Tekken 3

"It looks like the third time really IS a charm."

Up until this game, the Tekken series had received good acclaim, and good sales as well, but it was not until Tekken 3 that most of the current Tekken fans started playing. This game is often regarded by people as one of the best fighting games ever, and I have to say, I agree with them.

Story: 9/10
It's been fifteen years since the start of the second tournament. Heihachi has thrown his son, Kazuya, into a volcano, and has taken back the Mishima Zaibatsu. But things are not all well. A mysterious being called Ogre is killing skilled fighters worldwide and is absorbing their fighting skills. Heihachi teaches his grandson, Jin Kazama, Mishima Style Karate for four years. Afterwards, he announces the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3 to try and lure out Ogre. A complex story of deception and darkness, that is much better than the kind of story you would find in most fighting games, even if it is a little bit surreal.

Graphics: 10/10
The graphics are incredible. All of the characters have many more polygons and move much more realistically than they did in Tekken 2. In fact, there are games on the Playstation 2 that look worse than this! Unfortunately, the 3D backgrounds from the arcade version have been taken away, and replaced with regular 2D ones, but then having backgrounds the same quality as the characters would have been literally impossible for the Playstation (according to Namco, anyway) and chances are you will be too busy trying to beat your opponents to notice.

Sound: 9/10
The music in this game is great. Not quite as good as in previous games, but still great, better than most fighting games for sure. The sound effects are also good quality. They were taken from its prequels, but they were fine in those games, so why should Namco bother to change them? The voices are alright, but there are still the typical moans and shouts rather than proper speech. Although this isn't a major gripe, it would have been nice if Namco had included it. They did it in Soul Blade, which came out a year before this game, so why not here? Apart from that minor complaint, the sound in this game is excellent.

Gameplay: 10/10
Ah, the best part of the game. In the basic sense, the gameplay is very similar to its prequels: you pick a character, and then fight a bunch of opponents. The fighting system is largely the same as before, and all of the modes on the previous game have made a return. On a grander scale, however, things have improved a lot from before.

The first thing you will notice is the large number of moves. Obviously the amount of moves varies quite a lot depending on who you decide to pick, but on average there are about 70 to 80 moves per character, many more than in most other fighting games of its time.

The other thing is the amount of characters. A large number of characters from Tekken 2 have been removed and replaced by younger versions of them e.g. Michelle has been replaced by Julia. You start with ten characters, but then as you complete the game with different characters, you unlock more and more, and eventually you have 22 characters. Although this is technically less than in Tekken 2, it is worth noting that there are nowhere near as many ‘clone' characters (characters with almost identical movelists). Almost everyone has their own fighting style and set of commands, making the game feel much fresher and varied.

The core gameplay has been improved, as well. There are more parries and reversals included, making the fights more complex. Also, instead of just moving left and right along a line, you can now sidestep, which makes the game feel more like it has a true three-dimensional environment, and plays a part in defensive play. In addition, jumps have been toned down. This means that you can no longer jump four times the character's height, meaning you can no longer avoid any move in the game simply by jumping when they do it.

There are two brand new modes in this game. The first of these is Tekken Force. What happens is that you pick a character, and then proceed to progress through four levels with masses of opponents with tiny amounts of health. At the end of each level, you will have to fight against a regular opponent. If you manage to complete all four levels four separate times, you also unlock a cool new character. There are a few camera issues on occasion, but otherwise it's slick, cool and just plain fun. The second mode you unlock is Tekken Ball, an undoubtedly weird addition. You fight against an opponent by hitting a volley ball back and forth, and the force of the move will damage your opponent (or you if the opponent is hitting it). You also lose health if the ball goes behind the white line. It's a very novel idea, and can be very fun, especially when playing with your friends, although it may not be to everyone's appeal, and the novelty wears off after a while.

Once again, Namco has managed to produce some very unique characters. Bored of the characters in Virtua Fighter or Street Fighter because they seem too much like regular fighters? Then try this game for size. Characters included in this game are a Chinese schoolgirl, her pet panda, a Hong Kong policeman, a grizzly bear, a wooden training dummy and a cute little manga dragon. That has always been one of the things I love about this series: the uniqueness of its character design.

The last cool new feature is the theatre mode. Once you beat the game with all ten starting characters, you will unlock theatre mode, where you can view any ending movies which have been unlocked. This means that if you are not in the mood for fighting, you can grab some popcorn, select the movie of your choice, sit back and enjoy, rather than have to go through arcade mode all over again.

In conclusion, the gameplay has been improved quite dramatically, and will provide you and your friends with a massive amount of enjoyment. Without a doubt, it is the most fun fighting game for the Playstation.

Replay Value: 10/10
With the amount of characters, moves and modes there are in this game, there are months and months of fun to be had with this game, which includes unlocking the last few secrets, or trying to beat your survival record, or just beating your opponent to a pulp. There is certainly something you will find fun.

Pros:
Brilliant graphics.
Realistic animation.
Great music.
Good sound effects.
Intriguing story.
Lots of modes.
Lots of moves.
Lots of characters.
Tekken Force is cool.
Theatre mode.
Contains months of entertainment.
Unique character design.
Improvements to the fighting system.
More complex fights.

Cons:
Hmm… I suppose normal speech would have been nice.

Buy, rent or avoid: If you have read any of the review, you will know the answer is buy. Even after ten years of being available, this game is still great fun, and superior to many other fighting games out there. In fact, the only fighting games that I consider better than this are its sequels (except Tekken 4). Not to mention that it will likely be really cheap like most other old games.

Now that you have finished the review, what are you waiting for? Go play this game and have fun.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/03/08

Game Release: Tekken 3 (EU, September 1998)