Quick Preview of Tekken 8
A analysis of my time with the title’s Closed Network Test (CNT)
Reader,
I’ll be honest, I was not expecting to be given the privilege to try out this game early.
Fighting games have always been a good place for me to jump in and play.
Ever since my days with Super Smash Bros. Brawl to my teens with my investment in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, the genre of picking two or more dudes and seeing who’s the strongest is one I can always count on for some quick fun.
So imagine my surprise when, after I casually signed up for this game’s private beta, I was greeted with an invite code for the upcoming PS5 version just last week. Never expecting one to just so happen to hop into my lap.
During the wait, I figured I should use my new found gamer journalist prowess to have a look at the game as a casual fan of the genre. Hence my post for today. To share my thoughts of the games Closed Beta Test that was held during July 21st and July 23rd of this year.
Please note that because this is an early preview of Tekken 8, some of the things I might mention or talk about here might now be present by the time the game is released.
Alongside for marketing purposes, beta’s like this are generally used to highlight game exploits and errors that would otherwise negatively affect the finished product.
It’s also why most fighting game beta’s only allow you to fight against other players online instead of offline modes like arcade or time attack mode. Most fighting games nowadays are defined by online play after all.
I should also mention that I was invited back for a second round of testing the following weekend on August 4th through 6th but my opinions had already been formed by then. Plus I was very busy, happens sometimes.
But before I Wind God Fist my way through my thoughts on the game, here’s a little brief for those not in the know:
Prologue: What is Tekken/my connection with the series?
Tekken is a franchise of fighting games that got its start in arcades and later the PlayStation 1 in 1994 and 1995 respectively.
The games primarily revolve around the exploits of the Mishima family. Whose main representatives, Hehiachi, his son Kazuya and Kaz’s son, Jin Kazama, have usually had a pension of becoming either the protagonist or antagonist of each game, sometimes both.
In Kazuya’s case, as a child, he was thrown off a cliff by his world renowned dad for inheriting the “Devil Gene” from Kaz’s mother. A source of unimaginable power that as the name implies, practically turns his son into a demon.
When Kaz grew up, his dad, the head of the global business the Mishima Zaibatsu, had started The King of the Iron Fist tournament, challenging the strongest fighters in the world to best Hehiachi and any and all opponents who stand before them.
Over the course of many years and fights, Kaz eventually trumped his old man at the end of Tekken 7 by throwing him into a volcano. And by the start of 8, Kazuya is now determined to begin his rule as the world’s new master. A reign that can only be stopped by his offspring and similar Devil bearer, Jin.
Pretty morally complex all things considered, especially when you consider the other characters that I didn’t get to mention that either start their journeys or have direct connections thanks to the big three.
As for gameplay, though the series is often seen in direct competition with the likes of the Street Fighter, Tekken; much like its lore, is pretty in depth.
During a fight, the player can move a three dimensional environment, using various attack buttons.
On a PS5 controller, all four of the main buttons are associated with left hand and right hand, right foot and left foot to do attacks; with certain special moves being performed by either pressing two of these buttons together or by pressing them in a certain order.
To win in a match against an opponent, the player must drop their rival’s health gauge to zero. Do this three times out of six and the match ends.
Now my history with the series has been turbulent to say the least. Getting my start in Tekken Revolution (a free to play version of Tekken Tag Tournament 2), getting a little better with Tekken 4, Street Fighter X Tekken and eventually the base version of 7.
This pretty much means that my experience has generally been with the games in this series that has, not necessarily been called “bad”, but are definitely considered “controversial” by fans of the series.
That said, despite my limited experience in both Tekken and online fighting games in general, I was determined to give 8’s private beta a shot. See what I like and give a unique perspective that only a small time fan could offer.
So how did my time with the beta go? Let’s start with the good stuff first.
Positives:
Variety in roster:
On the whole, though I didn’t have that many match opportunities, my time with Tekken 8 was very fulfilling to say the least. Especially in the depth found within its roster.
When I started up the beta, I initially planned to give each of the characters that were available in this early test their own shot, at least two matches each. Until I remembered there were 16 of them, shook my head, and decided to go with the ones I had the most interest for.
Out of the members I played as in the beta, the characters that I liked the most were Jin Kazama, his distant cousin Asuka Kazama, the ancient martial arts master Leroy Smith and Italian exorcist Claudio Serafino.
Maybe because white and red is one of my favourite colour combos but I also liked Jin for his ability to use his Devil Gene to perform a mixture of high flying kicks and dives to trick players out.
Asuka, my main throughout most of the series, by comparison, has a mixture of quick offensive and slow defence abilities. Such as slow but long lasting counter move as well as now being able to taunt and boost her attacks when prompted after certain moves.
Leroy, a rich man with ample drip to boot, was a character that I really wanted to play as from 7’s DLC roster, and is more offensive focused. Using a mixture of lighting fast fist strikes and his kick stance to trip his opponents up during each attack.
And lastly, Claudio with his Ezio Auditorie accent and flair was fun to play as due to his pressure focused kicks and being able to mix both it and his fist attacks to keep opponents guessing or back them up into a wall.
That’s not to say I didn’t like playing as the other characters I was able to try during the beta but with the limited three day trial period and the infrequency of matches I could find, it was a little hard to stay with some characters after more than two matches.
Lili Rochefurst for example, the daughter of a French oil tycoonist and rival to Asuka, has a big emphasis on stance switching.
Practically every one of her main combos having her back turned away from her opponent for more unique attacks, a system I didn’t have much to learn properly. A bit of a shame given how she was my first character back when I started playing Revolution.
And then there’s characters I thought were cool that weren’t exactly to my liking. Such as King, the jaguar masked wrestler from Mexico.
I figured going in that he would be like Zangief from Street Fighter or Tina from Dead or Alive with a focus on powerful grab moves.
And while I was technically right, a lot of his moves required first setting them up before they could be executed, like his DDT grab needing to be done from a move that has him point at his opponent and then charge forward. Giving the enemy plenty of time to react.
In any case I still think the amount of play styles in 8’s roster is still very wide. And though a part of me didn’t like some characters like the ones mentioned, I’m still determined to give them a fighting chance when the game properly releases.
New Game Mechanics:
As for the more universal fighting mechanics, one feature Tekken 8 introduces is a buff system called the “Heat” state. Funny how I’m reviewing the Yakuza series in the background which are also 3D fighters that have “Heat” systems but let’s focus on the priorities.
On the PS5 version of Tekken 8, pressing the R1 button will have your chosen character perform a Heat Smash. The player character will launch a downward swing attack at the target, setting them up for combo potential.
Once activated, the player will have temporary access to Heat energy, a massive boost to their moveset and can also damage opponents even while blocked. The amount of heat available is indicated by a depleting gauge under the player’s health bar once activated.
If you want to quickly deactivate your heat or possibly spend it all on a risky but devastating attack, the player can tap R1 again to perform a second heat smash. Instantly ending heat state but in doing so can do a great big amount of damage if executed properly.
There’s a bit more to it than that, such as being able to enter heat mode from a specific button combo (called heat engage) but once heat ends, you can’t use it for the rest of that round. Meaning knowing when and where to use it is crucial especially with what moves can trigger heat mid combo.
If you think an opponent is too aggressive with heat or just aggressive in general, you can also perform a power move.
Power moves are unique button combos that will not only absorb most of your opponents attacks but if available, will also trigger the heat system if the power move isn’t blocked. They generally only cover the upper part of the body though so knowing when to use it is still vital.
But if that’s still not enough for you then there’s the last major universal mechanic is the Rage Art. Press R2 when your health bar is fairly low and flashing red will have your character perform a blockable but just like heat smash, devastatingly strong move to even the odds.
Now all of that may sound complicated. And that’s because it is.
Funny how I keep telling myself that fighting games like Mortal Kombat or Tekken aren’t as tough to learn as they seem but in just trying to explain it here on this page, I’ve more or less proven otherwise.
The main thing I think you should know about using both heat and the rage system is, to point again, know a good window to use both. As in, during a combo or alternatively while your target misses an attack thanks to being able to sidestep their blows.
Because if you use either one as a combo starter or an attack when recovering, 9/10, your opponent will see it coming, block and then promptly send you packing from there.
If however you still want to have a go at Tekken 8 without remembering all of these variables, the game also features a Special control sheet, accessible at any time during a match by pressing the L1 button.
Once activated, the control scheme will be simplified to have heat engagers on square, juggling moves on triangle, low attacks on circle and power moves on x. And if you want to go back to the old control style, just press L1 again during a match and you’ll be back to normal.
As someone who was trying to get to know as much of my characters as I could during the beta, this control style was a great help for me. Especially since moves like the aerial combos and low attacks will change depending on if your opponent is standing or being combo juggled.
Meaning, if you like, you can swap back and forth between using either control style with the tap of the L1 button and become a juggling Armour King by swapping back and forth mid combo.
The amount of automatic combos you have for the Special control style will vary depending on the character which means that practice is still advised when attempting it.
But with that said, let’s get into the specifics of the beta. I’ve already talked about the elements I liked such as the diverse roster and heat/rage system balance, but there’s a couple of elements that I as a casual fighting game fan didn’t like.
Negatives:
Lack of original characters:
To my knowledge this is the first mainline Tekken game to not have a brand new character as part of its roster. As pretty much every character featured in the private beta have all appeared in earlier entries at some point or another.
You could argue that this game will represent the end of the long overdue Mishima family arguments, especially since a lot of the returning cast are fan favourites or long absent members from the series but even so.
Now as of August 6th 2023, I can confirm that there is one brand new character coming in the full version of Tekken 8, Azucena; the Peru based coffee lover and MMA fighter who joins alongside returning fan favourite Raven (making 18 characters announced so far) but my point still stands.
New members I think would be a great addition to add some much needed new perspective on the world of Tekken. And once again show how poor the Mishima’s are if they basically attract anyone who can throw an uppercut two or three times in a row.
In any case, some new characters to the fray would do some good to help give the game more of a unique identity. The returning cast are all good but an injection of fresh blood would be even more welcoming.
Poor matchmaking:
This is a feature that’s a little more excusable given the fact that this build of the game is not only being tested by a select few but I still think it’s a bit of an issue for a casual like me.
In most cases while I was able to get a match every 2 to 3 minutes, the people that I was usually matched up against were far more skilled than I was. Dashing back and forth towards me and performing juggle combos like I suddenly entered a Smash Bros Melee tournament.
Now most of this isn’t because I wanted to quit the first chance I could. In fact, whenever I lost a match 80% of the time, it was usually to a player that earned their victory or who just had more experience then I did.
What I do have an issue with is being matched with people who have a higher skill level then I did. As everyone playing the beta more or less started with the same rank in the beginning even if they had dozens of hours invested in other Tekken games or earlier builds of the title.
Not to mention the limited number of matches I could find meant I was often paired up with a previous challenger anyway! And history would soon repeat itself not even a hour later.
Again, I’m not sure if this is an issue with the limited invites that were sent out during the beta but this was also a problem I had during my recent playtime with Street Fighter 6 as I climbed up Silver rank.
In that game, when starting out in ranked playlists, you could choose your experience level with the series from a beginner, intermediate or expert player and the game will attempt to match you up with similar players from there.
If there’s any way of fixing this or incorporating the above “pick your skill level thing” system from SF6 before the game properly launches, I think me and the rest of the casual fighting game community would greatly appreciate it.
But with all that said, let’s bring my analysis to a quick conclusion.
Conclusion:
Overall, despite my reservations on the lack of original new characters and the somewhat rocky matchmaking during the beta, I can confidently say that I’m eager to look forward to Tekken 8’s eventual release date.
While there is currently no projected or target release date for the game at the time of writing this, between the wide assortment of characters with unique play styles and the amount of skill and power the Heat, Rage and Special mechanics had in game has made me eager to see what the full game has on offer.
Whether or not the game will eventually launch in the coming months is a mystery right now but from my time with the Closed Beta, as a slowly developing member of the FGC, you can count on me being in the waiting line first chance I can. Getting ready for the next great battle.
First drafted July 23 2023
Last edited August 8 2023
