Tekken 4 for PS2

After being in the arcades for nearly a year, Tekken 4 finally makes it home to the PS2. Namco’s premier 3D fighter franchise has undergone significant changes in its latest revision, including but not limited to full 3D backgrounds. Newcomers to the series will appreciate how easy it is to get into the game and Tekken fans will love the increased depth of the fighting engine.

Tekken 4’s biggest change to the series is that it uses full 3D backgrounds with walls and obstacles instead of an infinitely expansive field. You can now trap opponents against a wall and pound them into submission with devastating combos and send them crashing through obstacles including phone booths, columns and statues. If you are trapped against a wall, you can run up the wall and use an attack (wire-fu style) or grab ahold of your opponents and switch positions with them. The 8-way free run movement system introduced in Tobal and Soul Calibur, which has been used in Virtua Fighter 4 and Dead or Alive 3, is also included in Tekken 4, making sidestepping attacks and circling around your opponents much easier. To benefit skilled Tekken players more, Namco has included the Just-Frame system. If your timing is precise, you can enhance certain regular moves by pressing the correct button(s) at the right moment. Members of the Tekken community have even created rhythm-training videos to help players perfect these moves.

Tekken 4 includes a wealth of modes including: Arcade, Time Attack, Story Mode, 2-player VS Battle, Team Battle, Survival, Training, Practice, Theater and Options. The Training and Practice modes are not as in-depth as Virtua Fighter 4’s, but they are sufficient and they include a full move list for each character. Hidden characters and stages are unlockable, including the popular Jamaican break-dancer, Eddy Gordo. In addition, you can unlock the ability to save replays of your matches to the memory card.

Tekken 4 includes a beat-em-up adventure called Tekken Force Assault which plays similarly to Final Fight. In this mode you take on multiple opponents at once and face a boss character at the end of each level. The targeting system is a little flaky because enemies that have been K.O.’ed are not immediately deselected, but Tekken Force Assault mode is fast, furious and fun. If you manage to complete Tekken Force Assault, you are rewarded with a hidden dojo stage selectable in VS mode. Unfortunately, there is no support for 4-player Tag battle in Tekken 4.

Tekken 4 is one of the best looking PS2 games yet. While the character models are not as polished as the models in Tekken Tag Tournament, the backgrounds are highly detailed and they are rendered in full 3D, as opposed to the traditional Tekken “infinite plane” backgrounds. Namco employs the use of reflective specular highlights on almost every surface. Stone, marble, leather and metal surfaces in the backgrounds and on the characters reflects light that changes as the camera moves. The water is also very impressive looking, as it is rippled and reflects the environments around it. Namco also provides the option of using an image filter that makes the image more solid, eliminating jagged edges and flickering. Most of the stages include bystanders cheering on as they watch the fighters sparring (who proceed to run away if the fighters get too close). The combination of good background design and bystanders gives the environments in Tekken 4 a dynamic, lively feel. Owners of HDTV’s will be interested to know that Tekken 4 supports 525p (progressive scan output) via component video cables.

The soundtrack is somewhere between Tekken 2 and 3. It uses less techno mixes than Tekken Tag’s, but doesn’t use the more classical styles of Tekken 2, either. The sound effects from previous Tekken titles have not been changed, but the characters now speak more often. Full voice acting in each characters’ native language is also included, and it is of fairly high quality. (subtitles are included)

Tekken 4 takes the series in a new direction with full 3D backgrounds and omnidirectional movement. The endings for the characters are long and interesting, the gameplay is smoother than ever and the level of depth has been raised since Tekken Tag. The lack of Tag Team mode is unfortunate, because Tekken 4 does everything else right. Despite the loss of a Tag Mode, Tekken 4 is a solid fighting game that any fan will enjoy.

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