I would dare to consider Tekken 8 to be the end of an era, and a true testimony to the fact that AAA companies don't care about their player-base in the slightest. The game itself looks good, but the mechanics and gameplay itself leaves much to be desired. Many will disagree with me as die-hard Tekken fans while many others will also agree with me. As someone who has played Tekken for over 22 years, I consider 8 to be the biggest disappointment of them all.

 

What brings me to this conclusion? Several things, most of which are basic common sense when it comes to game design and gameplay in general.

 

--- The game itself lacks balance between the characters. Some are insanely fast, while others are insanely slow. Normally this would dictate a difference in the power of the hits being landed, but there's no clear distinction between the two other than the speed. I've seen characters with moves so fast, that they have an advantage of over 80 frames while other characters would be lucky to hit even half that speed. It's not just the character that need balancing, but their moves as well. There's certain moves that deal too much damage when you consider their speed.

 

--- You might not think it, but yes... the main characters are a bit stronger than the rest. It's the main reason you see a lot of Jins, Kazuyas, and Reinas. The speed and power for all 3 characters is quite unbalanced.

 

--- "Super Armor" on attacks is also very random. Sometimes a jab will break it, and sometimes you can eat an entire arsenal of attacks and still be unfazed. You'll even be hit with the same move at different times, and it'll inconsistently break super armor.

 

--- I, as well as many other players, am not a fan when game companies lock characters behind pay-walls. Even more so when said characters existed in previous installments. DLC characters themselves also further the above statement by proving how effective they are against most other characters.

 

--- The PvP aspect lacks in the net code department. Lagging used to be detrimental to gameplay by making it harder to play the game. I've noticed that in 8, the lagging person typically has the advantage when it comes to initiative. The game itself seems to be set up in a P2P-type of way, but that only works if everyone playing the game has zero network issues, which we all know is unrealistic.

 

--- The hitboxes in Tekken 8 are probably the worst hitboxes I've ever seen in a video game, and I've played thousands upon thousands of games from all sorts of studios varying in sizes. Certain "moves" will put characters into a "crouched" state way before they even start crouching, which results in clipping. The way that players see it, if you're knee deep in a character's torso, it's a hit. There's other times where it's the opposite, and open air works just fine. There's more confusion to the hitboxes above all else in the game.

 

--- The matchmaking for ranked mode also needs a hefty makeover. It barely makes any sense. There's been matches where I've fought people 6 ranks above me and lost a ton of points, whereas I'd lose games to players 6 ranks below me and hardly lose any. It could be just me, but it seems that it's entirely backwards. The points themselves also aren't even consistent, as there's other factors such as win streak, opponent's win streak, whether or not you won 2-0, etc.

 

--- The customization itself also kills me. Most of the items in 8 are directly ported from 7, and most new cosmetic items are locked behind micro-transactions and battle-passes. Many players would agree with me when I say battle-passes are for F2P-type games, and not ones that cost you over $50 just to play. I can understand preserving items from a previous title, but any new "charm" shouldn't cost the player-base IRL $$$.

 

--- I also understand wanting to expand the player-base of a series that's been around for quite a while, but making characters insanely easy to play, even compared to the previous title, is ridiculous. Input registration is beyond generous in this entry, making the difficulty of learning characters basically disappear.

 

Certainly with some bad there's good right? Well... there's a few things in the game that are a plus.

 

--- The graphics are extremely good. Cloth physics are a bit weird, but they're also hard to pull off. The hair and scars of characters are quite detailed. Not to mention some of the maps look good as well.

 

--- You can get dirty. That's right, very dirty. If you fight on a map with dirty environments, then you will visibly see dirt, sand, water, etc. on your character's outfit. Very nice. The more you rumble around, the dirtier you get.

 

--- Control scheme is similar to previous Tekken titles, so if you've played one it won't take long to get used to this one.

 

--- Multiple control types are supported. Regardless of controller type or hitbox type, the game works well.

 

--- You can download "Ghosts" from other players to have a better practice style. You can even mirror-match your own ghost to help refine bad habits, and make you a better player in the long run.

 

--- There's a little campaign mode to become the "Best Tekken Player"... which is alright. Although I prefer the infinite arcade-type mode like Tekken 7 had. Trying to make a story out of something just to give a game series a new feel is... eh.

 

I'm quite disappointed in Tekken 8, and I say that with a heavy heart. I'm a person that grew up playing many older games, and I've been playing Tekken for about as long as I can remember. Nobody should come to hate a game series they grew up on just because a company cares more for their profits and micro-transactions than the players that got their game where it is in the first place.