At this year’s E3 the GamersPack crew were invited behind closed doors to experience an extensive look at some of the new features that Tekken 7 has to offer.
Beginning with the same trailer you see above the team at Bandai Namco were excited to jump straight into the gameplay. Tekken 7 introduces a lot more than just characters as its new mechanics, story gameplay and characters aim to create an unmatched entry in the Tekken series.
While the core experience remains relatively untouched, fans of the series will be treated to the new Rage Mode. Activating after the players looses 75% of their health, your character will gain a red-orange glow that follows the characters movements. This activation also triggers the Rage Arts abilities which include increased damage and special combinations that can only be used at that point in the match. Offering a leveled playing field for people with lesser abilities in the game.
A new feature to the story mode is a form of continuous dialogue. As seen in the trailer, cinematics transition seamlessly into gameplay through a split second quick time event, followed by a continued ass-kicking. What happens afterwards is that as the match plays out, characters will say important bits of dialogue, depending on which ever way the match is going. Resulting in one of the most immersive stories that has ever been experienced in the franchise.
The new title will feature eight new characters, all from different parts of the world. they include Kazumi Mishima, Claudio, Josie, Shaheen, Katarina, Lucky Chloe, Gigas, and Akuma. For the purpose of the demonstration however, we were given a look at a showdown between Lucky Chloe and Shaheen.
Shaheen, a fighter from Saudi Arabia and Chloe, a Japanese fangirl wearing a special pink bear jacket, had some pretty basic move sets, but the true fun came after the Rage Arts were triggered and Shaheen was finally able to make a come back. Throwing characters around a map seems just a little bit more epic when it’s outlined by a neon orange glow.
Ultimately we weren’t able to experience the characters truly let loose, but the demo that we experienced showcased a few very important things. Firstly, that the character models are some of the most intricately detailed from not only the series, but most of the fighting games available on the current generation of consoles. Second was that Tekken 7 would feature the the final show down in the Mishima family father-son feud. A blood bath that has raged for most of the series.
Tekken 7 currently has an anticipated release date of early 2017 and marks the first entry in the series that will be available on the PC, in addition to the PS4 and xbox One. In the meantime, fans can get ready for the upcoming title by downloading Tekken Tag Tournament 2 exclusively for the Xbox One.
