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Rating: Good I know that there are a lot of you out there who own Tekken 3 and love it, but that will not stop me from expressing my opinion of the game truthfully. So before you start writing me hate mail, hear me out on this one. I believe that Tekken 3 is a very good fighting game. I mean, that's obvious. I'm not trying to say it's not a good fighting game, because it is. What I'm saying is that I feel Tekken 3 is not quite worth my ultimate seal of approval and my money that I spend so cautiously. It does not deserve the "Awesome" rating. Now let me explain why. The matter at the forefront of it all is innovation (or the lack thereof). Tekken 2 was a huge jump over Tekken 1 in both graphics and gameplay, but Tekken 3 is just a tiny little hop over Tekken 2 if anything. Sure, the graphics are much smoother and are now (almost) completely devoid of jagged polygonal edges, but they are still nowhere near the level of the spectacular graphics found in Virtua Fighter 3. Sure, all the little side modes like the Tekken Force Mode are good for the occasional bit of variety, but the Force Mode is hardly innovative. It will quickly be identified as a cheap rip-off by anyone who has played the vastly superior Quest Mode in Square's Tobal No. 1 and Tobal 2. Where the Quest Mode in the Tobal series is challenging and rewarding, Tekken 3's Force Mode is more repetitive than it is challenging. The vast majority of gameplayers will simply find a cheap move that works, and do it over and over and over again. Any possible experimenting with new Force Mode tactics is quickly discouraged by the fact that one death and it's back to the beginning of Level 1. The main problem with Tekken 3's lack of innovation is that despite all the extra style Namco added, somewhere along the line they forgot about updating the substance. The fact of the matter is that even when Tekken 3 is at its most enjoyable, it left me with the disappointing realization that its gameplay is virtually identical to Tekken 2, which has been on the market for more than a year and a half. The only big change to the gameplay is an added emphasis on juggle combos, and this does more to upset the balance of the gameplay than it does to add innovation. Tekken 3 can also be a bit frustrating at times on the Medium and Hard difficulty levels. I'm sure that even the most hardcore Tekken 3 player has run into occasions where the computer keeps beating them over and over again, and then when you finally win, you did nothing different to warrant the victory; it was all just dumb luck. However, to be fair, this can be said of most fighting games on the market, so it's not just Tekken 3. Another thing that annoyed me in Tekken 3 is the flawed sound. The Arcade music is good (but definitely not great), and the Remixed music just sucks. The end-of-round screams of pain also seemed to be thrown in at the last second, and some of them (like Nina's) are downright embarassing. And what the heck is up with some of those endings? While graphically beautiful, many of the endings in the game are either a) confusing, b) short, c) pointless, or d) all of the above. And why did Namco feel the need to censor Anna Williams' ending considering that there was no nudity whatsoever in the original Japanese ending? Does Namco think that American gamers are too immature to look at the bare back (and nothing else) of a naked lady? Apparently so, or they wouldn't have censored Anna's ending like they did. Like I said at the beginning of this review, Tekken 3 is still a very good fighting game despite its lack of innovation and numerous flaws. However, it's time for something new and fresh in fighting games, something to the extent of how innovative Tekken 2 was back in 1996. And unfortunately, Tekken 3 is not that new and fresh masterpiece I was hoping it would be.
© 2001 ivan@mastergamer.com