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PS2 | Fighting | Tekken 4

Boxart for Tekken 4
Tekken 4 57 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 4.5
  • SOUND: 4.5
  • CONTROL: 5.0
  • FUN FACTOR 4.5
  • AVG USER SCORE 4.7
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 4.1
Winner of the GamePro Editor's Choice Award

Hands-On: Tekken 4

Hands-On by TOKYODRIFTER | 04/01/2002 | 15:43:54 PM PST

The Iron Fist is preparing to pack plenty of punch this fall. See what Heihachi has up his sleeve.

The Tekken story line boils down to the struggle between a power-hungry father, Heihachi, and his wronged-but-not-entirely-innocent son, Kazuya. Family matters went from bad to worse when Heihachi tossed Kazuya into a volcano after defeating him in a fight. In Tekken 4, 20 years have passed. Heihachi is trying to harness the Devil Gene in order to enhance his power, but the only one he can steal the Gene from is Kazuya, who survived his lava bath. In order to lure out his son from hiding, Heihachi announces the fourth Iron Fist tournament, and Kazuya gladly enters for a chance to defeat his evil daddy. Thus, the saga continues.

Ironclad Fighter
Tekken 4 will continue the patented formula of dynamic gameplay and impressive visuals for which the series is known. The preview version featured the first 20 fighters seen in the arcades with brief glimpses of hidden fighters. All of them have been totally revamped with brand-new animations and fresh outfits.

The movement of the fighters in the early build was so much smoother than before that veterans will have to adjust to the subtle timing differences of attacks. The controls felt solid throughout, and they should only get better as the game goes through the necessary tweaks. The cool Force mode where you battle waves of thugs through side-scrolling levels was still very rough?so much so that we weren?t allowed to show pictures of it. Even at this stage, however, the mode showed huge promise and should add many hours of playtime. Interaction with the walls was the most radical addition to the fold, offering a brand-new set of tactics to exploit and defend against.

Home Court Advantage
The Tekken series has enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with the PlayStation?a relationship that has been extremely beneficial for both parties. The original game debuted in arcades on what was essentially a PlayStation with more RAM. The result was a quick and flawless conversion to the home. Every subsequent edition has followed the same arcade-tested formula, giving the developers plenty of time to add tons of home-exclusive bonuses and firmly established a dependable franchise that Sony could almost call its own. Tekken 4 will be the first version to exploit the higher specs of the new PlayStation 2?based arcade hardware, which Namco is betting will give it an edge against any encroachers on its turf.


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