Tekken 6 Review- 4/5 Stars

The sixth iteration in the popular Namco fighting franchise continues in the vein laid out by it's predecessors, with tight arcade action backed with great presentation and a new, console only story mode. With a roster of 40 varied characters, this game has all the depth you want it to have, and is enjoyable for all, from button mashers to experienced fighters.

Although Tekken 6 has been out in arcades for a while now, the game still looks great, and as ever the presentation, from the menus, the music to the well defined characters, is excellent, bringing a sense of a really well designed product. The fights are flashy but tight, with responsive controls and a myriad of ways to rain the pain on your opponent.

New for the home versions is the scenario mode, allowing you to take newcomers Lars and Alisa through a series of Streets of Rage style brawler levels, earning money and new costume items to beef up your characters. As you go through you learn their stories and unlock the other characters for use in this mode, and therefore unlock their costume items, giving this mode a decent amount of replayability. However this mode suffers a little as the game mechanics from a one on one fighter don't transfer so well to a full 3d brawler situation, and it is easy to get overwhelmed if you don't get rid of the enemies fast enough- especially in the harder modes. That said though, this is a fun addition and a good alternative to the main mode for unlocking the items, even if the story is rather standard.

The main meat of the game is the one on one fights, with everything you would expect from a current gen Tekken, the range of modes from previous Tekken games, Time attack, Survival and Team Battle are all here, as well as the ability to play through a series of opponents based on other player's 'Ghost data'. This mode encourages you to keep practicing as you will earn money and level up your characters rank. You can also download other players’ Ghost data to fight against. The practice mode is also useful allowing you to practice with each fighter and with a range of settings and great move lists. You can also use this mode to work out combos and juggles which are not listed, and set the computer opponent to attack you to replicate the feeling of a real fight.

The online mode of the game also has decent options, ranked and unranked matches and the ability to watch other players saved replay data. Unfortunately at the time of writing the online fights were quite laggy, with a noticeable wait inbetween button presses and onscreen action. However Namco have announced they will be patching this in the near future, so we can hope this will improve things.

The real stars of the game are the characters, with a wide selection covering a range of fighting styles. From wizened old kung fu masters to a kangaroo, complete with joey in pouch, there is a lot of personality in each combatant. There are 6 new characters in Tekken 6, each with thier own backstory and fighting style. Each fighter has a huge move list and extensive costume customisation options. There is real depth in the movesets, allowing a dedicated player to really take on the deeper nuances of the game with counters, throws and juggles.

Speaking as a fan of the series, this game has me really excited and looking forward to playing more each time. It is a shame the online mode is not quite what it could be, and I hold hope that this gets cleaned up in the upcoming patch. Overall this is a fun fighting game with a wide appeal, with a decent range of options and excellent presentation. Highly recommended if you are interested in the genre, or just fancy using a panda to beat up a schoolgirl.

I’d love to hear what you think about the game, leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading! Andrew

Scribblenauts Review

Scribblenauts - 3 out of 5 Stars

Quirky Puzzler says all the right things but fails to live up to potential.

Scribblenauts for the DS has been much hyped in the gaming press. With a simple mechanic; type in an object and it appears for use in the game's many puzzles, the draw here is the sheer number of summonable objects in the game. As long as it's not copyrighted, a specific person, vulgar, or alcoholic, it's highly likely it is in the game.

So, for example, in one puzzle you are tasked with returning a lost lamb to the flock. Do you attach a leash and pull it? Fly it over in a helicopter? Draw it over by laying out a trail of apples? These are all valid answers, with many more to discover. The second type of challenge, the 'action' stages act more as a platformer, with your magic notepad creating bridges over gaps, trampolines to bounce up to higher levels and weapons to get past enemies. Each level has multiple ways to complete it with a variety of items, and once complete you can go back and redo the level, using different items.

The goal of each puzzle is to unlock a 'Starite', although at the end of each level you are awarded money, in the form of 'Ollars, with which you can unlock new worlds, avatars and music for the game. Generally you should have no problem earning enough money to get through as the game is very generous, rewarding you with enough 'Ollars that you can unlock most things without needing to complete every task.

The graphics are basic and functional, and although charming, especially with the larger items, they can serve to confuse when dealing with more precise elements. Controls also can become frustrating. You use the stylus to place and move objects in the world, and also to direct your rooster hatted character, Maxwell. This causes problems as occasionally you will try to move something and instead Maxwell will come running over, oblivious to any harm he may encounter. The camera too, can be moved using the d-pad but sometimes suddenly snaps back to Maxwell, interrupting you and potentially leaving carefully crafted solutions free to collapse or be destroyed by a stray enemy.

As an impressive toy this allows you to flex your imagination and is entertaining, but as a game more time could have been spent ensuring the player did not get so frustrated. More emphasis could have been put on using a variety of methods to solve the puzzles and object interactions could have done with more time spent on them. Often most puzzles can be solved with a relatively small amount of items, wings and chainsaws being particularly useful, and after attempting more ingenious solutions and failing due to the annoying controls or objects not interacting in the way you would think, it is all too tempting to go back to the obvious few items each time.

All in all, I feel that while the sheer range of things you can get in this game makes anyone curious sure to enjoy messing about on the games title screen- left as a sandpit style area for testing various concoctions without the constraints of the puzzles, but the main game can be too fiddly and frustrating at times to be a must buy. However if you are interested, this ambitious title can provide a lot of entertainment for it’s humour and innovative game mechanic.

Thanks for reading!

Andrew