Tekken 3

"But you've always been there for me..."

Poor Kazuya. After serving as the primary character in the first two installments of the Tekken series, things finally came to an end for the antihero. In the final round of the previous tournament, he faced his father Heihachi and got his gi-clad ass handed to him. Still fuming over getting thrown off a cliff in the original Tekken, Heihachi decided to upstage his estranged son. He took Kazuya's battered body and threw it into an active volcano, thus ending the fighter's promising future as a crime kingpin. Skip forward twenty years, and Heihachi has amassed more power and influence than ever, with no one around to stand in his way…At least, until he hears about a mystical being lurking throughout Mexico. Hungry for more power, Heihachi has sponsored a third King of the Iron Fist Tournament in hopes of luring the creature out into the open.

Yeah, you read that right. Twenty years have passed since the end of Tekken 2. Many of the characters you used to know and love have retired from fighting or have been replaced with spiritual successors. Though Kazuya may be nothing more than a pile of charred ashes somewhere, his legacy is continued with Jin Kazama, a son he had with the late Jun Kazama. Both Kuma and Marshell Law have sent their sons in their stead, Baek has given his student Hwoarang a shot at personal glory, and even Jack has been rebuilt as a formidable robot. Fans of the older games don't need to worry; though these seem like totally new faces, you'll find that they share many of their predecessors' moves, excluding a few minor modifications and original attacks. If this new generation of fighters isn't your cup of tea, old favorites like Heihachi, Paul, Lei, Yoshimitsu, and Nina are still at your disposal.

Despite the massive change in the character roster, the fundamental aspects of the previous games remain intact. All of the characters come with a wide variety of punches, kicks, throws, and special moves that reflect their individual fighting styles. You'll get to see Paul's patented charged punches and high kicks, Law's perfect imitation of Bruce Lee's style, and Yoshimitsu's insane spinning combos. Though there are huge differences in the fighters' gameplay, they are still all governed by the Tekken series' control scheme. Each of the characters' limbs are manipulated by separate buttons on the controller, which can prove pretty challenging to master effectively. Merely mashing a single button will result in a wimpy attack that has little chance of hitting your foe. But once you start pressing more buttons in succession, you'll find that your character can do tons of one-two punch combinations, low and high kicks in the blink of an eye, and plenty of other unorthodox moves. The only problem is the timing; there's only a small window of opportunity to input your next attack, which can each make or break your offensive.

If you've played any of the other titles in the Tekken series, all of this should sound pretty familiar. Though the gameplay is essentially the same as the previous titles, Tekken 3 is far more refined and fast-paced. You'll find that the occasionally sluggish controls and slower characters have been sped up considerably since the last game, allowing for much smoother and intense combat. There's nothing quite like pulling off Jin's multi-hit kick combo or seeing Yoshimitsu overwhelm his opponents with incredibly quick spins. The characters have been balanced out fairly well; there's no longer an elite few that can kill a person in two hits. The game also implements sidestepping, which allows the characters far more leeway when it comes to evasive maneuvers and defensive tactics. While the previous games may have been about carefully blocking your opponents massive combo chains and counterattacking, the improved gameplayTekken 3 proves to be far deeper and more fun.

If the huge step forward in the gameplay doesn't whet your gaming appetite, then the game's extra modes ought to grab your attention. Aside from the usual Survival and Time Attack Modes, Tekken 3 boasts a beat'em up mini-game called Tekken Force, which pits you against tons of inept goons and the occasional character boss. If brawlers aren't really your thing, the game also includes Tekken Ball, which is just like an innocent game of beachside volleyball…except that the ball you're using can kill you if you don't hit it back to your opponent. Once you've piled on all the bonus gameplay modes, the mini-games, and the unlockables, it's evident that this installment in the Tekken series won't go stale anytime soon.

That's assuming, of course, that you can get over the game's awesome visuals first. Veterans of the previous Tekken titles will be stunned once they gaze upon Tekken 3's revamped graphics and audio quality. The first two games featured characters that seemed more like blocky polygons that actual characters; they lacked the detail and vitality needed to make them lifelike. In this game, however, the cfighters are portrayed with an unprecedented amount of detail; you can see the flame design racing up Jin's pant leg, Heihachi's graying spikes of hair, Yoshimitsu's glowing sword, the dragon on Law's shirt, and Lei's long ponytail flapping in the wind. All of the characters' moves and attacks are executed smoothly, allowing you to follow the combat as it escalates from simple punches and kicks to an all-out massacre. The levels are just as detailed, letting the fighters brawl through Mexican temple ruins, past city slums, in the courtyard of some generic monastery, and even an amusement park with fully functional neon lights and carousel. Yeah, it's a lot to take in.

Needless to say, the Tekken series has gone far beyond its humble beginnings. It all started with only a handful of fighters, a few crappy renderings of famous locations, and some innovative (albeit horribly flawed) gameplay. Since then, the series has dramatically improved every facet of its games, treating fighting game fanatics and diehard fans to an experience unlike any other. This game may not have all of the old characters you sued to love, but its wide variety of new faces, incredibly intense gameplay, huge pile of extras, and impressive graphics should be more than enough to make up for it. Tekken 3 may be the final installment of the Tekken series on the Playstation, but it goes out with a bang.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/04/06