So, taking a break from all of the retro stuff, we're delving into the latest entry into the Tekken series, and the next chapter of the Mishima family drama with Kazuya and Jin. Now, Tekken is a interesting series for me. I am not a particular fan of fighting games. I hate having to dedicate hours on end to learning combos and mechanics, and I hate how in doing so, in most circumstances, you basically guarantee victory in most matches. It's all skill, but it's skill that comes from a lot of time dedicated to learning the mechanics, time I just don't particularly like putting in because I don't hold much of a attachment to fighting games.

But Tekken has always been a exception. Tag Tournament was one of the very first games I played, and I have tons of fond memories with it, playing the game with my family back in the day on the PS2, and adoring the soundtrack and gameplay. Since then, I've been on again off again with Tekken as a series, but it's easily my favourite traditional fighting game series, even if I'm not particularly good at it. Eddy Gordo has been my main since Tekken Tag, and I fell in love with the series again once I played Tekken 7, and really enjoyed playing as Eddie, Noctus, and Heihachi. 

So, with Tekken 8 promising a new chapter in the franchise, and adapting new features to try make it more user-friendly for non-fighting game players. So I had to jump in the first chance I got, even if ironically, pretty much all of my mains from Tekken 7 has vanished.

The story is pretty simple, all things considered. Following Tekken 7's conclusion where Kazuya finally defeated Heihachi once and for all, ending the Mishima saga, we jumped back to the other major thread that lingered - the family drama that remained with Kazuya, and his son - Jin Kazama. The best description I can give for Tekken 8's story, without spoiling things - is that it's essentially one big apology tour from the developers to fans of Jin. 

Jin's character has grown controversial in the last few years after Tekken 6 opted to make him a villainous character, making him about as bad as Heihachi and Kazuya before him, even through Jin's role was essentially meant to be the one member of the Mishima clan who wasn't a evil dick, primarily thanks to his mother - Jun's influence. But Tekken 6 has Jin taking the reams of the Mishima Zaibatsu, and plummeting the world into a war in a desperate thirst for power, a decision that not many was happy with.

Tekken 8 on the other hand is a direct response to this, with Jin needing to face the sins of his past, and working to learn that he deserves to live again - that he wants to live, and in doing so, this will be the only way he finds the means to stop Kazuya's schemes of absorbing the full power of the Devil Gene, and using it to plunge the world into eternal destruction. In doing so, Jin comes up against many returning characters, both allies and enemies, as he and Kazuya's clash comes to a climatic end. 

To me, this game genuinely made me a huge fan of Jin. I already thought he was fine in previous games, but I really enjoyed seeing his arc in this game as he struggles with the events of past games, and learning to find the will to forgive himself, and use that newfound acceptance as a means to take the fight back to Kazuya. For a fighting game plot, it's excellently done, makes good use of the characters, and builds on Tekken 6 and 7's plots very well. 

In terms of gameplay, Tekken 8 deserves a lot of credit for a lot of the new things it introduces. Not only does it keep the same flashy, skilful and hectic battle systems of past games, but the game introduces a new style mode that makes it that combos will be simplified and allows for new players to at least have a fairly decent chance of competing against more experienced players, even if skill is probably going to win out. However, for single player content, it very much means that you're going to have a lot more fun feeling like you're doing well against the NPCs.

The big mechanic added this time is the heat system, which is meant to accommodate the new focus of Tekken 8's fighting system - which is pure aggression. While defence is still a mechanic, the game really incentivises you to get in there and start fights big time, with the heat mechanics armouring your character up, giving them more speed, and more attack power, encouraging going full-throttle into fights, rather than trying to bait out opponents. This...is a rather divisive change. While I can see the benefits of the new aggression focus, I can see why more experienced players might dislike the whole concept of baiting and 50/50s and all of that being much less incentivised. Hell, it can be pretty bad being on the receiving end of this mechanic, where your blocks fail because a opponent shreds your health easily.

There's even some cool new modes like Super Ghost Battle, where the game has a AI system that works like the Amiibo systems from Smash, where it records and tracks your playstyle as you fight, and creates a AI to reflect your battle style, which can then also be challenged at any point if the player is in the lobby or friend's list. I don't know how accurate or evolved the feature is yet, but as a concept, it is a really cool idea, and hopefully one that really goes to show what Tekken 8's AI can do.

Unfortunately for me, the roster wasn't super good out of the gate. Pretty much all of my mains were removed from the game (Although Eddie is coming back as the first DLC character). Still, story mode came to the rescue there, giving me the chance to discover a lot of new characters that I really enjoyed playing as. With more gameplay, I found myself really enjoying a lot of the characters this time - with my particular favourites this time around becoming Jin, Lili, Reina, and Victor. I don't feel particularly qualified to discuss the roster of a fighting game, especially with Tekken, but I do think it's odd how there's some big notable losses here, like Eddie, Anna, and Heihachi of course. Even if he didn't have a role in the story, Heihachi is such a bizarre exclusion that I only assume is going to come via DLC, much like Eddie.

Still, everything about Tekken 8 is just fantastically high quality. The music is great, the graphics is great, the story is another good one, and there's a lot of features in the game that I feel will keep you preoccupied for awhile, even if you aren't a fan of Online play. I don't know if I'd encourage buying it at £70, but on a discount? Definitely, especially with the new simplified mode for non-fighting game players.