Tekken 7 Season 2 Pass
Bandai Namco
Ah, the glories of fighting games. I remember going down to my local arcade and plunking quarters into many a fighting game when I was a kid. I played everything from weapon-based fighters such as SoulCalibur and Samurai Spirits, to brawlers such as Street Fighter, The Art of Fighting, and Fatal Fury.
Then consoles became really big and people began playing fighting games on their couches. An entire “loaf on the couch with your buddies and play games” culture emerged in the 90s, and consequently, arcades began to die out. Many of our beloved fighting series started to fade away as well, such as the majority of SNK titles.
3D fighters stood out from the 2D ones because of their ability to move their characters all around an environment. Both Tekken and Virtua Fighter was top tier 3D fighters, and actually had a rivalry going on for quite some time. When the latter eventually ran out of steam, the Tekken franchise emerged as the clear winner.
Indeed, Tekken has been around since 1994 and has stood the test of time. While fighting games may not be as hot as they were in the 90s, they have seen somewhat of a resurgence as of late, with both Tekken and SoulCalibur getting modern makeovers.
I’ve always been a fan of the Street Fighter series, and SF V is pretty badass (minus Capcom’s DLC policies), but to me Tekken is much more realistic. While SF V characters have a handful of moves—and many of them are special ones like throwing fireballs or glowing super-kicks—each of Tekken’s cast members have ten times the amount of moves that their 2D counterparts do.
Tekken 7 plays much more fluidly as well; there’s a definite ebb-and-flow to combat as you trade punches, kicks, and grappling techniques instead of special moves. In that regard, Tekken games can give you the feeling that you’re playing a character in a martial arts movie, and get to decide the outcome of each match. Street Fighter games feel much less so because of the nature of their 2D constraints as well as their over-reliance on special moves.
Although Tekken 7’s cast of character features old stalwarts such as Heihahchi, Jin, and Nina, in a puzzling move Bandai Namco decided to turn several of the classic male characters into females, but not the reverse. Raven, the badass, Wesley Snipes Blade-esque ninja from Tekken 6 has mysteriously morphed into a dread-tangle-haired female named Master Raven. Likewise, comedic and lovable kickboxer Bruce Irvin has—poof!—changed into Filipina Escrima expert Josie. It’s all quite baffling.
At least they got the gameplay mechanics relatively on point. The usual combos, air-juggles, and wall-ganks are all there, as well as each characters signature special move. However, in spite of having great gameplay and a colorful cast of characters, something just didn’t sit right with Tekken fans.
That something was the fact that several of the series’ canonical characters were missing. Where was Julia? How about Nina’s evil sister, Anna? But what really got Tekken fans’ bloomers all up in a twist was the blatant omission of everyone’s favorite supercop, Lei Wulong.
Well, in a controversial move Mr. Katsuhiro Harada, the producer of the Tekken series, released both Anna and Lei as part of the Season 2 DLC. Yes, even after he stated that the “legacy” characters would be free to play upon release, the company is indeed charging $5.99 for each one.
Controversy aside, the addition of Lei and Anna is great, nonetheless. Lei was a particularly popular character which was molded after Jackie Chan’s Supercop persona, and fights with several different Chinese kung fu animal styles. Anna, on the other hand, sports a really elegant new outfit, and her moves are as sleek and sinister as ever.
Tekken 7’s second season pass is slated to release six characters over the coming months. I’m personally hoping that some of the classic Fatal Fury heroes such as Terry Bogart or Rock Howard will make the cut, or even lesser knowns such as the Art of Fighting’s Ryo Sakizaki. We’ll see how the second season pass develops.
SCORE: 88%
Tekken 7 Season 2 Pass features great graphics that make its fighting gameplay truly shine. However, you want to have a pretty beefy gaming PC or gaming laptop in order to play it at a decent framerate. So, you may just want to invest in a decent gaming rig:
Visit CyberpowerPC’s website to check out all of the other great deals as well!