Tekken 7
Tekken 7 | |
---|---|
![]() Promotional image from Evolution 2014 | |
Developer(s) | Bandai Namco Games |
Publisher(s) | Bandai Namco Games |
Director(s) | Katsuhiro Harada |
Producer(s) | Katsuhiro Harada |
Composer(s) | Akitaka Tohyama |
Series | Tekken |
Engine | Unreal Engine 4 |
Platform(s) | Arcade |
Release | Arcade |
Genre(s) | Fighting game |
Tekken 7 (鉄拳7) is a 2015 fighting game developed and published by Bandai Namco Games. It is the ninth installment in the Tekken fighting game series. The game is the first in the series to make use of the Unreal Engine 4 game engine. Tekken 7 had a limited arcade release in Japan on February 18, 2015, followed by a wide release on March 18, 2015.[1][2]
Gameplay
Tekken 7 focuses on 1-on-1 battles.[3] Two new mechanics are introduced in the game. The first, Rage Art, allows the player to execute several unblockable moves that deal roughly 30% damage depending on the character (the location test had several characters dealing up to 80% damage, but were changed in the release version after feedback) once their health bar is critical, in exchange for inactivating the normal attack power increase. The second, Power Crush, lets the player continue their attacks even while being hit by the enemy, although they would still receive the damage dealt by the enemy's attacks. The mechanic also works only for absorbing high or mid attacks.[4] The bound system, which staggers a character to increase opportunity for additional hits, is replaced by Screw Attack, which makes the enemy spin sideways when they are hit airborne, allowing the player to inflict additional hits after they reach the ground. Unlike bound, however, Screw Attack cannot be used to do wall combos. Thanks to a new display system, the game's multiplayer allows players to choose which side of the screen to play on.[5][6] Movement has undergone some changes and now is similar to the movement mechanics found in Tekken Revolution, most notably when characters walk backwards.
The arcade version features the traditional stage-based playthrough, in which the player progresses by beating five different opponents one by one, ending with a fixed penultimate and final stage. Matches may be interrupted if another player joins the game. Online mode is available for both local and international play. Character customization is featured, allowing to modify characters' appearances.[7] For the first time in the arcade series, the game features a practice mode, which allows players to train moves against an opponent for a limited amount of time, as well as an option to collect in-game rewards, mainly customization items, through "Treasure Box" by winning enough matches.
Plot
The game's producer Katsuhiro Harada said that the game's story will be much darker than ever before,[8][9] closer in tone to Tekken 4 and will serve as the conclusion of the Mishima clan saga.[10] It will provide answers regarding the feud between Heihachi Mishima, his son, Kazuya Mishima and his grandson, Jin Kazama, including the origins of Devil Gene among other Tekken mysteries.[3] A trailer released in July 2014 introduced the backstory regarding Heihachi's wife, Kazumi Mishima, who was killed by him years prior to the events of the earlier games.[11]
Characters
The game has 24 playable characters, 20 of whom make up the default cast on launch; other characters are to be added over time. Six make their debut in this game.[12] Additionally, one more new character is fought as an unplayable boss. The new characters are as follows:
- Katarina Alves: A sassy Brazilian woman who practices the art of Savate. She was designed to be a beginner-friendly character.[13]
- Claudio Serafino: A white-clad man from Italy whose right hand can conjure mysterious light powers.[4]
- Lucky Chloe: An otaku who wears a kitten-themed costume and has a "Freestyle Dance" fighting style. Though speaking Japanese, she is not Japanese, her blonde hair and blue eyes instead suggesting a European ancestry.
- Shaheen: A keffiyah-wearing Saudi Arabian man who handles a "Military Self-defense" fighting style. He was also designed to be a beginner-friendly character.[14]
- Josie Rizal a: A young Filipino woman who wears a yellow top, a blue miniskirt, and a red bow. She practices Eskrima and Muay Thai.[15] She was first discovered in a leaked arcade data[16] before being officially revealed during a Tekken 7 broadcast in Niconico on March 29, 2015.
- Gigas a: A red-skinned humanoid who seems to have cybernetics attached to his otherwise nude body. He practices "Destructive Impulse". Like Josie, he was first discovered in a leaked arcade data before his official reveal in a CAPCOM TV Chokaigi stream in Niconico.[17]
- Kazumi Mishima/Devil Kazumi: Heihachi's wife and Kazuya's mother, who possesses the Devil Gene. She serves as the game's unplayable final boss,[18] although game director Harada is exploring the possibility of making her playable in the home version.[19]
The rest of the character roster are:
^a Post-release addition (arcade)
Continuing the trend from Tekken Tag Tournament 2, instead of speaking in either Chinese, English, Japanese, or Korean, as in the case of the last numbered entry, several characters now speak with their native languages, including the new characters mentioned above; thus Leo and Lili now speak German and French, respectively, for the first time in a canonical sequel, while newcomers Claudio, Katarina, and Shaheen speak with their native Italian, Portuguese, and Arabic respectively. This still does not include certain characters with differing nationalities, such as Xiaoyu, Alisa and Lars, who continue to speak Japanese due to their character backgrounds.
For time release characters, each were released on separate dates: Jin Kazama was added on March 31, 2015; Devil Jin on April 7, 2015; Josie Rizal on April 21, 2015; and Gigas on April 28, 2015.
Development and promotion
In January 2014, Tekken series director and producer Katsuhiro Harada expressed interest in continuing the series on PlayStation 4,[20] and later said that PlayStation was the primary platform of development for the new installment.[21] Tekken 7 was officially announced by Harada on July 13, 2014 during EVO 2014.[22] The game was not planned to be announced during that event, but due to the leak of a video presentation of the game, Harada had no choice but to announce it.[23] It would make use of the Unreal Engine 4 game engine which would allow the game to be developed for multiple platforms.[24][25] While Tekken games historically have been PlayStation-based in arcades (PlayStation 4 is built with familiar PC hardware), Harada stated that Tekken 7 runs on hardware based on PC architecture.[26]
The first location tests of the game were held in Tokyo and Osaka from October 3 to 5, 2014.[27] The game runs in 1080p and 60 frames per second, and is expected to receive at least one graphical upgrade.[28]
On January 27, 2015, a tournament was held in the Nexon Arena in Seoul, South Korea known as Tekken 7 Crash. The tournament featured mostly teams of three, with separate rounds. The tournament featured the same game build from the first location tests, which excluded the new characters Lucky Chloe and Shaheen revealed after the tests, despite earlier claims of the characters being played in the tournament. Additionally, Alisa Bosconovitch was made unavailable due to South Korea's restriction of the depiction of chainsaws. Harada was present.[29][30][31]
During the Japan Amusement Expo (JAEPO) 2015, a newer build of the game was showcased, offering Lucky Chloe and Shaheen as part of the character roster for the first time as well as the traditional stage-based gameplay progression.[32]
Controversies
The announcement of several of the new characters has led to some controversy online. Negative reactions to the character Lucky Chloe from several message boards has led to Harada tweeting that he may consider removing her from the North American version of the game, making her exclusive to the East Asian and European versions, and instead replace her with a new well-muscled skinhead for the North American market where "They want just Muscle & Skinhead (with Gun or MMA style) character." It was later revealed that Harada did not intend for the tweets to be taken seriously.[33] Although reaction to the revelation of new character Shaheen was largely positive,[34][35] the reveal eventually led to Harada making a statement on his Twitter in response to those criticizing the inclusion of an Arab character in the game.[36]
While the announcement and reveal of the Filipina Josie Rizal character was also met with mostly positive feedback,[37][38] her revelation was also met with a mix of excitement[39] and derision among Filipino netizens.[40] Among the criticisms around the net were the lack of respect towards the martyred Philippine national hero José Rizal, who practiced wrestling and Eskrima from Calamba, Laguna, Jujutsu from Japan, fencing and marksmanship from Europe and weightlifting[41] as well as misrepresentation of Filipino Martial Arts.[42] According to Tekken chief producer Katsuhiro Harada, Mad Catz community manager Mark Julio,[43] and Josie's character designer Mari Shimazaki,[44] Josie Rizal practiced kickboxing and Eskrima, but the move set in her reveal video consisted of mostly generic and recycled moves from earlier existing characters in the Tekken series.
Her outfit and character design also drew a lot of mockery,[45] in its lack of actual Filipino flavor.[46] and her ending "win" animation which had her crying was widely mocked by netizens.[40][46] An official of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts was not quite happy with the way the character of Josie was depicted and stated that they would try to look at steps to remedy how she might affect the image of José Rizal and the Philippines[47] by possibly submitting additional materials for the Tekken Team to use.[48] However NCCA legal counsel Trixie Cruz-Angeles clarified that the agency had yet to issue any position on the matter in a post she made in her personal Facebook page Friday: "The NCCA has not asked for the deletion of Tekken character Josie Rizal. In fact, the NCCA has not taken cognizance of the issue nor issued an opinion. If you've been reading that website, understand this please, it's SATIRE.The name of our chairman is Prof. Felipe de Leon, Jr. Also, matters pertaining to national heroes are within the jurisdiction of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. Chill."[49]
References
- ^ a b "TEKKEN 7 Release Date". Twitter. 2015-02-03. Retrieved 2015-02-05.
- ^ "TEKKEN 7 Will Be Available in Japanese Arcade on Feb 18!". Avoiding The Puddle. 2015-01-25. Retrieved 2015-01-25.
- ^ a b "First Tekken 7 details revealed at Comic-Con". Polygon. 2014-07-25. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
- ^ a b "Tekken 7 Details Emerging from Location Tests; New Character Claudio, Power Crush Moves, and More". Ian Walker. 2014-10-03. Retrieved 2014-10-03.
- ^ "Tekken 7's New Camera System Allows Both Combatants to be the First Player". Retrieved 12 January 2015.
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op4tKwd7ero
- ^ Push Square. "Yes, You Can Extend Paul Phoenix's Hair in Tekken 7 on PS4". Push Square. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
- ^ "Katsuhiro Harada on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
- ^ "Tekken 7 Will Have A Very Dark Story". Attack of the Fanboy. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
- ^ Brett Phipps. "Tekken 7 will conclude the Mishima Saga, new trailer revealed". VideoGamer.Com. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
- ^ "Tekken 7 Will Answer Questions Like Why Heihachi Had To Kill His Wife". Siliconera. 2014-07-25. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
- ^ "Evo 2014 Harada Announcement and Tekken 7 Reveal Trailer". YouTube. 2014-07-13. Retrieved 2014-07-15.
- ^ "Tekken 7 News From Tokyo Game Show 2014". Tekken Zaibatsu. 2014-09-20. Retrieved 2014-09-20.
- ^ https://twitter.com/Harada_TEKKEN/status/572978893696700416
- ^ "Tekken 7 - Jin Kazama, Devil Jin and Josie Rizal Officially Revealed". Avoiding The Puddle.
- ^ "New Tekken 7 Characters Leaked". tekkenzaibatsu.com. Tekken Zaibatsu. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
- ^ "Tekken 7 - New Character Gigas Officially Revealed, Available in Arcades on April 28th!". avoidingthepuddle.com. Avoiding The Puddle. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
- ^ "Tekken 7 Final Boss". Twitter. 2015-02-12. Retrieved 2015-02-13.
- ^ https://twitter.com/Harada_TEKKEN/status/578734086770020354
- ^ Anderson, Kell (2014-01-06). "The Producer of Tekken Wants to Continue the Series on PS4". Push Square. Retrieved 2014-10-22.
- ^ Harada, Katsuhiro. "Don't rush me. Tekken is not development by PC base. It's Develop by Playstation Native. also we don't have Tekken community on PC now". Twitter. Retrieved 2015-01-10.
- ^ "unreal engine, Tekken 7 announced at EVO 2014". Dana Cowley. 2014-07-17. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
- ^ http://gematsu.com/2014/07/tekken-7-officially-announced
- ^ "Tekken 7 Announced, Will Use Unreal Engine 4 [UPDATE]". GameSpot. 2014-07-13. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
- ^ Cowley, Dana (14 July 2014). "UE4-Powered Tekken 7 Announced at EVO 2014". Unreal Engine Blog. Epic Games. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
- ^ https://twitter.com/Harada_TEKKEN/status/542280887618904064
- ^ "Tekken 7 Location Test Announced!". Tekken Zaibatsu. 2014-09-14. Retrieved 2014-09-14.
- ^ http://attackofthefanboy.com/news/tekken-7-will-getting-graphical-update-next-month-two/
- ^ "Tekken Crash Returns Tekken 7 3on3 Tournament Live From Korea". Avoiding The Puddle. 2015-01-26. Retrieved 2015-02-05.
- ^ "[Tekken Crash Returns] 테켄 크래쉬 리턴즈 2부 이벤트전, 결승전 -EsportsTV 철권7". YouTube. 2015-01-28. Retrieved 2015-02-05.
- ^ "[Tekken Crash Returns] 테켄 크래쉬 리턴즈 1부 4강전 -EsportsTV 철권7". YouTube. 2015-01-28. Retrieved 2015-02-05.
- ^ "『鉄拳7』 "ラッキークロエ"&"シャヒーン"のプレイリポートをお届け【JAEPO 2015】". Famitsu. 2015-02-13. Retrieved 2015-02-13.
- ^ LeJaq, Yannick (2014-12-10). "Why Some People Are Freaking Out Over A New Tekken Character". Kotaku. Retrieved 2015-01-10.
- ^ "Tekken 7's New Arab Character Shaheen Makes the Newspapers in Bahrain". Retrieved 12 January 2015.
- ^ "Tekken 7: Harada twittert über Lucky Chloe und Shaheen". Retrieved 12 January 2015.
- ^ Barder, Ollie (2015-01-06). "'Tekken 7' Producer Responds To Narrow Minded People, Earns My Respect". Forbes. Retrieved 2015-01-10.
- ^ https://twitter.com/Harada_TEKKEN/status/583299098536607746
- ^ https://twitter.com/Harada_TEKKEN/status/583524630750572544
- ^ "Meet Josie Rizal, the new Filipino character in 'Tekken 7'". Rappler.com. Mar 30, 2015.
- ^ a b Edwin P. Sallan (March 30, 2015). "New Pinay character Josie Rizal in 'Tekken 7' videogame stirs controversy". InterAksyon.com.
- ^ Sixto Y. Orosa (1963). José Rizal: Man and Hero. Vibal Publishing.
- ^ Alixandra Caole Vila (March 30, 2015). "Netizens: What should be Josie Rizal's finishing move?". Philippine Star.
- ^ Mark Julio (March 29, 2015). "Mark Julio's public post about Josie Rizal on Facebook".
- ^ Mark Julio. "Hoy! Psssst! In case you missed it, Josie Rizal is the newest challenger in TEKKEN 7! Designed by @MariShimazaki!". Twitter.
- ^ skid5jack (March 29, 2015). "Comments section - Jin, Devil Jin, Josie Rizal officially unveiled for Tekken 7". EventHub.
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: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Mopz (March 29, 2015). "Comments section - Jin, Devil Jin, Josie Rizal officially unveiled for Tekken 7". EventHub. Cite error: The named reference "eventHubTekken7outfit" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ "NCCA official unhappy with Tekken character 'Josie Rizal'". GMA News Online. March 31, 2015.
- ^ Balita Pilipinas, GMA News TV, March 31, 2015
- ^ "Tekken developer says Josie Rizal won't be deleted following 'NCCA' row". MSN. April 3, 2015. Retrieved April 3, 2015.