IronFist\'s Review of Tekken 4.

Most of you probably have already played Tekken 4, but I think we need a review from a Tekken fan instead of just having a review from AlteredBeast who is a Virtua Fighter fan. I got home from work today at 11:30 am (I work during the night) and I was getting ready to go to sleep when one of my older brothers called me on the phone and said, “IronFist, I played Tekken 4!”  He told me where it was and I took off.  The drive there was a little dangerous because I hadn’t slept for over 24 hours, but THIS WAS TEKKEN 4!  I had to play it! I got there and finally got to play Tekken 4.

Note: This review might be very biased because I really love the Tekken series, but I will try to give it the scores it deserves.


Graphics: I’ll review graphics first because that seems to be what most of the Anti-Tekken players are mocking Tekken 4 for.  When I played the first level, I immediately noticed improved graphics over TTT.  The character models are a lot more detailed, and they look a lot bigger than in TTT.  The character animation is great.  It is a lot more fluid than in any Tekken game before.  The backgrounds are obviously a lot more detailed, but I don’t think movies do this game’s backgrounds justice (do they ever? ) The Jungle level has an atmosphere that I absolutely love.  It is my favorite level so far just because of how it looks.  The water effects are a lot better than I thought they were originally.  The water doesn’t change direction depending on where you are standing in the water, but the splash effects are very good.  

I can’t directly compare this games graphics to the other 3D fighters, VF4 and DOA3, because I haven’t played those games yet, but overall, Tekken 4 has great graphics that are greatly improved over TTT.  If you want anything more than that then you are probably just jaded.


Control: This is the only problem I had with Tekken 4.  First of all, the second player controls were wired wrong, so left kick was the right kick button and visa versa.  I just made sure to get first player controls when I played people. The one problem I had with the Tekken 4 controls is that the diagonals sucked!  I don’t know if this is how all Tekken 4 machines are, but I couldn’t even block low, or do any moves that have diagonals in them.  My younger brother did one diagonal move, Kazuya’s d/f+1, 2, but other than that, I didn’t see any diagonal moves done while I was there.  This limited what I could do, but I still had a lot of fun with Yoshi, King, Steve, and of course Craig.  The new sidestep is great.  Because I couldn’t block low, playing against Christie button smashers really sucked.  One time I was able to just walk around Christie as she did her leg sweep moves and then follow up with a nice combo from behind. The position change is very useful when you are trapped in a corner, and when you just want to control your opponent. It’s a great addition to Tekken.

Overall control, Tekken 4 has good responsive controls, and each move that didn’t include a diagonal was very responsive, but the diagonals need to be fixed a little (again, it could have just been the machine I was playing on, not all Tekken 4 machines).  The new moves that were added, like the new sidestep and the position change, make Tekken 4 a lot more fun to play than any other Tekken.


Sound I couldn’t here the music, but I could here the sound effects.  They sound a lot like any other Tekken – which isn’t a bad thing. I have heard that on that new orange stage, the background music is actually a random song from Tekken 2 (which, IMO, had the best music out of any Tekken).


Funfactor: This is where Tekken 4 excels.  This game is a lot different than any other Tekken, which makes it even more fun because you have to learn how to play all over again.  The new moves make the game very aggressive (A lot less turtlers – thank you Namco ).  The walls are an awesome addition to Tekken 4.  They are the key to winning in Tekken 4.  Each character has a lot of new moves that makes him/her very fun to play as.  Yoshi has gained so many moves I didn’t know what to try first. I had stop playing and go home for a Labor Day barbeque (which I ended up sleeping through anyways. lol), but I’m going to go back and play again the next chance I get.


Final Scores:
Graphics: 5/5
Control: 3/5
Sound: 4/5
Funfactor: 5/5

Reviewers Tilt: 500500900591 / 5 – this game rocks!

yeah I played the game, BOOOO!!!!!!!!

They must of rushed that game, that had to of.  As for the graphics, they are ok, but give me a break dude, I have seen better, DOA3 and VF4.

Oh one more thing people are calling DOA3 shallow, please this game was ok, the controls were nothing to brag about, actually they kind of anoyed me a little , but nothing special, like I said they had to have rushed this game.

Funny, still to this day nothing IMHO has beaten Soul Calibur.
The mighty SOUL Calibur, he, he

My rating of this game, mind you I only played it for 1 hour, out of 10 I give it a   "6.5

IronFist, thanks for the Review!!  I haven\'t played Tekken 4 but the jungle level must be sweet.  Did it cost $1.00 to play it?  I bet on the PS2 it will look better.  

Originally posted by pstwo
Did it cost $1.00 to play it?

Heck no.  I don\'t live in California.  It only cost me 50 cents.

I haven\'t played Tekken 4 but the jungle level must be sweet.

Yeah, it is.  I don\'t know why I like it so much.  The overall feeling of the level is kind of soothing.  It really feels like you are in a nice shady jungle.  Dang, I wish the mall was open right now (It\'s 3:10 am).  I really want to go play Tekken 4 again.

Ogodly, like I said, I have not seen DOA3 or VF4, so I couldn\'t compare it to those games.  Tekken 4 is the most impressive fighter graphically that I have ever seen, that is why I gave it a 5/5.  Maybe if I saw VF4 before I saw Tekken 4 that rating would change, but the graphics in Tekken 4 are very good and if you don\'t think so you are probably too jaded.  (Most of us at these forums are probably a little jaded, so it\'s not that big of deal. )

And about DOA3 being shallow, save your whining about DOA3-haters for a DOA3 thread.  This is a Tekken 4 review thread.

[BizioEE]

Thanks for the Review IronFist

And about DOA3 being shallow, save your whining about DOA3-haters for a DOA3 thread. This is a Tekken 4 review thread.

It\'s not that, it\'s just this game is nothing innovative from the previous versions. Therefore why do people ***** about DOA3 being shallow and uninovative, when tekken 4 pretty much falls under the same belt. I mean they beef the graphics up a little, changed a little in the fighting moves, but other than that, same old same old. Now i\'m not saying there is anything wrong with this, but how can one have double standards.

Anyhow Tekken has nice graphics Iron, but VF4 and DOA3 do look better. Oh and yeah, over here where I live it only cost 50 cents a play.

It\'s not that, it\'s just this game is nothing innovative from the previous versions. Therefore why do people ***** about DOA3 being shallow and uninovative, when tekken 4 pretty much falls under the same belt. I mean they beef the graphics up a little, changed a little in the fighting moves, but other than that, same old same old. Now i\'m not saying there is anything wrong with this, but how can one have double standards.

Tekken 4 is way different than any previous Tekken games.  Adding walls is very innovative to the series.  It completely changed how the game needs to be played.  They got rid of almost all turtler moves (except Yoshi has a new "ha-ha step" sort of thing that can make him run away very fast).  That makes Tekken 4 almost all offense now.  They added a position change move which I think has never been done before in any fighting game.  They gave Tekken 4 an 8 way running control setup instead of the old setup -- which is very innovative to the series IMO.

Tekken 4 has changed drastically.  That is why so many Tekken old schoolers hate Tekken 4 -- because they don\'t want to be on the same level as the people who are new to the Tekken series.  They don\'t want to learn a whole new way to play Tekken.

BTW, who said that DOA3 isn\'t innovative?  Sure, a lot of people say that DOA2 was a little shallow, and I agree with that, but that doesn\'t mean it was not innovative.  DOA2 had background interactivity to a degree that had never been seen in a fighting game before it, so it was very innovative.  And just because DOA2 was shallow doesn\'t mean DOA3 will be.  No one here has played the game, so we can\'t say it is shallow or uninovative until we actually play it.

Thanks for your reply to Ogodly, Ironfist. Because whoever thinks Tekken 4 is the same \'ole, they obviously have never played the previous Tekkens. -- Tekken 4 might not be innovative in comparison to other fighters, but I\'m glad Namco finally got rid of that lame 2d/3d inifinite scrolling.

/ dm /

Ironfist thanks for the review.  I expected the same from tekken since I think its perhaps the greatest series ever made.  I can\'t wait to play tekken4. Btw, I can\'t find an arcade with tekken 4.......

Excellent review IronFist! You know what raslant I can\'t find an arcade with one either. My arcade keeps saying they will get one soon but they\'ve saying that for about 2 weeks, and I can\'t wait any more:( . Also at the TZ site they said there going to show the next time relese character tommorow! I think they said it\'s Nina, I hope it is because she kicks butt!:D

Originally posted by GAMES
Excellent review IronFist! You know what raslant I can\'t find an arcade with one either. My arcade keeps saying they will get one soon but they\'ve saying that for about 2 weeks, and I can\'t wait any more:( . Also at the TZ site they said there going to show the next time relese character tommorow! I think they said it\'s Nina, I hope it is because she kicks butt!:D

I know nina rules!!!!!  Most of my arcade went out of business, but the closes one I have still haven\'t got tekken 4 in.  I\'ll keep checking with them or wait til the ps2 version comes out.

I actually got to play Tekken 4 for the first time on Labor day too.

I had the same problem with the controls.  In order to block down you have to hold d/b.  I just wasn\'t used to it so everytime I tried I ended up sidestepping.  

Have you tried Craig out IronFist.  Hes vicious.

Have you tried Craig out IronFist. Hes vicious.

Yeah, I played a Craig a few times.  I was playing against some button smashers (it sucked playing against a button smasher Christie player when I couldn\'t block low) that swore a ton every time I kicked their butts.  When I got them in Craig\'s tackle, they didn\'t know that they needed to time their counters in order to get out.  So they just smashed their buttons saying, "What the F***!!  This is so f***in\' cheap!"  Ha ha ha!  It\'s funny playing against those kinds of people because they sound so stupid whining and swearing all the time.

Another funny thing that someone said was this:  "I hate Tekken so f***in\' bad!  Every time they f***in change the game just enough so I can\'t f***in play it any more!"  Then through all the noise in the arcade, I heard him say something like, "that\'s why I like Street Fighter."  lol.  I was trying as hard as I could not to laugh.

I am going to go play again tomorrow.  Right now I have to go to work so I\'ll probably be pretty tired when I play tomorrow just like last time.

I\'m a pad whore, so I still have to get used to playing on a stick.

Where in california did you play?