Based on the arcade release of Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion, Tekken 6 is a well-balanced three-dimensional fighting game with a massive cast of forty playable characters. The fighting mechanics are very similar to previous installments in the series, with canned combos being executed by inputting a series of button presses, with each of the controller’s four face buttons corresponding to your chosen fighters four limbs, and the majority of combat damage being dealt during juggles that carry your opponent through the air. The differences come in the form of the two new mechanics introduced: Rage and Bound. The Rage system is quite simple: whenever a fighter drops below five percent of his or her starting life total, they receive a significant boost in attack power. For those who have had the pleasure of playing Tekken Tag Tournament, Rage is functionally similar to Netsu Power. However, in addition to the character’s life bar glowing red, the characters themselves now also glow red. The glow itself is minimal, and hardly ever a distraction, and when combined with Tekken 6’s new motion blur effect, can look pretty cool when seen on darker levels.

The second new mechanic, Bound, has a much greater impact on the way the game is played. With the Bound system in place, players can smash their opponents against the ground with certain moves that will result in their opponents bouncing upon impact, making them vulnerable to additional hits. The bounce itself is brief, so players need to act fast in order to take advantage of it, but if they succeed, the result could lead to massive damage. The more advanced combos in the game rely on Bound in order to maximize damage potential and to carry opponents further in walled levels. On a walled level, bouncing your opponent off the ground directly in front of a wall will often lead to an inescapable wall combo, which is guaranteed to make opponent wince. Thankfully, the release of Bloodline Rebellion addressed the lethality of Bound combos, which in the original arcade release could be used to kill an opponent in one juggle, making them much more balanced. Most Bound juggles deal damage on par with the standard juggles from Tekken 5: Resurrection. Unfortunately, while this keeps juggle damage within the realm of reason, it also forces players to learn more demanding juggle strings in order to remain competitive.

The console release also benefits from the addition of a few console-exclusive features: Scenario Campaign and Online Mode. Scenario Campaign is similar to the Tekken Force beat-’em-up modes seen in previous console releases of Tekken titles, but with a greater story component and a world map complete with branching paths. The default story is based around the two new Tekken 6 characters, Lars and Alisa, and is told through several real-time cutscenes that occur before and after missions. The story itself is pretty campy, at best, and far from Oscar material, but it gets the job done, and for players not interested in sitting through the cutscenes, they can be skipped. As players progress through Scenario Campaign, they’ll unlock other characters to use in this mode, and by defeating enemies, earn spending money and some items for their chosen character. Here’s where Scenario Campaign gets interesting, as the items earned in this way have special properties exclusive to this mode. You may find a pair of gloves that will engulf your enemies in flames when struck, or a pair of sunglasses that greatly increases the amount of money earned during each mission. Players can equip each costume of their fighter with five special attribute slots, something that may be necessary in order to complete the later missions in the game. Unfortunately, Scenario Campaign is not without its flaws. The controls are awkward and frustrating, and the graphics appear to be rendered in a lower resolution than the rest of the game. The characters and the environments look generic, and several of the resources are reused throughout the experience. Sadly, players that want to customize most or all of the characters in the game will need to spend a lot of time in this mode, as it’s the fastest way to earn money and items.

Though taking your favourite combatant online certainly has its rewards as well. Defeating higher ranked players can result in a nice payout, and even losing a Ranked Match will earn you a little scratch. The online mode offers both Ranked and Player Matches for players to participate in, which has become the convention for most console games in this online age. The Ranked Matches will earn you both cash and rank, and for those players that seek fame, a spot on the leaderboards. The Player Matches offer rooms for players to fight without the added pressure of losing a rank, have customizable settings, such as time and rounds needed to win, and allow other players to spectate. For the most part, the online play is enjoyable, but in our experience with the game, suffered from intermittent lag problems. As Tekken 6 is a game of precise timing and execution, the lag can be a little discouraging for serious play, but will hardly get in the way of a casual match or two with some friends.

However, there’s more to the Online Mode in Tekken 6 than beating up friends and strangers. Players can download replays of matches in order to study tips and combos, or even submit their own. The replays are ranked by popularity, but can be filtered to find matches involving specific characters or players, and can be saved for later viewing on your hard drive. Another feature, and probably our favourite of Tekken 6’s online offerings, allows players to upload a Ghost of their character, or download ghosts made by others, including friends. Ghosts are AI representations of your character that attempt to emulate your style of play by using your most commonly executed moves and combos. The science isn’t perfect, but it can be surprisingly accurate at times. Whenever a new Ghost is downloaded to your system, it is placed in the database of random AI players that can be encountered during the offline Ghost Battle and Arcade Modes. Players can store up to one hundred downloaded Ghosts on their system, and may upload one for each character that they use. Encountering an AI opponent that attempts to mimic a friend of yours is pretty exciting, and I hope we see more of this in other fighting games.

One of the best reasons to upload a Ghost of your character is that it actually retains its customized appearance when encountered in another player’s game. The customization options in Tekken 6 are quite expansive, so a great deal of variety is guaranteed to be seen. Furthermore, the customizations have much better character model integration this time around. Fewer items look as though they’re floating near the character, and each character has dozens of purchasable items instead of just a handful with palette swaps.

Though as great as the customizations are, the visual presentation of Tekken 6 is a little lacking. The game suffers from some serious aliasing issues, as well as an upscaled resolution that can make some of the characters and environments look a little muddy at times. It’s hardly a deal breaker, as Liz Lemon would say, but it’s certainly noticeable, especially when compared to another Namco Bandai fighting game, Soul Calibur IV. However, Soul Calibur IV was without an arcade release, meaning that it was designed for both consoles from the ground up. To make matters worse, Tekken 6 also suffers from some lengthy load times, which can make loading a match take as long as thirty seconds. Thankfully, the load times can be significantly reduced by taking advantage of the optional install, which we’d strongly recommend doing. The aliasing issues can also be fixed by turning off the game’s Motion Blur feature, which allows the system to use anti-aliasing instead. Overall, we found that the game looked better with the Motion Blur disabled, but that’s a matter of opinion, of course.

The sound design is also a mixed bag. Most of the voices and sound effects have been recycled from previous Tekken games, sounding a touch stale, and the stage themes, in most cases, are less memorable than those heard in previous installments. However, there is the odd gem that can really help engross you in the battle, or put a smile on your face as you and your adversary take turns kicking sheep. Yeah, you read that correctly. Sheep.

Overall, the Tekken 6 experience is a very solid one, especially if you’re a hardcore fan of the franchise. The offline fighting is just as great as ever, perhaps even at its best with the largest character pool in franchise history, a more expansive move lists, and the benefit of two years of balancing. However, the additions made to make the console release more unique, Scenario Campaign and Online Mode, are too hit and miss for their own good. Throw in the dated visual presentation and the poor load times, and you get a game that to some, may feel like it came out two years too late. Regardless, as a die-hard Tekken fanatic, I have little trouble viewing this game as a success based on the merits of the offline versus mode alone, but if you’re new to the franchise, or hoping to get a little extra out of your fighting games, you may leave the Tournament a little disappointed.

Today’s five minutes of fame go to the British boxer and estranged son of Nina Williams, Steve Fox. Fox first appeared in Tekken 4 and has been punching faces (and feet) ever since. A feared foe in Tekken 5, Namco was forced to tone him down for the release of Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection. Will Tekken 6 be his return to glory? Will he ever get the chance to sit down for tea with his estranged, assassinating mother? We’ll find out this Fall! In the meantime, “you wanna try me, guv?”

Click here to watch the video

Marvel vs Capcom 2, dubbed one of the most popular fighting games of all time, features a 56-character roster, with characters brought in from multiple Marvel and Capcom franchises.  A bit of a graphical update keeps it all running in widescreen HD, with optional visual filters to keep everything smooth and nice.  Online play is supported, and Quarter Match mode (support for games bigger than 1v1 by making losers watch) returns from Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.  There’s even something about a more approachable four button control mode.

Seems like we’re getting a lot of 2D fighters all of a sudden!  We had back-to-back SNK releases with Garou: Mark of the Wolves and King of Fighers ‘98 Ultimate Match.  There’s been the new-style releases BlazBlue and King of Fighters XII as well.  My poor fighting stick!

Personally, I can’t wait to relive my failed attempts to do any single move while getting all three of my characters juggled by Cable and Iron Man, and the buttons jamming from my tears.  Anyone else looking forward to the madness?

Note to Dual Shock purists:  PSN version hits second week in August.

Developed as a spiritual successor to the Guilty Gear franchise, BlazBlue is as fast and furious as you’d expect from an Arc System Works title. The gameplay offers a brilliant balance of basic and advanced techniques that make the game approachable to newcomers while offering a great deal of depth for fighting game veterans. Attacks are performed by inputting the typical two-dimensional fighting game motions while pressing one of four buttons. The buttons are mapped to four types of attacks: A, B, C, and D. The A, B, and C attacks range from weak to strong strikes and will alter the properties of any special move they are used in conjunction with. The D attack, on the other hand, is known as Drive, and is one of the central mechanics in the game.

Each character utilizes Drive in a different way, and it’s often the heart of each character’s style and strategy. For instance, if Ryu were a character in BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, all of his Hadouken-related abilities would stem from the use of Drive. But the cast of twelve BlazBlue characters use it in a much more interesting way. Take Rachel Alucard, a young vampire capable of controlling the wind. Her wind powers are controlled via the Drive mechanic, and inputting commands with the D attack allows her to push her opponents around – up and down, left and right – with strong gusts of wind, making them vulnerable to damaging combos and juggles. All Drive attacks executed by Jin Kisaragi – who is the best character in the game and I will challenge all who dispute this – will attempt to encase his opponent in ice, while Litchi Faye Ling will use Drive to position and manipulate her staff during combat. By mapping such powers to one button, BlazBlue allows newcomers to use flashier moves with ease and provides veterans with a logical button layout for advanced techniques.

And speaking of advanced techniques, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger has plenty to offer. Each character in the game, with the exception of the cyborg knight Hakumen, has a Heat Gauge at the bottom of the screen. The Heat Gauge fills up whenever a character performs an attack or blocks a strike from their opponent. The Heat Gauge can be used in many ways, such as performing a Rapid Cancel – a move that cancels the current animation of any attack, allowing the attacker to perform deadly combos – or a Distortion Drive, typically a character’s most powerful move. However, these mechanics aren’t free. Each Heat-based move will spend a percentage of the Heat Gauge, and with the gauge depleting entirely at the end of each round, saving Heat for the more powerful moves is not an option. Players have to think fast and use their Heat appropriately as they may not get another chance to do so.

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger also features a Barrier Gauge for defensive techniques. The Barrier Gauge enables characters to use a Barrier to block incoming strikes instead of the standard block. When using a Barrier, players will be immune to blocking damage caused by powerful incoming strikes, but at the cost of spending some of their Barrier Gauge. Additionally, players can perform a Barrier Burst – a move that will counter any incoming attack and push the opponent away – that will reduce their Barrier Gauge to zero. It can only be used once per round, and when a player’s Barrier Gauge is depleted the damage that they receive is increased for a short period of time. The Barrier Gauge offers players several defensive options and is another great example of Arc System Works’ efforts to make a fighting game with fun and well-balanced gameplay.

BlazBlue includes a surprising number of modes and unlockables for a fighting game that should keep fans playing the game for a long time. In addition to the typical Versus and Arcade Modes, BlazBlue features a Story Mode and a robust online component. The Story Mode explores the history of each of the characters and their roles in the 13^th Hierarchal City of Kagutsuchi, the game’s primary setting. Each character’s storyline branches off into a multitude of paths based on the outcome of fights and conversations, and exploring each option can be very rewarding. Achieving different endings with a character can unlock a variety of goodies, such as new finishing moves, Unlimited versions of that character, character artwork, sound packs, movies and more. The stories themselves can be a little campy at times, but exhausting all the options with your favourite character is well worth it.

The online component, known as Network Mode, is fantastic. During our time playing online, we experienced virtually no lag whatsoever and were able to execute even our most complicated combos without trouble. We even tried the game on a wireless connection and found it to be just as reliable. Network Mode offers both Ranked and Player Matches, with Ranked Matches earning players experience points toward their online level and Player Matches allowing players to gather in rooms of up to six people to battle and learn from each other. Players interested in the Ranked scene can jump straight into a quick match against another player or search for players that fit certain criteria, including Rank and geographical region. Furthermore, the Network Mode features leaderboards, replays of high-profile matches, the ability to save your own replays, and detailed personal statistics. The performance and depth of Network Mode is phenomenal for a fighting game and will provide players with plenty of replayability.

Graphically, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger is oozing with style. Each of the twelve selectable characters possess a unique look and personality that remains persistent throughout the entire game. The animation is smooth, stylish, and exaggerated, and the two-dimensional character sprites are beautifully illustrated. Each stage is full of life and flavour, and like the characters themselves, very unique in their presentation. Some stages have so much detail and action occurring in the background that new elements are often discovered in each visit. The Story Mode contains beautifully illustrated anime cutscenes between battles, but they feature very little animation. Luckily, the cutscenes are very well illustrated and are still a pleasure to watch. With the exception of a few aliasing problems, the visual presentation of BlazBlue is amongst the best in a two-dimensional fighting game.

The audio presentation compliments the graphics very well. The in-game soundtrack is fantastic – a cacophony of blazing guitar riffs, raving techno, and orchestral symphonies. It really helps to immerse you in the action and gets your adrenaline pumping. Players lucky enough to land a copy of the Limited Edition release will be treated to a two-disc soundtrack featuring all 48 of the in-game tracks. The voice acting is also great for the most part, and gives players the option to switch between the English and Japanese cast. Additionally, players can control which actor is used for each character during Story Mode. Don’t like Jin’s Japanese voice actor, but prefer Noel’s Japanese actor? Not a problem. Furthermore, each player’s voice actor preference persists online. If you have opted to use the Japanese voice acting and your opponent has chosen the English voice acting, your character will speak Japanese online but you’ll hear your opponent’s character speak in English. It’s a simple feature, but a brilliant one all the same. The overall audio design in BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger is top-notch.

BlazBlue isn’t a game for everybody, but it comes very close. With its balanced approach to gameplay, newcomers and veterans alike are capable of finding a great deal of success in the game. While the online competition may be fierce, the Ranked Match levelling system ensures that players will face opponents of equivalent skill, and the online replays allow novices to learn by watching the experts at work. The game offers plenty of replayability and longevity for those willing to engage it, and graphical and audio presentation make each experience an enjoyable one. BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger is quite simply one of the most polished and enjoyable two-dimensional fighters we’ve ever played.

Unfortunately, each EB Games store is said to be receiving only one to three copies of the game. Some stores even indicated that they may not be able to honour all of their pre-orders. If you have the game pre-ordered at EB Games, you may want to give them a call and find out whether or not you’ll be receiving your copy today.

We’ll be staying on top of the situation as it develops. Feel free to send us an email or post a comment if you find a store that has some extra copies!

Update: For those unable to find a copy at a local game store, Amazon.ca has just added a listing for the Limited Edition version of the game to their site. Unfortunately, the shipping estimation reads “usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks.” If you really want the extra goodies offered in the Limited Edition bundle, however, it may be your only option.

Update 2: We have received several reports that EB Games stores in the Greater Toronto Area have received their shipments. However, most stores have only received enough copies (or less) to honour their pre-orders.

Only the Limited Edition version, which includes a two disc soundtrack and tutorial videos, will be available when the shipment arrives. Due to the limited print run of the game, the standard edition will not be available until July 29, 2009. BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger is available for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms.

Unfortunately, for the aforementioned arcade purists, bringing that arcade feel to a home console can often mean importing a rather expensive arcade stick from Japan. Attempting to uppercut two birds with one stone for the release of Tekken 6, Namco Bandai have announced the Tekken 6 Arcade Stick Edition. Including the console version of Tekken 6, a wireless arcade stick produced by Japanese arcade stick specialists Hori, and a one-hundred page art book, the Tekken 6 Arcade Stick Edition will save arcade gamers the trouble of importing a Hori stick for the latest King of the Iron Fist Tournament.

The bundle will retail for $149.99 USD ($172 CAD at time of posting) and will be available alongside the standalone release of Tekken 6 on October 27, 2009. Check out the arcade stick design for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game below.

However, the last screenshot more than makes up for it.

Is Namco Bandai trying to recreate the final minutes of Se7en in Tekken 6? We think so.

Marshall Law: “What’s in the box? What’s in the boooox?!”

No additional information has been released regarding the reveal of this image, so it is not yet known if the Cardboard Tube Samurai will be a full character or an unlockable costume for the Tekken franchise’s wacky samurai, Yoshimitsu.

We fully expect to hear more about the Cardboard Tube Samurai and the role that he’ll play in Tekken 6 at this year’s Penny Arcade Expo. Could this also mean that Tekken 6 will be one of the games in this year’s Omegathon?

Panda food, perhaps?

Choosing from the cast of over 40 playable Tekken characters, players may proceed through the levels alone or together with a friend online. Together you can amass wealth and collect items to customize your favourite characters. Scenario campaign lets you abuse thugs and minions with your character’s signature moves, and will also provide you with an arsenal of swords, staffs, machine guns, flame throwers, and even giant robots. Sorry, Yoshimitsu, you’re just not that special anymore.

To demonstrate some of the technical upgrades to the Tekken game engine, as well as show off the new Scenario Campaign mode, Namco Bandai have sent us this juicy new trailer. Enjoy!

Click here to watch the video