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Tekken Naion
Tekken News !
Debate: How do you make Tekken feel next gen/popular again ?
Are you sick of all the Tekken haters with their:"Tekken has been the same for the last ten years ?"
There’s no doubt about it, Tekken as a series has declined in popularity; Tekken in the PSX era was the Modern Warfare we have today. Tekken 3 in particular was the game that everyone had for the original Playstation. But this doesn’t mean that the series now sucks, I still enjoy Tekken more than the majority of the first person shooters out there. Besides Tekken is a fighter which makes innovation limited compared to other genres. Never the less I’m going to provide 4 points which I believe Namco should consider taking, in order to silence Tekken critics aswell as making the sequel for Tekken 6 feel next gen.
Note this debate will not include Gameplay material, Tekken Nation will have another article debating possible Gameplay improvements some other time.
1. Solid Online Material!
Online play is a huge part of next generation gaming. If you ask any Halo fan what made the series succesful the majority would hold the online play as responsible. Why? Because the online play in Halo is massive! Namco should take note, instead of having standard vs Matches only, why can’t we have a little extra? Ok so the SC co – op is a good idea, but there are many easier options for Namco to use to expand the future of Tekken's online play. I’m talking about; the ability to organise straight knockout tournaments, have a Team Battle Online mode, an online Tag Mode etc. These modes are not only easier to add, but would be more fun to play than the SC co - op mode we currently have. The online Tag mode could be revolutionary if it's excecuted correctly, just imagine the amount of fun you'd have playing co – op Tag online with a group of 4 friends! Wealthy online material would certainly give Tekken the next generation feel critics are craving for, and most certainly bring back a lot of popularity.
2. The return of Tag Mode
Ok why on earth has this mode been completely forgotton about? I sometimes don’t understand Namco, the majority of us Tekken fans loved Tag mode and are constantly asking for it back. Even the ones who aren’t fans of the series anymore would tell you how much they loved Tekken Tag. So why has it been 10 years and counting without there being the slightest hint about its possible return? Are Namco being ignorant or just plain lazy? Heck Dead or Alive has had this mode for as long as I can remember, it really isn’t that hard to program. We could just have all Tag fights take place in unlimited wall stages to prevent abusive character pairings. Bringing Tag mode back would be a gem to the series, and would defiantly increase its popularity once more.
3. Next Gen Presentation and Graphics
Ok so Tekken 6 did not exactly help renew its image with its dated graphics and presentations. The graphics were no better than T5DR for the PS3 and Namco’s choice of using more or less the same Intro’s and Win pose for the majority of there characters just looked lazy and stale.
Face it, it’s much easier said than done, Graphics and presentation attracts gamers. KillZone 2 was possibly the most hyped up game coming into this generation, because their original trailer blew everyone away with never seen before graphics and presentation, so much that the majority of us were debating whether the trailer was real or not. Tekken 7 needs graphics that will amaze us, graphics that will drag gamers and make them want to play it, no matter how the Gameplay plays out. Having poor graphics again, could be suicide and would defiantly put new gamers off. A lesson needs to be learned here Namco, please take this issue more serisouly next time.
4. Return and Revamped Story Mode
Why was Story Mode ever removed? Quite simply the offline modes for Tekken 6 sucked...sucked badly! VS mode is fun so long as you know competitive players your own level. Most of my friends don’t play fighters, and if they do, they prefer a game of SF4 over Tekken I’m afriad. I cannot afford the time and money to travel to London each week to play a video game.
Thus Namco need worthy single offline modes again. I want Story Mode to return, with great stories, endings and cut scenes. Come on Namco this is next gen, when I first saw the cut scenes and endings in Tekken 4 I was impressed, but since then they’ve been nothing short of abysmal. It’s no good to say; go play a story game then, I have already clarified that they don’t exist, (there is no gaming genre named “story”). 90% of Tekken 6’s advertisement consisted of story based themes, so it's no good to say story never did play a role in previous Tekken games. Namco did try to create a worthy story in Tekken 6’s SC mode, but there was one minor flaw...IT SUCKED. Seriously I have members at Tekken Nation who create better story lines.
Also please give us worthy endings, the ones at Tekken 5 were bad enough, but Tekken 6’s endings simply took the cake. Please bring back the story writers of Tekken 4 or hire new ones. I want next generation endings which feel worthy of "completing a game" mateial, especially with a boss as irritating as Azazel.
Fact is unless you can have access to online mode, or have the cash to travel around the country to play other people, Tekken 6 could become dull quite easily. If Namco want Tekken to reach its glory days again, then we need good single offline features.
Concluding comments
Just a quick reminder to those who enjoy throwing the noob tag, I deliberately missed out game play as this topic will have its very own debate for a later time. Obviously without good game play Tekken would just fail, full stop, and make the list I just provided pretty useless.
But in order for Tekken to feel next gen I highly recommend the list I provided. I feel if these were indeed added we could get yet another Tekken golden era, with that list and solid game play Tekken will rise again!
YOUR SAY !
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send me a e-mail at admindeebo@tekkennation.com