Tekken (iOS) Review

By Luna Eriksson 30.09.2017

Review for Tekken on iOS

It might seem difficult to make a good fighting game for the iOS. They are often dependent on combos and advanced techniques that require precise movement of the joystick - a feat very difficult to do on a vanilla smart phone. Tekken makes a strong attempt to enter the ring and knock out our expectations, but how great are the punches it throws? Read on as Cubed3 enters the arena for a round or two.

More and more franchises and genres make appearances on the app store for every passing day, and rightfully so. The success many of these translations have been met with has been beyond expectations and has helped franchises find new audiences outside of the zone they normally find them in. One genre that has had a hard time on this market, however, is the fighting one.

There has been some brave attempts, but no one yet that have captured its "heart." Tekken sets out to do exactly that, despite the problems the genre finds on the platform. The core of such a game is combos and difficult to execute techniques, something painfully hard to pull off on a touchscreen.

Tekken tried solving this by making those dependent on cards and a timer attached to each card to replicate both the supposed limit of what moves a player have memorized, and the difficulty of executing them to balance them compared to other moves. This might seem clever at first, but the system quickly feels shallow and does very little to add to the actual difficulty, but rather becomes part of the micro-transaction engine as the stronger cards have to be manually collected.

Screenshot for Tekken on iOS

While the card system failed, the core gameplay is still solid. It does feel very basic, but it gives players everything needed to have a battle of wits. Should they block, attack, or maybe dodge? Is it time now to use that powerful bonus attack? All of these are questions the player has to respond to in real-time during battles, and that truly helps to capture the essence of a fighter.

While the gameplay is solid, regrettably, there is no way to directly face another human opponent, which is the meat of the genre. Instead, the closest thing there is to PvP is the dojo in which the player puts their team up against other players' teams that are controlled by an AI. While it is nice, it will not be enough to satisfy fighting fans as most desire human opposition.

While Tekken is functional and actually feels like a fighting game despite its card system, the fact that it lacks human vs. human PvP is sadly a deal breaker in a genre so dependent on the interaction between actual players. In other words, it doesn't matter how good a fighter is if there is no opponent to fight with, as this interaction has been a staple for the genre since its birth.

Screenshot for Tekken on iOS

Cubed3 Rating

6/10
Rated 6 out of 10

Good

Tekken sort of plays like a fighter, and also feels like one, until the player feels the one thing that this lacks: the opportunity to fight another human opponent. It might be a tall order to deliver on iOS, but it is sadly a deal breaker in a genre born on PvP action. A lot of people will likely not be able to stand this compromise, as it hits right in the core of what makes the genre enjoyable - the competition.

Developer

Bandai Namco

Publisher

Bandai Namco

Genre

Fighting

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  6/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

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