Tekken 3

The Good
The incestual pantheon of Tekken games comes to it's 3rd iteration, and this time things have changed a lot. Taking place many, MANY years after Tekken 2, the 3rd game in the series stars the sons and daughters of the original Tekken players, with only some of the original players back as aged veterans. The story this time continues the demonic crap of the previous games with Heiachi's plan to resurrect the ancient "god of fighting".....riiiiiiiight, anyway who cares about stories, huh?

While I count myself as one of the Tekken-hating fighting gamers, I still have to recognize that things have improved dramatically in the game series that coined the term "just mash all buttons and you'll be okay". For starters the animations and moves are much more fluid than on previous games, and the moves and combos have been multiplied to the stratosphere with each character holding an arsenal of literally thousands of moves.

Graphics have been jacked up to the max, granted, by 1998 the psx's technology was more than obsolete and the game does in no way match up to the visual quality of the arcade version (lacking the defined textures, using simplified character models and dramatically downgrading the originally 3D backgrounds). The psx version however does provide all the smooth animations and makes it's best effort to match up to the arcade original, pushed to it's limits or not, this is one of the most beautiful games to grace the playstation, and it shows.

Finally, the best aspect of Tekken 3 comes from a playability-value point of view. This game comes LOADED with stuff, with only Street Fighter Zero 3 surpassing it in the amount of sheer extras added to a game that comes on a single cd. For starters all the fantastic cgi/animé cutscenes are included in the game, from the incredible home intro sequence (much longer and involved than the original -also included- arcade one) to each character's end movie, that in a bizarre touch alternate between full cgi, cel-based animé cutscenes, and even cgi over live footage! Of course that would mean nothing if the game had 8 or so characters, but Tekken 3 for the psx has a gigantic lineup of characters, made mostly of new faces, old Tekken veterans, and a pletora of secret fighters unlockable after winning the game with most characters (instead of the time-based lockout system of the arcade original) or via winning the game through the other available game modes. Bypassing the Mortal Kombat syndrome, the hidden characters are actually original and have their own models and moves (with some exceptions) making them much more interesting than the usual 2545 hidden characters that are just faster/stronger versions of a given character.

Furthermore, the game also comes loaded with gameplay modes that range from the usual Arcade/Vs/Survival/Team combo to a couple of extremely original additions that include Tekken Force and Tekken Ball. Tekken Force essentially turns the game into a Fighting Force-like game, only with the characters from the game, and has you beating up Heihachi's enforcers through several stages a-la Final Fight. Tekken Ball on the other hand is a volleyball-like game where you charge up a giant beachball with attacks and try to send it to the other player hoping that it knocks him out and/or lands on his side of the court for points. Each mode awards an extra hidden character when completed and they offer great fun when played on multiplayer matches.

Also available is a pretty bare-bones practice mode and a theatre mode that lets you see all the media from all Tekken games, plus also a few other games as a sort of hack, pretty spiffy, huh?

The Bad
Still Tekken. No matter how many fanboys this game has, the reality of it is that it's a frenetic and hardly rewarding fighting game for casual gamers at best. Sure, the pletora of moves allows for someone to really, really, REALLY get into a character and master him/her to the point that he plays like a wushu master, performing all sorts of amazing feats and chaining millions of hits per move. However thanks to Tekken's "Everything's chainable!" policy it doesn't matter how much mastery you have placed over your character, because I can beat you just by mashing my buttons randomly and screaming LALALALALALALALALA.! It's frankly incredible how many people still support a series that puts mastery and practice at the same level than casual gameplay.

Characters are horribly unbalanced, with every hidden character somehow being extremely super-powered and with the usual "Tekken Super Character (Tm)" (Eddy, Gon, etc. for this edition) that makes playing with them as entertaining as sucking nails. And every character except for some extreme cases (like the end boss, Kuma, etc.) seem to have the same speed.

The AI sucks ass in just about every mode, and the graphics while good are leagues below the arcade's level. Finally Tekken still keeps going the sci-fi route, with every character still spurting out sparks and plasma explosions when hit (What the fuck are those?? They are the fighting game equivalent of the floating spinning weapons on fps games: cheesy and just a way of showing off the rendering capabilities of the developers), but anyway, I'm just bitching now.

The Bottom Line
Lots of value for those that like their games loaded with stuff, however it's still a Tekken game, meaning save for it's rabid fans most people will find it a flashy but mediocre action game.

In short: Fantastic port that may or may not (depending on your level of mediocre gameplay tolerance) make up for a crap game.

The Good
Everything! This is quite possibly the most innovative of all fighting games, of course, this did come out in the year of the great video games, 1998. The King of Iron Fist Tournament returns in this third installment of the famous Tekken series, and with some new faces. This game introduces Jin Kazama, Eddie Gordo, Hwoarang, and Ling Xiayou. The inclusion of these new characters makes this game even more enjoyable because of all the new fighting styles, which blend in perfectly with the superb controls. Yet another great thing about this game is the new Tekken Force mode. In Tekken Force, You go through four levels of side scrolling action, fighting minimal enemies trying to get to the stages boss, all the while replenishing your health with CHICKEN!!!!!!!!!!!!! This game requires no words to tell of it's greatness, just look at it in motion, it is a thing of beauty(and it shows just how much of a piece of crap games like Fighting Vipers is). If you do not own this game, you must go out right now and but this game, buy it now, for the love of God please go buy it.

The Bad
Pretty much nothing. The only complaint I would have is that Kazuya isn't in it, but that's what Jin is for, so I guess I really have no complaint with this game.

The Bottom Line
Buy it now. This is the best fighting game on the Playstation, I picked it up complete for two dollars, and I would have gladly paid more for it. Bottom line, this game is worth every penny that any game store asks for it. CHICKEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Good
A massively popular hit in Japanese and American arcades, many expected to be a bit disappointed with the home console port of Tekken 3, as the arcade technology had surpassed that of the aging PlayStation. And while the models have slightly fewer polygons and the backgrounds are again in rotating 2D, Namco threw in a plethora of extras and home exclusives, and while they were hit-or-miss, the hits more than make up for the slight drop in graphical quality.

Not that the game doesn't look terrific. One of the first last-generation titles on the PSX, Tekken 3 pushes the limits, sacrificing 3D backgrounds for some of the most detailed character design possible. The characters animate much more smoothly than the somewhat stiff, blocky motions of it's predecessor, and overall the controls are looser and more forgiving.

The combo system is also extremely deep, especially with King and Nina's linkable throws, and Lei's Funky Chicken stances or whatever the hell they're called. It takes a LONG time to master one character in this game. Namco has also fleshed out the secondary (unlockable) characters a bit more, in Tekken 2 they seemed to be blatant ripoffs of other characters within the game, sharing the same moves under a different skin. Now even Anna has a different set of moves then her twin Nina, and the only characters who still seem to be the product of incestous design shortcuts are Kuma (the bear) and Gun Jack (the android).

The techno music doesn't seem quite as good as the more sweeping instrumentals of the previous two, but it fits the darker mood of the game and the tracks are well suited to the characters.

All the standard Tekken modes you know and love are here, including Arcade, Vs., Team, Practice, and the fruit-bearing Survival, and Namco threw in three eclectic new modes to boot:

Tekken Force - A homage to Streets of Rage, Tekken Force lets you control one character in a series of side-scrolling, 2.5D streets. You fight lots of baddies, mostly Mishima henchmen with about one-quarter to one-half a life bar. It's a decent diversion, yielding a nifty hidden character, but it's not as good as Tobal's Quest Mode.

Tekken Ball - Quite possibly the most bizarre fighting game extra ever, Tekken ball is a very simple concept: do special moves on a ball to "charge" it and send it to the opponents side, where he can hit it with a special move and send it back to you with more charge, send it back with no extra charge by doing a standard move, or block it and then hit it. Let it hit you or touch the ground on your side and lose health. This mode is very fun and a blast in 2-player mode, but they didn't bother including a seperate AI for the Ball Mode, and so the computer is incompetent at best.

Theatre - Yes Yes YES! With this option, you can view any of the quality ending cinemas or listen to the music trackes. You can also pop in your Tekken 1 or 2 disc and view the media there. Very nice.

The Bad
The problem with Tekken is that it is very friendly towards button-mashers. There is not that much of a visible difference in the ability of beginners and good players and only a real master has noticeably better odds against a newbie. While Tekken looks superb when it's played like it's supposed to, it can be ugly watching a newbie mash for half the match only to figure out one move he likes, and then use it exclusively for the rest of the round hoping his opponent does not figure out how to counter it.

Namco doesn't help by including at least one newbie-friendly win-at-no-cost cheap character. It was Law in the first one, Lei in the second, now say hello to Eddy Gordo. Pity the coolest fighting style in the game is so cheesy.

Gon. G-O-N. Some cross-promotion with a Japanese comic resulted in this abomination. Do yourself a favor and don't unlock this character. He is ridiculously small, rendering normal character's mid-high attacks ineffective. You can't throw or counter him, making him ludicrously advantaged. When someone picks Gon, it just makes me want to put the game down. Sigh.

The Bottom Line
The graphics are the best you could expect from the PSX, and the numerous home extras make this another better-than-perfect arcade port.