Tekken 8 review: Beat Up Your Dad Simulator 2K24

digitaltrends.com:

Tekken 8 MSRP $70.00 Score Details DT Recommended Product Pros

• Tight fighting controls
• Impactful new systems
• Beautiful visuals
• Great online experience
• Excellent story mode

• Slim side modes
• Arcade quest is a slog
• Character stories are short

Whenever I jump into a new, highly anticipated fighting game, all I want to see is tight combat. Things were no different with Tekken 8. After interviewing the game’s director, Katsuhiro Harada, I expected Tekken 8 to wow me mechanically. What I didn’t expect is that I’d enjoy a fighting game story mode in today’s genre landscape as much as I did when Mortal Kombat 9 revolutionized the genre in 2011. And I certainly didn’t expect that from Tekken.

That’s what Tekken8 is all about: There are surprises around every corner. Characters I never cared about ended up being my favorites. Gameplay mechanics I felt might be too overtuned actually brought even more depth to the series. And the only thing I can say about its wildly entertaining story is to let out a positive, “bruh.” Though a few bum modes weigh down the package, Tekken 8 is another victory for the long-running series.

• First Tekken 8 trailer shows Jin and Kazuya beating the snot out of each other

Another heavy-hitting home run

Tekken 8 is a standard 3D fighting game — and a brilliant one at that. It follows all the usual rules of the series. There are two punch buttons, two kicks, a grab, Rage arts, and many complex systems to master. As always, wavedashing, Korean backdashing, and every other deep mechanic that makes it a high-level competitive game return here. This time, these classic features are joined by a very welcome addition to the series: the Heat system.

Tekken 8 keeps up the series’ streak of being welcoming to all kinds of players.

Heat is broken up into four parts: engagers, burst, dashes, and smashes. Engagers and Bursts are attacks that can activate Heat mode. Once in Heat (yes, I get how that sounds), attacks can chip through blocks