Namco’s revelatory 3D fighter features all the basics that went on to make the series a success, but a tough difficulty and lack of features make this a tough sell.
| Developer | Namco |
| Publisher | Namco |
| Franchise | Tekken |
| Genre | Fighting |
| PSTV | Yes |
| PSN |
US (EU – only in ‘Namco Heritage Bundle’)
|
World-building & Story
As the starting point of a long-running franchise, Tekken had a lot of work to do to create a compelling world and cast of characters to maintain it for future years. While hardly the most advanced narrative by modern standards, it’s easy to see why the Mishima family feud became such a compelling part of gaming thanks to the seeds that were sewn here.
As with many fighting games there are multiple narrative threads, although one is seen as the main canon. This involves Heihachi Mishima and his son Kazuya, who he rather shockingly drops into a volcano in the opening cutscene which the boy miraculously survives. Over the following years Kazuya trains in martial arts and to further test his strength Heihachi organises the ‘King of Iron Fist’ tournament, which draws in a number of fighters from around the world.
The storyline examining why Heihachi threw Kazuya into a volcano was active as recently as Tekken 7, showing what a backbone it was for the series and it’s still intriguing to follow here. Although as a relic of the time it was released in, most of the plot development is told through FMV scenes that you’re largely left to interpret on your own, which is quirky by modern standards and slightly difficult to get to grips with.
It’s not just Heihachi and Kazuya though – a cast of eight playable characters are in this first entry, many of who became more memorable than the main players. Of note is Nina, a mysterious woman in a constant war with her sister Anna; and Yoshimitsu, a strange cyborg ninja with a more charitable past than you may expect. Undoubtedly the cast are one of the main reasons Tekken has flourished all these years and it’s definitely interesting to see their origins here.
Oddly for the series, the world represented here is based on reality – you’ll visit a variety of locations from Windermere in the UK (an excellent choice!) to the Chiba Marine Stadium in Japan. They’re all interesting picks that help ground the game and although the backgrounds aren’t interactive, they’re memorable enough to leave an impression.
Presentation & Sound
Originally conceived as a test-bed for 3D modelling before evolving into a fighting game, Tekken‘s early roots are evident when comparing it to other PS1 titles. There’s a certain charm to everything here (strengthened by the upbeat tone), but some of the animation is bafflingly hilarious to look at today.
In game is where things look best – the character models are slightly chunky and missing detail but hold up well compared to other early PS1 games like Battle Arena Toshinden, helped by the fact that the cast’s designs are generally fantastic. What’s most noticeable is how smooth everything is – every movement looks swift, giving Tekken a much more fluid feel than some of its competitors. There’s added particle effects for the majority of attacks which brings a nice impact to striking an opponent too, something that became a staple of the franchise.
Environments are something I quite liked, although they’re just static pictures which move as the character does which is fairly disappointing when contemporaries such as Toshinden had interactive elements such as waterfalls. Still, I found them fairly memorable (particularly the baseball stadium) and they helped add to the game’s atmosphere, which is no bad thing.
The area where the presentation falls down is the CG cutscenes, which have not aged well at all. The actual modelling during these are alright – characters have slightly quirky proportions similar to things like Final Fantasy VII, but they work. Sometimes they do actually look quite impressive, like Kunimitsu riding on horseback in Yoshimitsu’s ending movie which – combined with the lovely music – was a very nice scene.
Yet in that very same movie you get to see Law’s face stretched to un-natural proportions which is both hideous and hilarious in an ‘I can’t believe they did that’ kind of way. Facial modelling seems to be a particular weakness for Namco’s team – it also cropped up with the creepy smile in Kazuya’s ending, which is a shame. Still, I understand this is just a product of the time Tekken was made and viewed with nostalgia goggles it’s actually kinda charming.
Sound only has one major element which is music and I’m pleased to report it’s universally fantastic (which as you’ll know is a big deal in games for me).
Soundtrack highlight – Stadium
Gameplay & Content
The fast and fluid gameplay that the franchise has become known for is fully here in Tekken, although it’s also a more simplistic game without the complexity later entries had. These factors make it an interesting relic if you enjoy the series, but not something that’s necessarily worth revisiting in light of all the other options available on Vita.
Tekken‘s command inputs are based around limbs – the face buttons each correspond to a part of the fighter’s body and as such it’s easy to get used to the controls as a beginner. Combinations of these alongside the direction buttons lead to special attacks and it is possible to pull of certain combos, although I couldn’t find any in-game command list meaning it was just guesswork unless you’ve played one of the sequels.
If you did start with a later entry, then the combat here will seem awfully simplistic. Many of the characters only have a handful of useful moves and I did initially find it frustrating not to be able to pull of Yoshimitsu’s sword combo or spam Nina’s crotch kick like I’m used to doing. I’m sure this means it actually has a higher skill ceiling if you’re a hardcore player, but for me it just made the game feel more restrictive.
The main area the limited movesets are showcased is the difficulty – Tekken is a brutally difficult title whose arcade roots show throughout. Even dropping the challenge down to easy, by about the fourth round of arcade mode I was coming up against foes that could input read what I was doing and blocked almost everything, which led to a frustrating game of chicken as both fighters waited for the other to make move. As a final boss I found Heihachi nigh-on impossible and felt I was making little progress despite repeated retries.
Speaking of arcade mode, another area Tekken is lacking in is things to do – your choices are limited to arcade battles or 2 player, which is useless on Vita (unless you’re playing on a PSTV). There’s no team battle or survival and worst of all no practice mode – obviously these are attributable to the time it released, but it makes the game a less compelling product when playing now.
There’s a few other oddities, like seemingly moon jumping physics existing in the world meaning your character goes flying at the first opportunity, but this is hardly a deal-breaker. More annoying are the sometimes random physics which mean that punches and grabs don’t always connect, leading to some uncertainty about how things will turn out when attempting to grapple with a foe.
Should the title hook you, then each fighter can unlock a new character by completing arcade mode – standard stuff, but at least it means you can get a roster of up to 17 upon fully clearing (and the CG scenes that play are generally pretty amusing to watch). There’s also a retro version of Galaga that can be played upon booting up, a nice reminder of other Namco titles from the time such as Ridge Racer (which, like that game, offers a small bonus for completing).
Tekken is by no means a bad game and there’s fun to be had here, just be aware of what you’re heading into – it’s a relic of the time it was made, which can be frustrating if you’ve played any other fighter released in the last 20 years.
Conclusion
A decent start to the long-running fighting series, Tekken sets up various interesting narrative threads on the backdrop of some lovely real-world locations and a killer soundtrack. The combat here is smooth, but a somewhat unfair difficulty curve mixed with a lack of moves and general basic feel hold the experience and ultimately stop it from being a classic that’s stood the test of time.
6.0/10
kresnik258gaming 