The 3DS is home two brilliant beat-em ups already. With Dead or Alive and Street Fighter proving that Nintendo’s handheld can compete with console cousins. Now another huge fighting franchise has arrived on the scene. Can Tekken 3D compete with the big boys, or should it be Tekken away and never seen again?
I actually enjoyed Tekken 3DS. Being a Nintendo man, I never really overly played the previous games. I do recall having a version on the PlayStation years ago, which I remember playing a fair bit, especially a Streets of Rage style mode. After playing the over the top Street Fighter, with its fireballs, stretchy limbs and insane attacks, then moving on to Dead or Alive’s super-fast fights, Tekken came over as a slightly mellowed game.
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Controlling the game is easy enough. The buttons are mapped to punch and kick attacks. If you find pulling of cool moves too difficult, there are touch screen options for novice players. I found that due to the slower pace of this game, attacks felt like they had more ‘oomph’ behind them. The emphasis in Tekken is to block attacks effectively then unleash a string of combos on your opponent. Timing is critical and learning a string of attacks is key. Attacks come in High or Low varieties, so if someone keeps blocking your high attacks, go for the family jewels! Homer Simpson style.
The levels in the game are pretty much standard fighting fare. There are lovely meadows, skyscrapers and fiery dungeons. There are a couple of 3DS specific levels new to the game, although if you are not a regular fan, you probably wouldn’t notice. Taking a page of out DOA’s book, there are a couple of levels which collapse or are altered by your actions. Sadly the backgrounds are mostly static, much like SF4’s, and do not really evoke any interest. The amount of characters in the game make up for this,with over 40 to choose from. Some are pretty generic, some such as the giant bear Akuma are just well… bizarre.
Graphically, the game is great. Tekken is one of the only 3DS games that looks better in 3D. I turned the slider to maximum and the characters really stood out, with no loss in speed or quality. The character models are detailed and look like they have come straight from the PS2. As mentioned before, the levels are OK but do not really add anything.
Sadly, Tekken has a very poor single player mode. I found it quite strange that there was no sort of story mode at all. You simply pick a character and choose survival mode, which sees you fighting a number of enemies until you are defeated. I am a Tekken novice, and I unlocked the 50 man battle mode within an hour. Obviously multiplayer is the game’s strength, with the usual one on one, tag battles and the like. There are also Tekken trading cards to earn as you play, which you can also acquire via Streetpass. The game also comes with a full length Tekken anime movie on the cart. Whilst this is a decent addition, I would rather have had a meatier single player experience for my £40.
| Rating | Description |
| 7 | Gameplay Fun old school raw fighting, not much variety |
| 8 | Graphics Decent character models and effects |
| 8 | Sound Techno and blazing guitar, not bad at all |
| 7 | Final Score |
