Tekken is about a lot of things, but mainly it’s aboutpunching your friends in the face and laughing at them. That’s what two of our editors, Stacey Henley and George Foster, did during the review period to test outTekken 8’snew features in the tense, lean-forward-in-your-chair environment you only get in a head to head bout. you may watch the video above for their unscripted conversation with fellow editor Eric Switzer, or read on for some calmer, more organised thoughts.
Stacey:I think the best place to start would be our history with Tekken. Istarted with Tekken 3, but I’ve played the two earlier ones as well, and have kept up with each entry since. I’m not good, because with fighting games ‘good’ usually means ‘could hold your own at Evo’ but I’m no slouch either. The last time TheGamer had a Tekken tournament for Tekken 7, I won and went undefeated. You might remember that George?
Note: This is the point where George will bring up Negan. Just watch.
George:I remember you having a lot of post-tournament trouble with my masterful use of Negan, Tekken 7’s unequivocal best character. I’m a bit of a late bloomer when it comes to Tekken, as I started with 7 and then made my way back through the series after loving that. I’m not as good as I am atMortal KombatorStreet Fighter, but I like to think I at least put on a good show.
Stacey:I knew you wouldn’t have been there for 3 since you’re quite a bit younger than me, but I had no idea you joined the party so late. This is probably a different question for you, since mine changed so much over the years, but who’s your go-to main when Negan’s cheap shots aren’t there to save you? I moved on from Eddy Gordo’s button mashing and switch between Lili and Xiaoyu mostly, but Hwoarang was my first and Alisa is in the mix too.
George:What else would you expect from TheGamer’s resident baby? I’d dabbled with it a little when I was younger but if we’re talking properly then yeah, a late start for sure. It was absolutely Negan as my main in 7 as you’ve learnt the hard way, but aside from him, I’m a big fan of Marshall Law since he’s such a pain for others to fight against. I’m also big on Jin since I’m incredibly basic, and liked messing with Eddy when I replayed the older games. Your Lili is not to be messed with.
Stacey:I suppose we should get into Tekken 8 itself though. Your full review is out (check it out here), but we’re mainly here to chat about going head to head online. Before we do that, I know you scored it very highly, but sum up Tekken 8? I love the aggressive fighting styles and cinematics, but the story (and game itself) was lacking a touch of gameplay variety for me.
George:I bloody loved Tekken 8. I think it has the best story mode the series has ever seen that’s equal parts heartfelt and epic, and although the focus on aggression with the new Heat mechanic took me some getting used to as a more defensive player, I can’t imagine playing Tekken without it now. That one-two punch of greatness hits even harder thanks to the additions to the roster, which I think are the best newcomers Tekken has ever added. Reina is my new main, forever and always.
All of that puts Tekken 8 right next to Street Fighter 6 for me when it comes to actual gameplay, but I do agree that it feels like it’s missing at least one unique mode that isn’t one-on-one fighting. Arcade Quest tries to be that with the custom avatar that you may explore the arcades with, but it’s really just more fighting which does let it down a bit. Tekken Ball is cool, though.
Stacey:I don’t even think Tekken Ball is cool, they’ve had much better stuff before. But I still love Tekken 8 because it’s mostly a game where you fight someone and that part is perfect. I think Reina is the standout for me too, not likely to be a new main - Azucena would be the new character I’d stick with - but wasn’t feeling Victor, not sure how ‘Tekken’ his reliance on weaponry is. Anyway, we’re here to talk about our showdown. 13 matches played, very close throughout. What did you make of the PvP fights? They’re always a different tone to the CPU stuff no matter what difficulty.
George:Azucena is another standout for sure. Victor takes a bit of time to learn but once you do he has some cool moves that make him stand out, although that might be because of the guns and knives like you say. They were some close matches and basically had us going back and forth on wins for a while, but they’re also where Tekken 8 really clicked for me.
When I was facing AI opponents, I found myself using Heat in the same way every time and just busting it out at the start of a round to deal some quick damage, but playing against you forced me to reconsider that and sometimes even skip the Heat Smash attack to use the Dash and extend my combo. Playing Tekken 8 in single-player is great, but going up against a real person is where it shines. It doesn’t hurt that we were closely matched in skill and mixed things up by randomly picking characters. I’m sure you’d agree that it’s better online than it is solo.
Stacey:I think most people play the single-player mode on a difficulty where they have a challenge but win most of the time, so the Heat combined with the Rage means you’re armed with a killswitch, which makes it feel OP. Playing against you though, it had a more interesting balance. You don’t want to go too early with Heat, because ideally you use it with momentum to make the most of it, but you don’t want to hold it too long either as the match ups are so fast and aggressive.
That makes the Rage more interesting too, when we were playing at first we said we thought it all felt a bit much, one of us would get into low enough health to Rage and then end up winning the match in the next move by Raging so the other never stood a chance to use it. But over a few matches, we blocked a few, ended up both Raging in others, and it leant a nice back and forth. We both won matches where the other one was maybe a little better in that match up and that made it interesting. What did you think about the character variety, since we mostly used random characters?
George:Exactly that, it’s where it went from being something I chuck out for a guaranteed hit to being a utility tool I had to manage and be aware of, all while also keeping an eye on you using yours. Tekken 8 comes into its own online, which is good since that’s where most players are going to spend most of their time.
I like the roster and think there’s a good mix of more technical characters like Zafina and Azucena to big brutes like Kuma, Panda, and Jack-8. I’m pretty boring so I like the middle of the road characters like Jin and Kazuya, but even they have so much to them that it feels like the equivalent of three fighters in other games. There are a few glaring omissions that I can’t believe made it in over boring picks like Shaheen, but I think it evens out. You love your stance characters, which I think there are enough of for you to be happy, even if Eddy is currently missing.
Stacey:Yeah all my current mains are here, and I ended up with Zafina in our match ups and will be using her a lot more. I think those characters suit the flow of Tekken 8, but it might be more that they suit my brand of button mashing. The awareness of what your opponent has in the tank is key, too. I think other games overcomplicate this idea, so I was worried about Tekken but it turned out to be very simple.
What I found most interesting was that when I had Lili and Xiaoyu, I lost, while you lost with Jin and Kazuya, yet when we had characters we knew less, we got to grips with them easier. Tekken 8 is a bit of a shakeup so it might be time for players to revisit their mains - I know we have a wider TheGamer tournament planned soon and I might switch out Lili for Zafina, at least some of the time. Also, since you’re clearly not going to bring it up, I won 7-6. You even had Kazuya for the crunch match, but Alisa was too much for you.
George:I was going to leave it up to the reader’s imagination and hope that they thought I won the most matches, to be honest. It was very close, though, and there were some great matches in there that reminded me why I love Tekken so much. You won’t be laughing at that tournament when I’ve practised my Reina even more.
I imagine that anyone who is interested in Tekken is already waiting for their copy of the game to arrive and already excited to get stuck in, but I think that newcomers will also find a lot to love here and should give it a go. Especially since Arcade Quest acts as a great introduction to how the series plays and gets you to grips with its more complex mechanics. Like Street Fighter 6 before it (although perhaps not quite to the same extent), Tekken 8 is a fighting game fit for fans and newcomers alike, and a killer way to kick off 2024.
Tekken 8
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Tekken 8 is the next-gen evolution of the long-running fighting game series from Bandai Namco. It brings back several popular characters and adds new, while it also introduces the new ‘Heat’ mechanic.
