Tekken

"The first game of an awesome series!"

Tekken has been one of Namco's biggest successes and very rightfully so. The fighting system is awesome, and I would go as far to say that I is one of, if not the best 3-D fighting games ever made. It also contains some of the most likeable cast of characters that you'll find in any fighting game. Not to mention, that Tekken is also one of the only fighting games that is almost completely made up of characters that don't use weapons. Anyway, onto the actual review.

Graphics: 6/10
Unlike the future chapters of Tekken, Tekken 1 had very blocky graphics. And I do realize that it was made several years before it future titles, but you also have to consider that some other games that where made during this time had better graphics such as Battle Arena Toshinden and Virtua Fighter.

Gameplay: 10/10
The gameplay of Tekken is awesome, I don't usually love 3-D fighters, but Namco seems to really some awesome fighting games. And Tekken is no exception, it has one of the best systems in terms of fighting games, and I've played a good amount of fighting games.

Sound: 8/10
This is one the few games that I'm not going to give a 10 for sound, it has some flaws to it. The music isn't that great and it's not PSX quality.

Controls: 10/10
The controls are fine, each button does what it should and I'm going to give it the automatic 10.

Fun Factor: 9/10
The game is awesome, and with what I believe to be one of the greatest 3D fighters of all time, and the best part about this game is it's battle system. I love the way some of these characters play and I could play it for hours on end.

Replay Value 7/10
Now most fighting games I play tend to play get stale after too much gameplay, well this one will rarely get boring, though I must admit once you earning all of the endings, all you can really do is just beat it over and over again. Or if you a second player that cool too.

Anyway, onto the grading. Now in my grading system Sound and Control are combined to make 1/5 of the total. So Tekken earns 6 for Graphics, 10 for Gameplay, Sound and Control are averaged out to 9, Fun Factor is 9, and Replay Value is 7. So this game comes out to 41 out of 50 points, earning an 8.125. And I can't round it up to 9 so it gets an 8.

In closing, if you haven't played Tekken yet, find the game anyway you can and play it. Although if you have a PS2 then get Tekken 4, it's awesome and my favorite Tekken of all. But if you don't want to blow 20 or 30 bucks, then just go to an arcade, and play it. Just realize that if you put in 120 quarters in the machine, that already 30 dollars that you could have spent on the game, and it's very worth it. But if you are interested in learning about the Tekken storyline, then get the original Tekken, it's a lot of fun.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/01/03