Taking Apart the Tekken 6 E3 2009 Trailer

Lars Alexandersson: The Rebel for a New Age takes the Spotlight.

Okay, boys and girls… surely by now you’ve all seen the wonderful new E3 trailer for the console versions of Tekken 6. It’s full of in-game action and shows off the new features we can expect in the home versions. Of course, it’s not even E3 yet, so that shouldn’t be all- there should be lots to see and enjoy even more once the actual expo begins; I’m still pining for that ‘huge surprise’ being teased by SD-Tekken, and there will hopefully be more footage of the new mode. Namco will supposedly be prepping a playable demo of the game for E3 guests, so even more gameplay and vids of the home versions should be available soon. Anyway, since we all don’t have anything better to do, how’s about taking a more anal look at the trailer and do what we all love to do- muse.

Jin vs Kazuya. Once again, Tekken’s most dysfunctional father and son (though arguably Roger and Junior are also pretty messed up) take the front page. Their struggle is the centerpiece of the plot- supposedly if these two meet and clash, something Eeh-vil (read: A big, bad demon named Azazel) will be unleashed upon the world. As if a war between two megacorporations wasn’t bad already…

Lots of in-game action was shown. The console version is looking good, and should be pretty much pixel-perfect to the arcade graphics in the final version. Just remember, if we’re to take what has been said by the devs, the trailer is in 30fps- the actual game, running on your PS3 in front of your eyes on a good HDTV- should run in 60fps and look absolutely brilliant. You’ve still got time, mates- save up for that nice, big LCD. Tip, get something bigger than 32-inches, and your home setup will kick any arcade’s ass. Size really DOES matter in this case. Heheh…

There’s a New Stage. It’s the Elevator where you fight Nancy the Robot on right before taking on Jin Kazama. This wasn’t available on the arcade version of BR, so that’s already one point the console port has up. Sweet!

Lars Alexandersson and Alisa Boskonovitch are featured in the trailer quite prominently, finally laying to rest any lingering doubts that the home version is based on Bloodline Rebellion and therefore the Ultimate Version of Tekken 6 you can get come Fall 2009. Both of the newcomers sport new CG portraits.

With all the swooping camera shots of the action shown in the trailer, I’m really hoping there’s a mode where you can just pick two fighters, customize them and just sit back and watch as the CPU A.I. duke it out for your pleasure. All the better to enjoy…

… the option for Motion Blur ON/OFF. Harada-san mentioned this on his IGN blog, and it’s apparently in. Which is certainly a great little feature. If you’re playing it should be best to keep the blur on, since it looks pretty bad-ass. If you wanna have a closer look at the crisp, clear characters, turn it off. Now I’m hoping that Namco puts in a Clean Pause screen then…

With the lovely, long-legged Lili Rochefort as the model, the trailer showed us that the Character Customization feature is in full force. Hair Customization is supposedly much-improved in the home versions, as it was a bit complicated (and pretty expensive) in the arcade game. The feature is greatly improved from Tekken 5, and there are literally dozens of pieces and options for each character, and really- I’ve been playing Tekken 6 for almost two years now and I’m surely nowhere close to seeing all the customizations available. Pimping out your fighter should be one of the reasons to keep playing this fighter for months and even years to come… probably until the next Tekken..?

This sleeping beauty awoke for a reason. Find out in the new Tekken Force mode…

The Tekken Revolution. Okay, here it is… the New Mode. It’s Tekken Force with Co-op. The BR newcomers have pivotal roles given how they seem to have special CG cutscenes. The mode may reveal Lars’ personal sage and how he comes to lead a rebellion against the Zaibatsu; the circumstances that bring about Alisa’s awakening (or activation) should also be shown, and as well to where her loyalty or goals lie. That said, thankfully it seems you won’t be limited to either of the two- apparently you can pick any fighter on the roster to play with in this mode. Hopefully there will be a storyline to follow for whoever you pick.

Is Alisa a CPU-controlled support character? I noticed that in all the footage of the new mode, she tags along behind another fighter, or is always present onscreen with them. On the map screens, she’s not labelled as a Player character. Is she an A.I. ally? Or can she be player-controlled? Can two players fight in the same stage then? I guess we’ll need to learn more about the mode to really confirm how this all works.

The CPU enemies shown include gang members and street fighters, soldiers, Tekken Force troopers and Jack robots. These NPCs are surely composed from customization pieces and outfits existing from the standing roster- their move sets are also patterned after specific fighters. I wonder if we’ll be given the option to customize enemies in the mode as well? That would be sick (Attack of the Miniskirt Babe Army, anyone?).

Nancy is Playable in the new mode! Well, that’s a much better thing to do than just having her as an unlockable fighter. Her size and attacks are best used against lots of enemies, and ripping into Zaibatsu forces with the gatling gun should be loads of fun. I wonder if you take control of her from a terminal or remote control, or if you actually ride IN her? That sounded kinda kinky… Heh.

The environments you go through look big- there’s even a large-scale map showing the places to go. They’re big enough to give players a sense of scale that the Tekken world in T6 is more than just the arena, so that’s awesome. The stages look familiar, kinda like they were taken from Tekken 5 and Dark Resurrection. The changing camera angles may be from the actual game, or just for show in the trailer.

Hopefully the running around and exploration won’t ever be dragging, or be harried by any platform or run-and-jump elements. Tekken is a fighting game, so any struggling should be limited to actual opponents, and not the environment. Kinda stupid for your bad-ass fighter to get killed jumping a pond…

Among the stages is Azazel’s Temple, so it follows logic that you may probably face him at one point. In that case, if this is Lars’ story, perhaps he discovers what lies at the end of the tournament if the Mishimas are allowed free reign, so he goes on his rebellion to stop it? On the other hand, perhaps he finds Azazel and actually becomes a servant of this beast? Hero or Zero, we’ll find out soon enough.

So, is the Tekken Force Co-op mode Online-Capable? I’d be surprised if it weren’t. Players from around the world should be able to just jmp in and play with you on the fly. How many can play on a single game? At least two… maybe more? Maybe four Tekken fighters working together is a bit of overkill against any mob of CPU rabble though. But that would surely add to the competition of who bags the most kills…

WHEW! After all that… I can safely say… that Tekken 6 console is gonna FREAKIN’ ROCK. And you know what’s better? We haven’t even gotten to E3 yet! There’s bound to be more- MUCH MORE to be seen and heard about this much-awaited brawler next week, so stay tuned. As awesome as it was, this trailer was just the appetizer. More as we get it then.

Tekken 6 is set for release on PS3, Xbox360 and PSP this Fall 2009.