#366 Tekken 4 PS2 \\ The awkward Tekken! All 1P modes, Kazuya story, unlocking Jin & Violet/Lee
7I was really surprised by how good this game looks in its 480p mode!
And I got so confused trying to think about the story while playing Kazuya in Story mode that I started pronouncing "Jin" like "gene." :P
Tekken 4 on PS2 may have suffered a bit from the growing pains of going from the PS1 hardware era to the PS2; they didn't get as many characters in the game--having had to remodel them all in higher detail--and the presentation overall feels a little less confident and bombastic than, certainly, later Tekken games would, and even maybe slightly less assured than the previous Tekkens. It doesn't have a bonus game like the previous two games did (Tekken Ball or whatever in 3, and Tekken Bowling in Tekken Tag Tournament), the Tekken Force mode, which started in 3, this time around has camera (and respawn) issues, and it experimented with major mechanics changes--playfields with varying elevations, and a function for shoving the opponent around that replaced one of the throw commands being the most noticeable--that didn't end up lasting in the series.
Perhaps the most insidious confusion (which, I admit, could quite easily be mostly in my head!) lies in the overall movement response, and the character moves: Tekken 4 uncomfortably straddles the stiff but crisp control of the early Tekkens, and the more fluid control of the later games: some of that initial stiffness and stickiness remains, fighting against the more modern fluidity; and characters I had no problem doing big bashing moves with out of the gate in earlier Tekken games--Kazuya and his spin kicks & big punches--or later Tekken games--Marduk and his big...everything--presented a surprising struggle here; in my usual mashing I couldn't even find Kazuya's launcher (hilariously called a "floater" in the manual :P) or spinning kicks, and couldn't easily inflict big damage with Marduk.
Even the mode selection gets jumbled, with Arcade and Time Attack jammed together into a single menu item you have to toggle with the d-pad, and separate, but redundant-sounding, "Training" and "Practice" modes.
0:00 - start
1:11 - Options
6:10 - Story Battle as Kazuya
38:09 - Theater (unlocked from Story Battle)
43:59 - Arcade as Marduk
1:12:59 - Team Battle - [?] 8-on-8!
1:27:09 - Survival as Christie
1:31:39 - Practice
1:36:35 - Training
1:38:02 - Tekken Force
1:52:52 - more Team Battle!
2:04:48 - wrap-up & what's next!
This is a tricky one! I still have to unlock 7 characters by completing either Story or Arcade mode 7 more times (!), and 7 is a big chunk of the roster, considering that you only start with 10 unlocked, and I've only so far unlocked an additional 2--so I don't quite feel like I've got a gauge of the full breadth of the game. And although I've struggled more here than I'd expected with characters like Kazuya, Marduk, and Christie (& what's the deal with Hwaorang's throws on just LP and RP buttons?), the control doesn't feel horrible or anything; it's just slightly harder to do the big damage I was used to mashing out in other Tekkens. And, I need to emphasize how much I like the direction this Tekken went with its incredibly well-designed, ambient, "real world" stages, and the emphasis on street clothes or martial arts outfits for the fighters.
And Marduk's hair! : ooo (Note to self: select with X button!)
I suspect the nifty ambiance, stage, and character designs won't quite keep me coming back to this Tekken too frequently, though; it doesn't have the roster to compete with TTTHD, DR, or 6, doesn't have "Ghost Battle" or character customization, and feels slightly awkward mechanically. It will come down to how expansive it feels once I have all 19 characters going in 8-on-8 Team Battles.
Another thing it's missing is the sense of playfulness of other Tekken games; not only is the bonus game gone--Tekken Force here has some goofiness, I suppose, with its powerup eggs and "Peeps"--but it doesn't have the really silly characters like kangaroos or lizards (okay it does I think have a Panda/bear, if I'm reading the "Cheats" list on GameFAQs correctly), or the silly stages the other games have sprinkled into their selections. In that sense, the "real world" attempt here was doomed to failure, because Tekken is, at its heart, very silly and over the top!
The lack of "silly" brings up an interesting angle on this "real world" Tekken, though: the only "silly" characters in this one--Kuma/Panda & Combot--unlock at or near the end of the character unlocking: Kuma on play-through 7, and Combot on play-through #9. #8 is Heihachi, who I wouldn't particularly miss anyway, especially as the random select would give him his giant diaper costume half the time. : o So, if I just stop saving play-throughs after #6--which unlocks Julia--I'll have a distinctly non-silly Tekken to play, for a different flavor.
Remember to save manually after adjusting options: in a bizarre oversight or omission, "Autosave" doesn't save Options changes!!
1/23/21
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