Xbox 360
Tekken 6 is the latest offering in a series which has always been seen as the slow, clunky and chunky foil to the flash-bang-kapow Street Fighter (SF) games. Whereas SF had the player jumping 15 feet high across the screen, lobbing balls of flaming goop and turning themselves into a living ball of electricity the best you could manage out of Tekken was a puff of sparkles every time you pulled off a well timed punch or kick. Glitzy it is not, but the amount of depth and tactical know-how required to master the game (especially in later iterations when the hardware finally managed to catch up with the developers intentions) made Tekken the thinking man's fighter.
Tekken 6 was clearly intended to be a bit of a homage to previous titles, as Namco Bandai proves by allowing the player access to all 40+ characters from the off. This enables everyone to pick up previously used avatars and start kicking arse. The moves are basically the same as they've always been, so even people who haven't been playing seriously since Tekken 3 can still hold their own. New characters like the twisty snake-girl Zafina and the slightly chubby (yet astoundingly quick) police officer Bob provide a bit of fresh interest for those who are sick to the back teeth of the current crowd.
As far as the singleplayer gametypes go, it's a massively mixed bag. It seems the developers made little effort to balance the Arcade mode, as the first few matches are stupidly easy before leaping to insanely hard at around the 4th duel. The “Bonus” round (which involves fighting a giant robot named NANCY) is nigh on impossible, with the internet community practically ablaze about how idiotically hard this level is. The final boss (no spoilers here though) is also capable of causing extreme amounts of damage very easily, though thankfully it's slightly more feasible to kill this one than the rocket swilling bag of bolts that preceded it.
Scenario Campaign too shares the same problems, with most of the campaign being a very rewarding scrolling beater marred towards the end by an obscene jump in difficulty. Nonetheless, it's a very interesting interactive story, following the exploits of rebel soldier Lars Alexandersson and his attempts to overthrow the dastardly Mishima Zaibatsu corporation. The other main benefit of Scenario Campaign is it's the easiest way to earn in-game currency, which can be used for customizing your character of choice.
Customization is ridiculously deep in Tekken 6, with each character having hundreds of possible combinations of clothes, skin changes and auras which makes it possible for each player to create a totally individual character. If you lose to someone in online multiplayer, the next time you encounter that player you'll easily be able to remember their previous victories. Grudge matches here we come!
Now, onto the serious stuff. As slightly botched as the singleplayer experience is, multiplayer is the meat and potatoes of fighting games, and it's here that Tekken 6 really shines. Fighting a human opponent whether online or offline is probably the most rewarding/frustrating experience in any fighter ever played depending on whether you are the proud victor, or the sore loser. The launch-and-bound system means that well placed combos can keep a player in the air for a large amount of time, costing an equally large amount of health. This means that before stepping onto the online stage, you'll have to really put the time and love in to perfect your characters routines. Opponents online vary from a small amount of button bashing newbies to a large amount of skilled players, and with the new patch fighting is relatively lag-free.
Tekken 6 could really benefit from two separate scores as what it lacks or where it annoys in the singleplayer experience is overshadowed by the multiplayer experience and customization abilities of online. Sadly we have standards to uphold, so the game moves from perfection for its multiplayer thanks to the irritating lack of effort given to the balancing for those who prefer to kick computer butt.