Tekken 3

"By far the best Beat´em Up the PlayStation has to offer"

The Tekken series has always been related to Sony´s PlayStation in a certain way, considering that all major titles have been released for Sony consoles and that the first Tekken was one of the very first commercially successful PS games worldwide. While Tekken 1 might seem horribly outdated nowadays especially in terms of graphics, Tekken 2 and Tekken 3 were vast improvements and pretty much the kind of sequel everyone loves to see: a sequel that really outdoes its forerunner and is not merely a rehash. And Tekken 3 does not only represent the peak of the series on PSOne, it´s also by far the best fighting game for Sony´s first PlayStation that has not lost its appeal even so many years after its original release and even rivals Sega´s Virtua Fighter series.

Tekken 3 actually plays like your perfectly generic 3D Beat´em Up...with the only difference being that the controls here are simply perfect. Basically, you have two punch and two kick buttons, and of course you can use them in order to create some easy to execute combos. And the amount of combo-moves available is huge, keeping you hooked for a while until you found them all and are able to execute them, bringing in some needed change into the gameplay and a variety of ways to dispose of your opponent. The strengths and weaknesses between each character are very well balanced, and there are no "cheap" characters anymore, especially not when you´re fighting against a Tekken expert in the 2 player mode (which is utterly awesome, by the way) who is able to exploit the advantages of each character. Apart from the standard modes like Arcade Mode and Time Attack, Tekken 3 offers quite a few interesting new aspects that help to increase the replay value enormously. The best examples certainly are the Tekken Force Mode that plays a lot like a modern version of Final Fight, and the Tekken Ball Mode, a Volleyball mini game. These mini games might not be terribly complex, but they are extremely addictive and a great change from all the fighting. Last but not least, the amount of available and un-lockable characters is great, especially in terms of their different fighting styles, and unlocking them all and beating the Arcade Mode with them will definitely keep you playing for quite some time. In other words, the fast paced Tekken 3 is simply outstanding in terms of gameplay, featuring perfect controls and a huge selection of different modes and characters that will keep you hooked for months.

Visually, Tekken 3 stays as close to its arcade original as technically possible, and while it does not reach the graphical quality of the arcade version, it blows most of its PSOne competitors out of the water, rivaled only by Ehrgeiz and Tobal No. 2 in the fighting game genre. First of all, the animations of the characters are simply awesome, breathing life into each character due to the variety of different combat styles that is being displayed perfectly with the extremely fluid animations, and it´s quite possibly as good as it gets on the PSOne. The character models are also very well done, nicely textured and pretty detailed, but their low resolution in comparison to the arcade original is still visible, as well as the fact that they can seem somewhat chunky at times. However, compared to some other PSOne fighting games (especially the first Tekken), the character models astound with the amount of detail that has been put into them. Another slight flaw that was not present in the arcades are the 2D backdrops, and even though they do not really harm the enjoyment of the game, one has to wonder whether Namco could have been able to create 3D backgrounds in this version as well. But overall, the special effects of some attacks, the great character models (for a PlayStation game) as well as the fluid animations make Tekken 3 one of the visually most impressive games on the PSOne by far.

The music in Tekken 3 is very fitting and great to listen to, providing each stage with the appropriate musical background, and there are some themes that you can´t help but humming to. It´s a very catchy soundtrack especially for a Beat´em Up, and the overall sound quality is excellent on the CD based PlayStation. What also adds to the experience are the various screams and yells of the characters, whether they are attacking or being beaten up pretty bad, and one ending movie for a certain character even features a short dialogue sequence - it´s not terribly exciting, but still well done for a fighting game, and overall, the audio in Tekken 3 is very good.

What can I say? As far as fighting games for the PlayStation go, Tekken 3 is almost flawless, easy to get into and perfect to play, framed by an awesome technical presentation that is still nice to look at these days. Despite its age, Tekken 3 is still a must buy for every console Beat´em Up fan and it should definitely be part of your collection. Namco really outdid themselves with this fighting gem!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/03/06