Amin Abbas

DUBAI: The Tekken series is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year since its release in 1998. Since then, the series has been universally acclaimed, commercially successful, and widely praised for raising the standards of fighting games and for its gameplay mechanics and replay value. It currently holds the Guinness Book of World Records for longest-running video game storyline, as this carries over to the new Tekken 8.

Tekken 8 follows the same fighting game format as previous Tekken games, with a more aggressive aspect than its predecessor, where the system rewards players who are proactive in attacking rather than those who are defensive.

To achieve this, the game introduces a new system known as “Heat.” When a character unlocks the “Heat” state, they cause not only chip damage and additional move sets but also change the properties of some of their moves, such as a heavy guard break.

These fighters can also dash and cancel their moves while in that state. The timer can be stopped if fighters’ move sets are used. Fighters will also receive chip damage when guarding against a normal state’s heavy attack, allowing them to regenerate their health bars. Unlike the tag mode-only health bar regeneration system from the Tekken tag tournament games, fighters’ recoverable health can only be restored by attacking their opponent.

Tekken 8 includes a number of technical updates and reworked features. The “Rage” system, which debuted in the previous entry seventh game, returns this game with new changes. Specific stages in the game also have hazards, such as some with harder walls and floors that must be broken multiple times by fighters’ harder knockout attacks, while others will cause damaged opponents to blast upward when hit by an explosive on the walls and floors.

In addition to technical improvements, Tekken 8 includes changes to other elements with the major goal of providing a more cinematic fighting experience, with a focus on stage destructions and specific characters’ reactions to them.

Furthermore, all character models and voice acting are entirely new, rather than recycled content from previous entries. The online mode includes a battle lobby called “Arcade Quest,” which features arcade environments, regular online battles, and tournament matches. The lobby also allows users to customize their avatars and will use “Fight Money” currency.

Tekken 8 is powered by the next-generation Unreal Engine 5, becoming the first major fighting game to use this engine that features a perfect balance of heavy graphical prowess and sheer artistic details. The new graphics engine has brought all the stages to life, where the backgrounds are so interactive, brimming with details that demand attention.

The lighting effects, in particular, boost the presentation, making it fit for ultra-high definition. The character models and their animations are fluid and detailed, with a special focus on texture mapping that makes the outfits look realistic. In short, Tekken 8 is a showpiece for the players gaming hardware of choice, where its graphics are very impressive to amaze everyone.

The music seamlessly integrates into the stages and their visual themes, creating powerful emotions for the fight sequences and story elements and even making the menus feel classy. The soundtrack enhances the sublime presentation of Tekken 8 and will make the players attached to the game from the title screen.

The game’s main story mode, titled ‘The Dark Awakens,’ takes place six months after the events of its predecessor ‘Tekken 7’ and focuses on the final confrontation between the main characters, father Kazuya Mishima and son Jin Kazama, with the latter wishing to kill the former in order to end the chaos within their family lineage.

The game’s story features 32 former and new characters, each with their own narrative that contributes to the overall story.

The ‘Arcade Quest’ is another story mode that has been included that ties back to providing the tools to make the player better at Tekken 8. The actual story sets out to rekindle the spirit of old arcades, their communities, and rivalries. Players will create and customize an avatar as they look to conquer multiple arcades on their way to the Tekken World Championship as they participate in tournaments and level up their avatar’s rank with random matches along the way.

The mode is a well-paced and detailed tutorial in disguise that offers multiple practice mode tutorials early on and expands to an ever-increasing difficulty that isn’t outrageous yet provides the confidence players need to get fully comfortable with a character. One character is selected for the mode and can be replayed with all the characters in the game, creating a fleshed-out way to not only learn moves for multiple characters but actually get the experience. While the game has a deep practice mode, the guidance that ‘Arcade Quest’ offers is the ultimate tool thanks to the overall design. It’s recommended to play the ‘Arcade Quest’ mode before the story mode because it introduces the ‘Heat’ system and all players, old and new, can get acclimated to the new system.

One of the major additions in Tekken 8 is “Tekken Lounge,” where it provides an interactive community arcade that’s a continuation of the ‘Arcade Quest’ story. Players can meet other players here, add them as rivals, fight and download ghosts, spectate matches, customize avatars, and view player tendencies all while matchmaking for fights. Players can live matchmake or navigate around, sit at arcade cabinets and wait to match up.

Overall, the game is an amazing entry in Bandai Namco’s long-running fighting franchise. With a varied roster packed with unique move sets, the addition of the ‘Heat’ system and recoverable health gauge, along with a huge variety of modes, makes the game phenomenal for both old and new fans of the series.