Tekken 6

(Namco Bandai for PS3, Xbox 360, and PSP)
By Mike Delano

The Tekken series has finally let loose and gotten freaky. Sure, all the way back to Tekken 2 you could beat up kangaroos, and the last boss was a purple-winged demon with laser eyes, but the series has always held onto a smidgen of “respectability” in terms of reigning in the gonzo content to focus on its deep fighting mechanics. The creators of Tekken 6 took that smidgen and smashed it into a million pieces. Here you’ll battle huge robots, humanoid creatures with detachable heads and chainsaw arms, vampires, and pandas in far-out locales like “suspended in space” and “active warzone.” This approach fits with Tekken‘s juggle-happy, offense-rewarding gameplay, which has changed little over the years. It doesn’t need to, since it’s tight and satisfying, and the new coat of paint over these time-tested fundamentals is shiny enough to make it worthwhile. Smooth online play, an appropriately whacked-out single player alternate campaign that transforms the game into a Final Fight-style brawler (with Gatling guns and aliens), and the series’ signature avalanche of extras (character creation, tons of unlockable cutscenes) make Tekken as irresistible as ever. As a bonus, the PSP version is strikingly similar to the console versions, trimming out only the brawler campaign (which is too quirky for its own good anyhow). Not that we expect anything less than greatness from Namco Bandai titles on the PSP at this point, but having both the big and small versions available in the same release window should be enough to keep Tekken fans busy for many panda-punching years to come.
(www.namcobandaigames.com)