Tekken 8 Final Preview – Fist Meets Face; Tekken Ball Is Back

wccftech.com:

Hot off a recent Guinness World Record (which surprisingly isn’t for most times a man has been thrown into a volcano and survived), Bandai Namco’s been pulling out all the stops for Tekken 8 ahead of its early 2024 release. Last week during The Game Awards marked the second time that Wccftech has gotten hands-on with the longest-running fighting game narrative in history. 

While our earlier preview coverage focused on the competitive spirit and one-on-one multiplayer battles, Bandai Namco opened up the floodgates and allowed both media and influencers to explore the opening hours of the latest entry in the Mishima saga. This meant not just the first chapters of the story mode but also dabbling a bit in the training features and new community/experiential hub. This presentation was held by Michael Murray, long-time Bandai Namco veteran and currently the Producer on Tekken 8 in addition to being the interpreter for both Harada-san and Kouhei Ikeda, whom we interviewed during the event.

Tekken 8’s campaign mode opens amid a climactic fight between Tekken’s mainstay leads, Jin Kazama filling the role of series protagonist, and Kazuya Mishima, now head of the G Corporation since his father Heihachi may finally be confirmed dead. This flashy battle served as a showcase for Bandai Namco’s work with Unreal Engine 5, featuring seamless transitions from action scenes into playable combat and back again. The cuts are still a little jarring but still far smoother than anything the series had offered before. Some QTE and choices also pop up to force the player to pay attention to the action rather than walking away to grab a new drink. To make the action more accessible to the widest range of players, the campaign forces players