their move set and those of the enemy are going to be in for some trouble. Of course, that's assuming that you're facing off against highly skilled opponents. In low level play, button mashing can produce satisfying results, and the skill required to pull off the coolest moves is rarely inaccessible. Regardless of your skill level, movement is important, and that means making judicious use of your jumps and slides.

For the most part, combat in Tekken 7 is pretty similar to how it's always been, but the biggest new addition comes in the form of character customization. There's a seemingly endless collection of parts and accessories you can mix and match to create the character of your dreams, but you have just as much control over the attack effects. It allows your character to stand out from the rest and provides more incentive to compete in online tournaments and earn the currency to unlock new pieces.

Pros:

• A tight fighting engine that works well for newcomers and veterans alike
• A huge cast of characters, each with their own strengths, weaknesses, and styles

Cons:

• A story that's practically impossible for new players to understand