Ready to fight? Fight me! Bruce Lee may not be putting in an appearance in Bandai Namco’s upcoming return to its amazing fighting game series, but you can bet your last nugget that it’ll be a billion times better than the likes of the recent UFC outing on the Xbox ONE and PlayStation 4. Though Tekken 7 took a while to be confirmed for console release, its upcoming port from its arcade origins has got a lot of fighting game fans excited.
With a story mode that promises to end the Mishima family struggle once and for all and a large roster of fighters, it’s shaping up to be the big fighting game of 2017. You can see more of the action for yourself with the 30+ minute Tekken 7 gameplay video, which demos the details of the game, along with a little taster of the brutal story behind it.
Release date
For a long time, Tekken 7 was only a reality in the reals of Japanese arcade machines were it arrived way back in February 2015. However, it has now been confirmed for a UK release date of the 2nd June 2017. It’ll be available for PlayStation 4, Xbox ONE and PC gaming, taking its cue from the UNREAL 4 engine development for arcades. Sadly, there’s no word as of yet for a Nintendo Switch release, but with Tekken Tag Tournament making its way to the Wii U back in the day, it could still happen in the end, which would work very well with the play anywhere concept of the console.
Developers had tested the game in a number of arcade locations in Japan as early as late 2014, which gave us our first real taste of the potential for the game’s eventual console and PC. It didn’t get any real presence in arcades outside of Japan, so the international release date in June will be the first real opportunity British gamers will have to take on Heihachi in the glory of the current gen home gaming hardware.
Story
Bandai Namco are still being a little coy about the plot for Tekken 7, what we do know is that the game will be the final part in the Mishima clan Devil-gene story arc. Check out the trailer below to get a little snippet of what to expect as a flashback on Heihachi with his wife Kazumi hints at the prospective plot lines and the family feud that involved his son Kazuya and his grandson Jin is clearly set to run its course at the seventh King Of Iron Fist Tournament.
After the climactic culmination of Tekken 6, the power structure within the family is far from fixed as Jin was left motionless following his almighty battle with the ultimate evil, Azazel. While Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Wii U Edition doesn’t necessarily follow the core storyline of the series, it does imply that Heihachi has methods of rejuvenation up his sleeve. Coupled with the fact that Kazuya and his G Corporation look set to be as powerful as ever, Jin might have an up hill struggle on his hands, but it’ll all depend on what damage Violet sustained on the three bloodline relatives after she detonated Combot.
From the look of the trailer, you’ve got to say that they’ll all be fighting fit in Tekken 7, so it clearly wasn’t as destructive as she might have thought. The trailer also provides pretty powerful hints that family fallout has a significant link to the death of Kazumi, who Kazuya blames Heihachi for, but it’ll be interesting to see the full storyline and all character plot twists play out in the game when it hits the arcades.
Gameplay
Based on what we’ve seen in the location test and recent gameplay video footage, it doesn’t look like there’s going to be that much in the way of significant gameplay adaptations in the latest instalment from the franchise. As you’d expect from the main title series, there’s no tag system, so it’s all 1-v-1 in a battle clash for the King Of Iron Fist 7 title.
However, the location tests do highlight a couple of new additions and changes to the gameplay, including the introduction of Rage Art and Rage Drive moves, which you can use to unleash a series of moves that can’t be stopped that comes in as a final salvation. They can only be used once and only when you’re on your last chunk of health, but they can be used to turn the tide on a battle that might have looked lost.
There’s a lot of customisation that you can do in the game to change the look of each character with both costume options and more in-depth individual customisation you can do. You’ll be able to play the Treasure Battle mode to unlock promotions, money and items that will help you add to the style of your characters before you take them into battle online.
In addition to two-player versus battles, you can also play the game with up to 8 players online, so you can set it up with a group of friends in a closed tournament to decide who’s the best at the game. There’s also a large story mode, which should have been influenced by the sheer size of other recent fighting games like Mortal Kombat X.
Graphics
Though we can’t say that we’re absolutely blown away by the graphics that we’ve seen as of yet in Tekken 7, it is still a very good looking game. It’s got blistering pace to the animation and rendering and the fight splatter and energy move signatures look pretty cool.
That said, we do think there’s room for improvement in the styling of the games from the series going forward, considering the latest power of gaming on modern day devices. It would be good to see a little more realism built into the mix, especially in Paul Phoenix’s Barnet, which is looking more box-like than ever. Maybe we”ll have to wait for 8 to be completely wowed in the same way we were when Tekken 2 first hit the arcades back in the late 90s.
First impressions
We’re pretty excited about the prospect of getting to play Tekken 7, especially with the amount of time it’s taken to go beyond the brilliant glare of the Japanes arcades. It’s shaping up to be a full force fist of fury battle with a lot of the old characters you’ll know and love, including Feng Wei, Brian Fury, the Mishima clan, Hwoarand, King, Paul Phoenix, Marshall Law, Asuka Kazama, Alisa Bosconovitch, Lili, Ling Xiaou, Lars Alexandersson and Sergei Dragunov, along with the two new characters announced, Katarina Alves and Claudio Serafino. It may not be all that fancy, but it does look like it’s going to get the job done.
