I have waited four years for this game and it’s finally in my hands with a few in-person on the arcade version months ago, I can finally play the game till death hits upon me.

The Story
Following his victory in the previous tournament, Jin Kazama has taken charge of the Mishima Zaibatsu and now possesses tyrannical ambitions. Using his resources within the organization to become a global superpower, he severs the Mishima Zaibatsu’s national ties and openly declares war against all nations. This action plunges the world into a chaotic spiral, with war erupting around the globe and even amidst the space colonies orbiting the planet. His biological father, Kazuya Mishima, is aware of this and finds Jin’s interference in his own plans for global domination to be a nuisance.

Now in charge of G Corporation (which was put under his command following a violent fury against the company’s heads), Kazuya is seen as the only force who could oppose Jin and places a bounty on Jin’s head for anyone who can capture him. Jin’s response is to announce The King of Iron Fist Tournament 6 in order to battle Kazuya and crush G Corporation.

The Campaign starts off with Lars Alexandersson working with the G Corporation, invades a laboratory building owned by Mishima Zaibatsu. With the success of taking control over the building, they encounter a young lady named Alisa Bosconovitch(a robot created in the image of Dr. Bosconovitch’s daughter who died many years ago). Lars & Alisa encountered numerous Jack’s with no problem defeating them an explosion took place inside the room causing Lars to lose his memories(amnesia) and moves on with Alisa trying to recover his memories and stopping each character(playable) throughout the stages in the game.

Yes there are more stories from each characters play but Tekken 6 follows Lars & Alisa being the main storyline for the future… like Tekken 7 perhaps to follow?

The Goods
Every character has been completely revamped with old moves recreated with some slight difference to completely new moves to master including six new characters to the series: Alisa, Bob, Lars, Leo, Miguel & Zafina. Let’s exclude the two giant bosses within the game from actually being playable(although NANCY-MI847J is playable in a scenario stage but that’s just it). The menu screen is very.. alike to Street Fighter IV so bare the similarities which is a good thing showing you the status, updates and other sorts that’s necessary for a fighter. Do wish Soul Calibur V & BlazBlu 2 to have some similar interface in the future too.

Character Customization takes a deep role in Tekken 6 but what’s fun with that even more is showing off your opponents “the player” you are. The best way to get all the customization would be the scenario mode, but in a way Namco Bandai is forcing us players to play a completely different mode that separates the fighting game we all know to something like Streets of rage. Not only is customization in the mode but attributes within per item can boost your gameplay with higher attacks, raise defense, add elemental attacks like fire in your arms and much more. Don’t start hating now because I’m actually addicted to the scenario mode I just can’t stop playing it. It is actually fun!

A lot of new stuff has been added to the gameplay of Tekken like it’s Rage System allowing characters to do more damage per hit when their vitality is low. Another would be the Bound System; an opponent that is currently midair in a juggle combo, will cause the opponent to be smashed hard into the ground, bouncing them off the floor in a stunned state and leaving them vulnerable to another combo or additional attack

The Bad
A lot of players and friends on my PSN List have complained about the horrible online service for Tekken 6 – I am quite shocked because these past two weeks I’ve been playing against other players with no issues whatsoever with over 60 plays not one did i suffer through any horrible lag or disconnections. However, last night before I fell asleep I wanted to try a match or two but I could not as the online was completely down I could not host, I could not join, absolutely nothing? The online is up and working properly for me, sucks that not everyone can get on it. It’s typical room with 4 players max per room can be on during matches while the others waiting in line prepares for their match, there really isn’t anything special in online for fighting games to me besides we all want to fight against each other online – what more do you want?

The Scenario Mode is awesome except the part where it’s single player! Yes, it’s not even optional to play with two players locally. Namco Bandai recently announced an online patch that will be up “soon”, but when is that soon and what about local multiplayer? It definitely get’s a bit boring watching a friend play alone. Also crossing out Namco Bandai’s fail to deliver on Tekken 6′s Motion Blur Feature which makes the game look very very bad.

The biggest problem with the game is the load times. It’s worse than it’s previous titles on the PlayStation 1 & 2, yes it’s really that bad. Picking any mode that’s playable in the game? Load & Save. Exiting to the main menu? Load & Save. Changing Settings in options? Load & Save. The worst of them all is the character customization when trying to view some new clothing there’s always the loading window appearing every freaking time no matter if it’s even the same clothes with different attributes.

One small problem I did notice was with the loading comparison on the web, my loading time is actually shorter than the Xbox 360… I wonder why? A difference of a few seconds for the installed version is not really relevant. It would be very easy to take several PS3′s or 360′s and find a few that load faster or slower than the majority. Different hardware and system age could affect these numbers too, assuming with technology of course.

The Overall
A lot of new players have appeared on the new release of Tekken, so mashing buttons is pretty fun but it becomes even greater learning the way Tekken is suppose to be played(which is quite difficult for most really). Tekken 6 has a lot to offer, including a massive roster, refined gameplay, plenty of modes, online multiplayer and an absurd amount of character customization options. Sucks hard the loading time couldn’t have been better. That, and the scenario mode’s plain single-player play-through. The game would have been a perfect if it wasn’t for these simple issues that could have been fixed but who knows what the story behind it is for Namco Bandai – as a Tekken player, this is by far the best one yet.

The Score : 9 / 10 :