Tekken 4
Score: 99% ESRB: Teen (Violence) Publisher: Namco Developer: Namco Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Miscellaneous
Graphics & Sound: Tekken has always looked good. Tekken 4 is definitely no exception. The characters models are beautiful, the detail is amazing. There's reflections in mirrors, and some of the most beautiful water I've seen in a game. As for the sound side of things, the sound effects are well executed and the soundtrack provides a nice blood-pumping beat to serve as a backdrop to the action. The only objection I would have in the sound category would be the extremely weird chicken sounds in the Tekken Force mode when you get the power up. It's not that the sound itself is poor, but WHY A CHICKEN?!
Gameplay: How's the game play, you ask? Well, as a run-of-the-mill fighter, excellent. It's probably what you would expect the next Tekken to be; prettier than Tekken 3, more storyline unfolding... otherwise it's much like other Tekken games... However, there's a 'Tekken Force' mode in Tekken 4. This mode is basically an action adventure, of sorts. You aren't fighting a series of opponents in a ring (or other similar small arena), you're fighting your way to an objective. You have to take out the security guards along your way, and there's quite a few of them. The viewing angle is a bit weird here and affects the control scheme a bit, but Tekken Force could be packaged as a stand-alone and would get a pretty decent rating. The fact that it's just an extra mode in Tekken 4 is a great bonus, in my view.
Difficulty: Ah, Tekken. There are people who have been following this game since its inception. For those hard core gamers who memorize all of the characters moves and work on chaining combos indefinitely, they'll undoubtably be impressed and challenged by the lists of moves; many exceed 100 different moves! New to Tekken? No problem. There's an 'Easy' setting and you can get quite a ways by 'button mashing'. If you find that you're having a hard time with the character you've selected, you can pause the game and look at the command list and if necessary, try out the moves in the Practice mode. If that doesn't help, you may want to try different characters. Each one has different fighting styles, with their own strengths and weaknesses; trying a few will give you a chance to find a fighter with styles that work well with the way you like to play.
Game Mechanics: Tekken 4 works well, looks great and has 'Tekken Force', a mode that is basically another game inside of it. This makes Tekken 4 just about everything this reviewer could hope for. If you're not into fighters, you're probably not reading this review. If you're reading this review, you'll probably like Tekken 4. If you're the type that buys only one or two games per year, you may want to rent it first to make sure it's worth it to you, but if you have a fighting game collection for your PS2, Tekken 4 deserves to be in its rightful place...
-Geck0, GameVortex Communications AKA Robert Perkins
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