Tekken 8 – After 9 years of absence, ceding the ‘stage’ to rival games such as Street Fighter VI, Guilty Gear Strive, King of Fighters XV, Tekken 8 Officially launched in January 2024, with the ambition to dominate the fighting game market share this year, a time when rival developers are tired after launching their heavyweight titles earlier.

Tekken 8 Developed by the firm BANDAI NAMCO Studios baked for quite a long time. The game was announced in 2022, followed by closed beta and demo trials in 2022 and 2023, and launched in early 2024 at the same time as the announcement of the DLC pack for Season 1. This shows that the developer has a lot of expectations for the game after launch.

But are these expectations worth it? Let’MarkGame take a look at the following review, friends!

YOU’LL LOVE

OFFENSIVE GAMEPLAY

Tekken Famous as a game series that emphasizes offensive gameplay. Compared to the liberal attack style like the line Guilty Gear, or ‘books’ as Street Fighter, crazy combos like King of Fightersperiod Tekken Encourage players to attack and attack more. Tekken 8 also follow that trend, expand as well as promote it more.

Overall, Tekken 8 has similar gameplay to Tekken 7, except for the replacement heat system for the Rage that has existed since the time Tekken 6. Heat is a completely new system, marking the turning point of the series from a fighting game that encourages players to attack, to a game that encourages intelligent attack.

When should you attack? When should you get defensive? When attacking, how should it be most reasonable to attack without spending too much ‘minerals’ Heat? Tekken 8 Always come up with questions for players to solve themselves right in the battle

With the above questions, the Heat system has occupied a dominant role in the gameplay of the game. In addition to increasing the damage to the attack, Heat also affects the moves of the characters in the game. For example, Jun Kazama, this character is completely normal without activating Heat, but after using Heat, Jun becomes a monster capable of ‘rushing down’ opponents with high damage. As for the character Jin, the attributes of his attacks are changed, easier to combo, or unstoppable.

With such a powerful Heat system, activating it of course also requires the player to think, especially when it only allows the character to be ‘strong’ once in a round, with a minimum time of 10 seconds. The Heat usage time will be extended if the player hits the opponent, or his opponent is measured on the floor. This factor encourages gamers to constantly and constantly put pressure on the opponent.

If the player decides to ‘play big’, increasing the pressure on the opponent, the Heat is a great strategic card to end the game. However, if the player fails in this, the advantage is lost, along with a higher probability of losing the match, especially when the opponent still has the ability to ‘ascend’ the Heat.

The Heat makes the game exciting and thrilling. When the opponent uses Heat, we have three options, one is to activate our own Heat to confront, two is to switch into a defensive position to wait for the opponent to ‘ax’ down, three is to increase the attack to make the opponent unable to turn back.

Depending on the attributes of each character, the match tactics will be different, creating ‘depth’ in the gameplay. Understanding your moves and controlling the character you are facing is only the first factor in the path to becoming a King.

You also have to know the attributes of your character’s and other characters’ moves when they activate the Heat. Activating Heat in addition to the general key combination that all characters have, each character has Heat Engager moves to activate the Heat after executing, creating an advantage as soon as the attack hits the opponent to open the next blood combo.

In addition to the Heat system, the opening cast of characters of Tekken 8 It is also considered quite massive with 32 characters, representing many different fighting styles. In addition to the familiar characters of the series, there are also a few new characters such as Victor Chevalier, Reina and Azucena.

Azucena didn’t impress the writer, but Victor Chevalier and Reina brought a novel fighting style. Victor is built as an experienced assassin, using multiple weapons with variable, agile attacks.

Reina, based on the image of Heihachi Mishima, wishes to continue the ambitions of the old Heihachi boss. Reina has a transformed fighting style, combining the power of the Mishima sect with a bit of technique from Taido. Activating Reina’s Heat is also quite easy with powerful continuation combos. If you compare Jin, the main character of the series, with Reina, Reina can be considered a remarkable upgrade if you are tired of the old characters that have appeared before, as well as have to confront Jin or Kazuya too much in online battles.

In addition to the Heat system, the opening cast of characters of Tekken 8 is also considered quite massive with 32 characters, representing many different fighting styles

HIGH REPLAY VALUE

Besides the core multiplayer mode, Tekken 8 also puts emphasis on entertainment for single-player players. The story game mode is made like a movie to introduce gamers to the world of Tekken is a step in the right way to connect new players, as well as old players, back to the game.

In addition to the story game, Arcade Quest is also a vibrant game mode. The player assumes the role of a gamer who goes to play arcade arcade games in game stores in the virtual world of Tekken. The story of Arcade Quest is simple, easy to play, easy to receive with the introduction of the combat system as well as the basic features of Tekken 8. Arcade Quest is considered a tutorial, but is ‘butt cheeked’ to become a game with separate worlds and storylines. This is also a place for you to ‘plow’ money in the game to buy ‘skins’ or new shaping items for your favorite character.

In addition to Arcade Quest and the story game, the Training game is also carefully invested when it creates all conditions, as well as gives the most useful information for players to practice.

This training section also shows the ambition of the developer, as they want the game to reach more new players by building support tools to make the game easier to grasp than other potential versions. Basic combos? Which blow is low, unstoppable? All are mentioned in this game.

The story game mode is made like a movie to introduce gamers to the world of Tekken is the right step to connect new players, as well as old players back to the game

YOU’LL HATE

THE CHARACTER DOES NOT HAVE MANY IMPRESSIVE POINTS

Even though Tekken 8 Almost a perfect fighting game with very few bugs, great multiplayer and in-depth attacking gameplay, the game also possesses fatal weaknesses.

The first is the character set. Characters in Tekken 8, except for the faces that were famous in previous versions such as Jin, Kazuya, King, Lee … In addition, the rest of the faces are built quite faintly in this game. With a flashy character appearance design style, muscular human organs, if someone has never played Tekken that experience Tekken 8 then they are almost indistinguishable… Which characters come out of which, except for some characters that are too classic of the series.

In addition, the character’s shape does not clearly show their fighting style is a weakness of Tekken 8. When you look at Asuka Kazama, how do you think this character will fight? Unfamiliar. When you see Paul Phoenix, you think Paul is going to be an MMA fighter? No, the guy uses Karate!

Along with that, the presence of the Heat system makes the balance of the characters not guaranteed. Asuka Kazama is a normal character, now it is even more normal when most of her combos and moves are hidden behind the Heat bar, and only when activating it can Asuka show 100% of her power.

Characters in Tekken 8, except for the faces that were famous in previous versions such as Jin, Kazuya, King, Lee … In fact, the rest of the faces are built quite faintly in this game