rom a narrative point of view, this episode puts an end to the struggle between Kazuya Mishima and his father Heihachi, a clash of unprecedented violence that over the years has taken various forms, placing both characters on the side of the “bad guys”.
This time, however, is shed light on the death of Kazumi, Kazuya’s mother, and the role played by evil Akuma throughout the story. The campaign lasts about three hours and there are surprises and twists, without trespassing in ridiculous situations but with an excessive heaviness of the additional cutscene in style “graphic novel”,
in which the narrative voice of a journalist tells the progress of his investigation on the Mishima family: fortunately it is possible to skip them.
As planned, in the course of history they dress up as different characters and it is therefore necessary to relate to many fighting styles, although the degree of difficulty never gives big worries (at least at the “Normal” level) if not in the final stages, when the obligation to discard on the side using the same jump command highlights all the limitations of normal controllers and a setting that
developers could reconsider. These deficits come to the surface especially during the extra battle that is unlocked at the end of the story mode, when it becomes really complicated even to approach an opponent who does nothing but “spammare” attacks from distance. In addition to the normal series of fights, the campaign also boasts an equal number of “extra episodes”
TIME BRINGS ADVICE
Without considering spin-offs and free-to-play interpretations, almost eight years separate the Tekken 7 release from the previous chapter: a huge time frame for a videogame franchise, which nevertheless allowed Katsuhiro Harada and the Bandai Namco developers to carefully observe the evolution of the fighting game and take note of the elements that could have been
introduced in this new episode. Firstly, a focus on progression, obtained not only through the inclusion of the aforementioned campaign and a different arcade mode for each character, but also and above all by rewarding the users’ commitment through the release of numerous objects for the aesthetic personalization of the fighters.
There is a mode designed specifically for obtaining these extras, which are however also unlocked with the use of the virtual currency of the game, obtainable in various ways, even winning the intriguing online tournaments.
The latter are undoubtedly the strong point of the multiplayer offer, although on PC there are still some insecurity of the servers (it has happened to experiment a bit of lag) and the open rooms are not so many: with a maximum of eight participants, we proceed with a
double circle (the standard one and the one reserved for those who started with a defeat) and the opportunity to attend the matches of other users to deceive the expectations, and then see awarded cash prizes to the first three classified. In addition to obtaining extra items for personalization, coins can also be used to revisit the entire Tekken saga through the original cutscene and rich galleries: a nice idea,
FRESH MEAT
The developers of Tekken 7 have done a work of balancing for the entire roster, but it is clear that the spotlight is focused in particular on the new entry: Katerina Alves, an expert of Brazilian Savate, equipped with several very simple combos to run and therefore definitely indicated for novice players; Claudio Serafino, a powerful Italian exorcist dubbed in our language (all the characters in the game speak in their own language, with subtitles in Italian: the effect is very interesting); Shaheen, a Middle Eastern warrior also equipped with sequences of shots rather immediate and simple to perform;
Lucky Chloe, a cat-clad otaku who is damn hard to beat; Master Raven, a ninja with bionic grafts who needs a devastating katana out of it; Josie, a Filipino girl expert in kickboxe and Eskrima; Gigas, a huge and mysterious being, much quicker than one might expect;
Jack-7, the last review of the robot seen since the first episode of Tekken; Kazumi Mishima, worthy wife of Heihachi, who shares with him and Kazuya different maneuvers; and finally Akuma, which intrigues the typical Street Fighter moves with Tekken’s strategic approach
