Tekken 8’s MetaCritic Is A Franchise Peak Since Tekken 3

gameranx.com:

Tekken is the big fish in a small pond. Not only was it the one 3D fighting game that endured through three decades, it is the only fighting game franchise that continued production through the years since the franchise launched in 1994.

Even casual fans of the series know that the franchise hit its sales and mainstream popularity peak in Tekken 3, a groundbreaking title for the genre, and one that proved to be one of the PlayStation’s biggest sellers ever. Some gamers, even hardcore fans, believed that the franchise could never reach those heights again, but with Tekken 8, it just might.

Tekken 8 has now received a MetaCritic score of 90 on PlayStation 5, alongside an 87 on Xbox Series X|S and an impressive 94 on PC. That already makes it exceed Tekken 7’s critical rating, but also puts it in an unusually high position in franchise history.

In order of release from latest game to oldest, here’s a look at the MetaCritic scores of Tekken games. We will focus on PlayStation here, as the series has been a PlayStation exclusive for most of its existence:

Tekken 8 – 90, PlayStation 5

Tekken 7 – 82, PlayStation 4

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 – 82, PlayStation 3

Tekken 6 – 79, PlayStation 3

Tekken 5 – 88, PlayStation 2

Tekken 4 – 79, PlayStation 2

Tekken Tag Tournament – 85, PlayStation 2

Tekken 3 – 96, PlayStation

As you can see from a quick review, Tekken has certainly has its ups and downs, but Tekken 3 really stands out as a high point for the series. While Tekken 8 isn’t quite as high up as Tekken 3, it’s clearly closer to it than everything else on the franchise.

On OpenCritic, Tekken 8 has a Mighty Rating, with an average critic score of 90, and 99 % of reviewers recommending the game.

So what’s all the hype about? First off, Tekken 8’s core combat design has been definitely improved with the Heat and Rage systems. These systems allow players to stage comebacks, or can be used to take early advantage. There is also a Special Style control scheme, that maps special moves