Review 7 - Petru Bumbar - Tekken 3
From DIT Experimental Gaming Group
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Tekken 3
Tekken 3 is the third installment in the Tekken fighting game series. It was the first game released on Namco's System 12 hardware (an improvement to the original two Tekken games, which used System 11). It was the last installment of Tekken for the PlayStation. It was released for the PlayStation in 1998, and in 2005 for the PlayStation 2 as part of Tekken 5's Arcade History mode. Also soon to make an appeareance(after a long awaited moment) Tekken 6(or simply known as Tekken) is expected by most of the fans ever since the release of the new console made by Playstation , Playstation 3.
Gameplay
It's multiplayer gameplay that includes 23 playable characters, with characters like the legendary Yoshimitsu, Lei Wulong and Heihachi Mishima has been revolutionary, allong side the improved graphics and animations, tekken 3 added emphasis on the third axis, allowing all the characters to sidestep in or out of the background by tapping the cotroller button towards the coresponding direction. This installment also included the benefits of having a new improved game engine witch allowed:
- quick recoveries from knockdowns - more escapes from tackles and stuns - better juggling - and also new combos and trows
Tekken 3 is also the first of the Tekken games to feature a beat'em up minigame called Tekken Force. Here the whole scenario is completley diffrent from the arcade type of fighting having various stages against enemies in a side-scrolling fashion.(Dr.Bosconovitch becomes a playable character on completion).
Another minigame could also be found here similar to beach volleyball called Tekken Ball. Here using the ball u eighter charged the ball to reduce the life of your opponent or just score by making the ball touch the sand without your oponent beeing able to get to it. A simillar game was released by the people that released Dead or Alive, years after the inovative Tekken Ball, having all the female characters playing this wonderfull game.(I wonder why it sold so well even though it had nothing special).
Story (A long but intresting one)
Set fifteen years after the King of the Iron Fist Tournament 2, the story starts with Jun Kazama, who has been living a quiet life in Yakushima with her young son, Jin, who is the son of Kazuya Mishima. Heihachi Mishima, meanwhile, has established the Tekken Force, an organization dedicated to the protection of the Mishima Zaibatsu. Using the company's influence, Heihachi is responsible for many events that have ultimately led to world peace. However, while on an excavation in Mexico, a squadron of Heihachi's Tekken Force is attacked and vanquished by a mysterious being. The only surviving soldier manages to relay a brief message to Heihachi, describing the perpetrator as an "Ogre" or a "Fighting God". Heihachi and a team of soldiers investigate, with Heihachi managing to catch a glimpse of the culprit. After seeing the Ogre character, Heihachi's long dormant dream of world domination is reawakened. He seeks to capture Ogre to use him for this goal.
Ogre soon begins the hunt for various martial artists around the world, one beeing Jun Kazama mother of the later great fighter Jin Kazama and wife of Kazuya. In a attack lead by ogre Jin(age 15) gets knocked out and upon his awakening finds that everything is gone, house burned to the ground and Jun missing.
Driven by revenge and with the help of Heihachi, Jin grows into an impressive fighter and master of the Mishima Style Karate. He enters the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3 and prepares for his upcoming battle against Ogre, beeing unaware that Heihachi is using him and the rest of the competitours as bait to lure Ogre out to capture him. (Check out rest of storyline for Tekken 4,5,6..has a spoiler out).
The Controls
While in Arcade/Time Battle or Versus Mode the game is played in the typical arcade style from a side view of the characters that includes the revolutionary at that time 3rd axis of the gameplay(sidesteping).It used the standard commands of a arcade when it came to the action related buttons(punches/kicks) with the square,triangle,circle and x buttons, while combining any of the buttons creating a grab option or a special move. Directions of a character in the Playstation version is determined by the user using the arrowheads signaling(left,right,down,up) that also included it's veryown specialmoves, having the ability to block a oponents mid-kick while pressing left(if character faces right) or a low-kick just for pressing down.Sidesteping was added for increase effect(double tap eighter up/down buttons) of dogging charges from oposing characters and also in later versions of the game to include new improved action combos for better hits.
Overview
Rated as the highest fighting game on gamespot and ign with a avarage of at least 9.9 just shows what this game represented at the time of it's release. It still is in my opinion the best Tekken installement out there. It is a game that has a history and a game that is a part of history of it's genre.
