Shacknews Best Fighting Game of 2024 – Tekken 8

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As a long-time fighting game enthusiast with a decade of Tekken under my belt, I can confidently say that Tekken 8 has been the crown jewel of my gaming year in 2024. Having played every installment since the original, I’ve seen the series evolve and grow over time, but Tekken 8 truly outshines them all.

I was initially apprehensive about the move to Unreal Engine 5, fearing it might dilute the raw, gritty feel that Tekken is known for. But boy, was I wrong! The game’s visuals are breathtaking, and the stages offer a level of interactivity that adds a new dimension to combat.

The Heat System has been a game-changer, making each character feel unique and fresh, even for veterans like myself. And let’s not forget about the Special control style – it’s a godsend for those learning the ropes or trying out new characters on the fly.

What truly sets Tekken 8 apart, though, is its attention to detail in training modes. The punishment training, combo trials, frame data, and save/load states are features I never knew I needed until I had them. It’s like Bandai Namco read my mind!

And the cherry on top? Tekken 8 has only gotten better as the year went on with additional content drops, online training, new characters, an extra story chapter, and more. This game just keeps giving, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.

Oh, and a little joke for good measure: They say you should never meet your heroes, but I guess that doesn’t apply when your hero is a giant bear with a love for panda-themed moves – Kazuya Mishima, we’ve got some unfinished business!

If a game is released at the beginning of the year, it might struggle to stay relevant, regardless of its quality. However, Tekken 8 bucked this trend. Despite launching in January 2024, the rich content and robust online play made it an exceptional 3D fighting experience for an entire year. In fact, the game improved over time as more arenas, characters, and additional content were introduced.

Despite the challenges of transitioning the Tekken franchise to Unreal Engine 5 for the first time, Tekken 8 has made a powerful debut. The game was essentially rebuilt anew, with every character, stage, and visual element being carefully crafted from scratch. This meticulous approach has resulted in Tekken 8 boasting some of the most stunning fighter graphics yet seen, and the stages offer a thrilling level of interactivity.

If the battles didn’t seem engaging, all these visual effects wouldn’t matter much. Fortunately, Tekken 8 delivers an exceptional combat experience. The Heat System gives each character a unique twist, introducing fresh attacks, enabling dashes following your opponent for combos that would otherwise be unreachable, and offering a distinctive, powerful finishing move to make use of the empowered state. Bandai Namco has also included a Special control style, which grants players access to auto combos and an intuitive control layout that can be switched on or off during gameplay with a single button press, making it easier for beginners or those unfamiliar with a particular character.

This game offers numerous methods for play. Tekken 8 boasts an assortment of both online and offline modes, such as robust online lobbies with carefully incorporated rollback netcode, single-player arcade scenarios, a substantial story mode, and one of the most advanced training systems ever featured in a fighting game. The innovative aspect lies primarily in its comprehensive training mode, which includes features like punishment training for countering attacks, combo trials for mastering specific character sequences, frame data, and a unique save/load state system. Here, you can create a state during a combo and work on perfecting the latter segments of your string at your leisure. You can even replay old matches to practice punishes and explore alternative strategies that could have led to victory.

Tekken 8 marks a fresh, stunning chapter for the series, offering an exquisite gaming experience as the months passed with the inclusion of online training, new characters, an additional storyline, and more. It’s been delightfully matured like fine wine, appealing to both beginners and seasoned players alike. Similar to Street Fighter 6 and Guilty Gear Strive before it, Tekken 8 is adding more heat to the current fighting game revolution, showing no signs of slowing down in future years.

Be sure to read over the rest of the Shacknews Awards in our Year of the Games: 2024 feature.

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2024-12-30 20:27