Games I’m Excited For After Watching E3

Games I’m Excited For After Watching E3

Robert Lewis Knuckles III

“Excitement”

E3 happened almost about two weeks ago and I want to talk about the games that got me excited. Now this order doesn’t mean which game I’m excited for the most. They are all on the same level.

1. Kingdom Hearts III

This is probably not a surprise for a lot of people due to the fact that I’m a huge Kingdom Hearts fan and after playing Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5, 2.5 and 2.8 I had a feeling that E3 had to show something and they did. A new trailer was released showing Sora, Donald, and Goofy in the Olympics Coliseum. They are seen teaming up with Hercules. What makes this so interesting is that now there are four heroes fighting at once. Normally when teaming up with another hero the player has to either choose to take out Donald or Goofy but it looks like you don’t have to now.

The gameplay runs through Unreal Engine the same gameplay from Birth By Sleep 0.2. You see similar gameplay as you see Sora performing the Shotlock command and his gauge powering up his thunder.

In the trailer you see Maleficent and Pete talking to Hades asking about a black box that was seen in Kingdom Hearts Back Cover. Towards the end of trailer we see our three heroes talking to Ansem and Xemnas. It appears that the three heroes are trying to get help from Roxas but Xemnas ask Sora are you ready to call upon the darkness? Be on the lookout for a new trailer and new world on July 15, 2017.

2. Spider-Man PS4

Spider-Man is my favorite superhero and seeing him finally having a game after a couple years I’m very excited. It seems to be set in an open world in New York City. The latest trailer we’ve is that Spider-Man is fighting these enemies called the Inner Demons while he’s fighting he’s also protecting KingPin’s henchmen. It looks like Spider-Man is going to need help from one of his biggest enemies.

During the gameplay see stealth from Spider-Man web slinging enemies, Spider sense reactions and we also see some quick time events. The game is developed by Insomniac games the same people that made the popular Ratchet and Clank series. Towards the end of the trailer we see Miles Morales so the question we ask is that are we going to see another Spider-Man? We’ll have to wait and see. Be on the lookout for Spider-Man early 2018.

3. Fire Emblem Warriors

I’ve always wanted to play a Fire Emblem game after playing Super Smash Bros. I finally will get the chance to play one with Fire Emblem Warriors. The game is made by Omega Force the same people that made the Dynasty Warriors series and also made Hyrule Warriors. Gameplay is similar to both titles. Fire Emblem Warriors added two new characters, Rowan and Lianna. Players will still see classic Fire Emblem characters in this game It’s also been quite some time since I’ve played a Dynasty Warriors game so playing this game will bring back memories. There isn’t an exact date for this game to come out in America but from what we know it comes out towards the end of 2017.

4. Dragonball Fighterz

People that know me know that I’m a huge fighting game fan and seeing Dragonball Fighterz my excitement went up. Dragonball FighterZ is a 2D fighting game that features three on three battles. It’s made by Arc System Works which is the same people that made the Guilty Gear series so players already know that this will be an offensive game. Dragonball FighterZ also plays like Marvel vs Capcom 2 so players can use assist, tag out, perform double super moves. What I find interesting is that once a character is defeated the game stops and has the next player come in like a special intro basically meaning that your character isn’t in danger of being set up for a combo when coming in.

Characters look really good and seems to be sticking to an Dragonball Z fighting environment. Characters can blow up parts of a planet in clear Dragonball Z fashion. DragonBall FighterZ seem to has caught the attention of many people in the fighting game community. Not only am I a fighting game fan but I’m also a fan of DragonBall Z so I’m very excited for this game! There seems to be a beta coming out towards the end of the summer so be on the lookout for that, while the main game comes out early 2018.

5. Super Mario Odyssey

Probably everyone’s game of E3. Super Mario Odyssey bring s back Mario in the open world once again. This game was first shown at the Nintendo Switch Reveal and we didn’t get much but at E3 we get a lot more. The hat named Cappy has to be Mario’s biggest weapon in this game. His hat has the ability to control enemies or he can use it like a boomerang to hit enemies.  We see Mario take control of a bullet Bill. You can not only see his hat on the enemy but his signature mustache as well.

We also see Mario on the side of certain walls transforming into old school NES Mario. There is also Co-op where one player can play as Mario and the other can play as Cappy.

The presentation of this game is amazing and majority of people that have played this game said that Mario has many moves that he had in Super Mario 64 which is good. The worlds look pretty cool. There's a world called New Dork City looking like a New York City. Players can buy different outfits for Mario.

It’s cool to see the transmission of 3D to 2D or 2D to 3D. Be sure to be on the lookout for Super Mario Odyssey on October 27, 2017.

6. Metroid Prime 4

Now although there wasn’t any gameplay shown for Metroid Prime 4 people were still excited for this game. This can give people time to play the other Metroid Prime games to get ready for Metroid Prime 4. Hopefully we get news for this game later this year.

7. Kirby Switch

There wasn’t an actual name besides calling Kirby. This new Kirby is 2D adventure game that has Kirby turning enemies into his allies. Kirby can have up to three allies. Your allies can either be controlled by the CPU or can be controlled by a player. So 4 player couch co-op will be a huge feature. You still see classic forms such as Sword Kirby in the game. I’m sure more classic forms will return. Be on the lookout for this game coming in 2018.

Tekken 7 Review

Tekken 7 Review

Robert Knuckles

“Mishima Saga Comes to an End”

Tekken 7 was announced at E3 2014. It seems like it's been forever since the announcement of this game. There was Tekken 7 Fated Retribution that was a updated arcade version of the game that released in Japanese arcades. It was announced that Tekken would be released in early 2017 but then it was postponed to June 2nd. So with the three year wait and the postponed is Tekken 7 the fighting game we've been waiting for? Let's find out shall we?

The last Tekken game we got was Tekken Tag Tournament 2 that was released back in 2012 and it got a mixed reaction due to the fact that some people believed Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is the same as Tekken 6 but with tag team mechanics. Tekken 7 managed to get rid of that problem.

Tekken 7 is a four button 3D fighting game so veterans of the series will feel right at home. The bound system is now replaced with the screw attack. The screw attack spins your opponent in the air and once they hit the ground you can add more damage but this feature is useless against the wall.

Another feature removed is the rage system it’s replaced by two mechanics one being Rage Art. The Rage Art gives characters a super move when their health bar is flashing red. It’s almost like a comeback mechanic. Each character's Rage Art mainly hits the mid section but some can be a sweep like the newcomer Lucky Chloe. Rage Art’s can turn the matches around so players will have to be cautious when their opponent’s health flashes red because one wrong move and the Rage Art will cost you dearly.  Players don’t have to use their Rage Art and can be sacrificed with Rage Drive which is a empowered regular move. Some can do big damage while  some can leave your opponent on the ground to add more damage. Power crush is another new feature that has players absorb attacks while performing their move but can still lose health. Note this only works on high or mid attacks.

Story mode for Tekken 7 had to be one of the most hyped things coming into this game with all the trailers but the fact that it concludes the Mishima Saga. One thing that really confused me is that the story is told by a reporter whose name was never mentioned not only that but he’s tone was really boring and had no energy. The story continues after Tekken 6 but the story really mainly focuses on Kazuya and Heihachi Mishima. You find out more about their past and how the two became enemies. You also find out about Heihachi's love life with new character Kazumi. Street Fighter's Akuma makes an appearance in Tekken as a third party character and plays an important role in the story which is really cool. Players will fight soldiers of the Mishima Zaibatsu and it can sometimes look awkward when you see the knockout soldiers on the floor moving around. The final battle in story mode is pretty difficult and can be very frustrating. I understand that you want to give gamers a challenge but it’s kind of going over the top. Now there are character stories that features characters that didn’t have a major role in the story have one battle and a ending is revealed but they really aren’t interesting.

The character roster is pretty decent in Tekken 7. Now granted it’s not large like in Tekken Tag Tournament 2  but its still good. Veteran fighters return such as Kazuya, Jin, Eddy and my own favorite Lili. They do play a bit different in this game. A good amount of new characters are introduced. Street fighter's Akuma makes a Tekken debut and he plays like he does in Street Fighter but with some Tekken swag. Akuma has super moves and has meter just like in any other Street Fighter game. I believe having the Rage Art might be a response for having Akuma in the game. I like new character Lucky Chloe who kind of reminds me of Eddy due to her dance moves.

The online in Tekken has its ups and downs. You still have your ranked and player matches but in the settings players can set their search engines to find an opponent near their skill level. That can be a problem because players will want to fight players that are in the same skill level. It can take some time to find an opponent. There’s also tournament mode which is pretty cool. The connection in Tekken 7 is good. I didn’t really run into too many problems.

There isn’t too much to do offline. You have arcade mode that only has about four battles, there’s Treasure Battle where players can fight endless amounts of enemies and acquire money and items that you can put on your character. Customization returns with a lot more items to make your character look cool or goofy. You can also unlock movies from past Tekken games whether it’s an intro or character ending but what’s really cool is the jukebox system that players get if they bought the Collector's Edition. It features all the music from each Tekken game and edit to which music you want to play on a stage. It goes down a trip through memory lane.

In the end Tekken 7 is a fun game but it seems like stuff is missing. The presentation has to be one of the best I’ve ever seen in a fighting game. Story mode is okay but it would be nice to see other characters that weren’t in the main story shine as well. It still hasn’t beaten Tekken 5’s story mode with the intro cutscenes and better endings. Important characters like Lei, Anna, Julia are missing now they might come in as DLC but important characters like them shouldn’t be DLC. I do like the gameplay and that the bound system is gone. Battles are dynamic especially when the camera closes in for the final hit from both fighters. The music might be one of the best in the series and adding the jukebox makes it even better. There isn’t a tutorial mode but I’m kind of not surprised due to the fact that this game is so far into the series I’m sure the developers were only paying attention to the veterans that play this game. I just hope that future DLC adds a lot more stuff especially for offline players.  Tekken 7 receives an 8 out of 10     

Tekken History: Tekken Tag Tournament 2

Tekken History: Tekken Tag Tournament 2

Robert Knuckles

“New Tekken Same Gameplay”

Tekken Tag Tournament returns after over a decade of absence. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 was released for the Xbox 360 and PS3 on September 11 2012 and released on the Wii U November 18 2012.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 features 2 vs 2 tag team battles. Same rules apply from the first one. First player to knockout their opponent wins the round. There are only a tiny bit of new mechanics. You can perform new tag team throws but your opponent can counter by having their teammate on the screen and prevent the throw from happening. Another new feature is the tag assault. When a player put their  opponent in the bound state their partner can come in and perform a combo in limited time to extend the combo but other than that gameplay is the same as Tekken 6 just with the tag team mechanics. Rage returns but can be activated when a teammate is taking huge damage and their partners health will be flashing red telling the player that rage is activated.

The biggest thing that I loved about Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is the roster. The roster is huge and almost features every character throughout the Tekken series (expect Gon thank god..). Jun Kazama returns and her presentation looks good. Same with the character Unknown. Both versions of Ogre return as well. Jinpachi returns but in his human form. The total number of characters in Tekken Tag Tournament is 59 characters the largest in any Tekken game. Now some characters are clone of others like Tiger for example.

Online was better than Tekken 6’s online. There were still minor problems but most of the time I had decent matches. Now finding matches could be annoying because it would take forever sometimes.

You still have arcade mode, ghost battle mode where you play endless battles to unlock movies, money to buy items to design your character and so much more. You can choose to do 1 vs 1, 2 vs 1 or 2 vs 2.

Not too much to say about Tekken Tag Tournament 2. It’s really Tekken 6 but with tag team mechanics. It’s definitely a dream Tekken game with almost all the characters returning. It’s a game that you can grab your buddies that are Tekken fans and I’m sure they would enjoy this game. Just like in the first Tekken Tag game you can play up to four people.

Tekken History: Tekken 6

Tekken History: Tekken 6

Robert Knuckles

“Rage and More Rage”

Tekken has make its debut on the Xbox 360 and PS3. I felt like this game took forever to come out. Last Tekken game was released in 2005 and I remember playing Tekken 6 for the first time in arcades in 2008. It came out for the the 360 and PS3 on October 27 2009 and on the PSP on November 24 2009.

The gameplay in Tekken 6 I wasn’t a big fan of. Some levels have two floors making some floors break and fall down to a new arena but one of the things I didn’t was the new rage system. When a player's health is low their rage system is triggered and you’ll red flashing on their health bar and red aura. This increased player's strength sometimes making comebacks easy. Tekken 6 added another new feature called the bound system. When players smash opponents onto the ground during a mid-air combo they bounce off the ground giving players a chance to perform another combo. Now the bound system can give players huge damage and if a wall is nearby the damage is much more. This new feature caused mixed reviews due to the fact that a player can almost die after one combo.

Tekken 6 featured a huge roster. Every character except Jinpachi returns in Tekken 6 with a couple new characters. Story mode focused  on the two new characters Lars Alexerdanerson the illegitimate son of Heihachi Mishima and Alisa Bosconovitch a cyborg with feelings created by Dr. Boskonovitch.

Story mode went a different route, it’s called Scenario Campaign. It focuses on Lars and Alisa and plays like Tekken Force. They defeat enemies and eventually fight a boss at the end of the level. Each boss is a different character from the game. That’s the main story focus. They do however feature and arena mode where you pick a character and play their individual story fight through four stages and get their ending. A lot of the endings are short and some explained nothing.

The story in Tekken 6 continues where Tekken 5 left off. Jin Kazama now head of the Mishima Zaibatsu has declared war throughout the world which left many people puzzled because he  is a kind hearted man and doing this leaves many questions as to why. Around that same time Kazuya Mishima has killed members of G Corporation that tried to kill him during the last tournament. Kazuya has gained control of G Corporation and uses his army to fight against Jin’s army so he can continue on his mission for world domination. From Jin’s army Lars Alexerdaberson rebelled alongside others against Jin’s army but Lars suffers amnesia and needs to regain his memories. He is accompanied by Alisa and the two go on an adventure to stop Jin. Eventually later throughout the story it revealed that Jin started the war to lure the demon Azazel. Azazel is the game’s main boss and he’s HUGE and Cheap. Azazel is responsible for the Devil Gene and Jin would need to destroy him to get rid of the devil gene within him. Jin scarfies himself to destroy Azazel.  

I wasn’t a big fan of the new story mode. It failed to do better than Tekken 5’s story mode. It seemed to be more focused on the Scenario Campaign than the individual character stories.

Tekken 6 features online play but it was a struggle and a bit laggy. Players can still customize their character and use items.

In the end Tekken is okay. The presentation looks amazing and the roster is incredible. Now the new bound system and rage art I wasn’t a huge fan of and the scenario campaign is okay. Online was rough but Namco did later fix those problems in future Tekken games.

Tekken History: Tekken 5

Tekken History: Tekken 5

Robert Knuckles

“Classic Tekken is Back”

Tekken went back to its roots with this game. After a mixed reaction from the previous game Tekken 5 got a better response. Tekken 5 was released in arcades on July 2004 and on PS2 consoles on February 24 2005.

Tekken 5 went back to its even leveled plain field. Most people didn’t like how levels weren’t even on Tekken 4 but this game went back to classic Tekken. Gameplay was faster than Tekken 4. Players would still fight in arenas with walls and were still used for greater damage.

One new feature that everyone loved and continued in future Tekken games was the customization that players could use to dress their character in different designs and clothes. It gave players creative ideas on how cool their character would look.

Tekken 5 introduced a few new characters such as Raven the ninja assassin who looks like Marvel hero Blade that works for an organization, Feng Wei an arrogant fighter, Asuka Kazama a hot blooded high school student. Players can now play as Jin in his devil form known as Devil Jin and others. Tekken 5 featured many characters from Tekken 2 such as Bruce, Ganryu, Baek Doo San and Anna Williams. Tekken 5 featured a lot of characters and they all look great.

Story Mode was another level. Everyone has a cutscene against certain characters some have three cutscenes and the endings were a lot better.

The story takes place after Tekken 4. Kazuya and Heihachi gain conscious from their battle with Jin. They are soon sworn by a bunch of Jack-4s. Kazuya and Heihachi were working together until Kazuya betrays Heihachi and throws him in the middle. Kazuya flies away and the Jack’s hold down Heihachi and self destruct. Heihachi was thought to be dead but survived the blast. The blast however resurrect Jinpachi Mishima the game’s boss who is extremely cheap as hell and Heihachi’s father. Years ago Heihachi betrayed Jinpachi and imprisoned him below Hon-Maru. Jinpachi eventually died but the devil gene took over and causes nothing else but destruction. In his last act of humanity Jinpachi announces the King of Iron Fist Tournament 5 so that someone could stop him and save the world. Jin Kazama defeats Jinpachi in hopes of eliminating the devil gene curse instead he becomes head of the Mishima Zaibatsu and has a big plan.

Tekken 5 features new game mode Devil Within which is a beat em up game that features Jin the origin story of the devil gene and answers of his missing mother Jun.

Tekken also featured new mode called Arcade History that featured the arcade version of Tekken 1, Tekken 2, Tekken 3 and Starblade.

About a year later an updated version called Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection was released in arcades and the PSP and later on the PS3. It added three new characters, Armor King returns, Dragunov a member of the Russian Spetsnaz, Lili (my main character) a wealthy girl that uses ballet with street fighting techniques and Jinpachi becomes available on the PS3 version.

Tekken 5 is probably my favorite Tekken of the whole series. Gameplay is great, story is great and the roster is just incredible. Tekken really went back to its roots with this game.

Tekken History: Tekken 4

Tekken History: Tekken 4

Robert Knuckles

“A Dark Tekken”

Tekken Tag Tournament was fun but it was time to get back to the main story with Tekken 4. Tekken 4 was released in arcades on July 2001 and released for the PS2 on September 23 2002.

I remember seeing this game in arcades and what's funny is that at first the arcade machine there at first was Tekken Tag Tournament. I come back a year later excited to play Tag Tournament and I see Tekken 4 and first reaction i got was this game seemed very very DARK.

You get that dark feeling when you see the intro, the menu screen, character select and even the prologue. The intro starts off with Heihachi throwing Kazuya into the mouth of a volcano. We’re basically rewatching Heihachi's ending from Tekken 2. 20 years have passed since that day.

The intro of the game sets up the story. Heihachi got Ogre's blood and tissue from the last tournament. Heihachi wanted to create a new life form to become immortal. The experiment failed because he lacked the Devil Gene. He needed Jin but couldn’t find him  after the last tournament. Heihachi learned that Kazuya’s body was picked up and used by G Corporation, a biotech form. Heihachi sends the Tekken Force to G Corporation to get Kazuya’s remain but the mission ends in failure when Heihachi finds out that Kazuya is alive and stopped the Tekken Force. Heihachi then announces the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4 to lure Kazuya and Jin out to obtain their Devil Gene. The story mainly focused on Heihachi, Kazuya and Jin. All three fight each other and in the end Jin was the last man standing. Jin was about to kill Heihachi until he sees an image of his mother and flies away.

The gameplay in Tekken 4 changed a lot mainly the environments. Fighters can interact with the walls for greater damage but players can still roll over to escape corner combos. Also some of the environments played like Dead or Alive for example some levels were uneven so certain moves wouldn’t connect and some fighters would have an advantage. I see where Namco was going trying to go doing something new but it didn’t work out for a lot of people. A lot of the stages did look cool though.

A new game mode was introduced called Story Mode, that featured every characters prologue and ending. So you basically see everyone's reason as to why they entered the tournament. You’ll also see some cutscenes before certain fights.

The roster consist of 23  characters some being clone characters. Kazuya returns after being absent from Tekken 3. Tekken 4 introduced some new characters, Steve Fox the boxer, Craig Marduk the Vale Tudo fighter and Christie Monteiro Eddy’s student and friend that share his moves. Other characters return such as Paul, King Jin, Nina and so much more. You actually see the age in characters meaning that many years have passed and we see them aging. You didn’t really see that in many fighting games. Tekken Force also returns and it's still fun.

In the end I really liked Tekken 4. Now some people might not like it but I understand why. I liked how characters look different and just the dark vibe from the game really got me going.

Tekken History: Tekken Tag Tournament

Tekken History: Tekken Tag Tournament

Robert Knuckles

“Best Introduction to the PS2”

Another classic game right here. Tekken Tag Tournament was released in the arcades in July 1999 and was one of the first games released on the PS2 on October 26, 2000.

Now both versions ran different. The arcade version ran through a 32-bit engine and had the same graphics as Tekken 3 but the PS2 had better 3D graphics and ran so much better than the arcade version. You could actually see characters facial expression and it was a great start for many great Tekken games with 3D graphics.

Now the gameplay in Tekken Tag has the same features and movement from Tekken 3 but the biggest difference is now players can choose two characters instead of one. Tekken Tag features 2 vs 2 tag battles. But in Tekken Tag the round is over when you take out one character so players have to use strategy in when to tag in or tagout characters. When you tag out characters they can regain some health. Players can also perform some nice tag team throws using certain characters.

Tekken Tag Tournament features every fighter from Tekken 1-3. It Was basically a dream roster. You can have Kazuya and Heihachi work together against your opponents. Now some characters do play the same but you have a lot that don’t. Jin and Kazuya have many similar moves same with Julia and Michelle. Only new character was Unknown the game’s boss that can play as any character's playstyle.

Tekken Bowl was featured as a minigame and it's pretty fun. It’s definitely a game where everyone can laugh and have a good time.

Tekken Tag Tournament on the PS2 features up to 4 players so you can play up to four friends for some nice couch gameplay.

I want to end by talking about the music in this game and my god it’s amazing. They even had a soundtrack.

In the end Tekken Tag Tournament is a great introduction to the PS2. The graphics are amazing, the roster is just incredible having every character from the Tekken series come together and the music had to be the best for a fighting game. Namco definitely gave fans something that they dreamed of and it delivered.