As an avid Tekken fan, I'd been looking forward to 6 for some time now. Unfortunately, my initial impressions weren't great. Firstly, without installing the game (using a tucked away option), you'll be faced with some long load times. But don't go thinking they're worth it. They're like that so you can watch a bunch of pigs fly out of a truck at the start of the round - a feature that's apparently meant to enhance your gaming experience.

Whilst we're talking about pointless features, one must mention the character customisation. Sure the Japanese love shit, as does probably your little sister, but personally I don't care, especially when it means that no one outfit looks particularly stunning. On that matter, the rest of the game's visuals arn't much better. Sure, they're not terrible, but for a game which only displays two characters most of the time, I'd expect better.

However, the game's single worst feature is the end boss; Azazel, who makes the previously over-powered end boss, Jinpanchi, look balanced in comparison. In Namco's infinite wisdom, they didn't think it would be the least bit frustrating to create a boss that could take off half your health with a single move, magically teleport into the air just as you got the bastard on the ground, or block any of your attacks, even when the dickhead isn't even facing you. As such, fighting him (or should I say it) could just as easily be replaced by a random number generator, where you only win when the chosen number doesn't theoretically exist.

Gameplay-wise, Tekken continues to trip up. To my surprise, the main tournament mode has been removed, replaced by a somewhat lacklustre, side scrolling scenario mode. Admittedly, this mode does contain a miniature Tournament, however the individual storylines arn't as fleshed out as they were in the past. Instead, the focus has been placed on the storyline about Lars and Alisa. Not surprisingly, when you try to include about 40 characters in a storyline, not only does it become massively confusing, it also tends to suck balls.

In regards to the versus mode, it's pretty much the same old, only that they've decided to include an extra menu at the end of the fight, and make you reselect random, if that's what you chose previously. Whilst a few extra key strokes is pretty minor, it gets annoying and makes you wonder if they even tried playing their own game.

Whilst I did eventually get into the scenario mode, if all you're here is to beat the crap out of your mate, you might be better off sticking with 5, that's unless you really have your heart set on doing it with a fast-moving, fat guy (potentially Tekken's least plausible character to date *cough*)