I have been a Tekken fan for years and it gives me great joy that it is the first game I am going to cover. It is also the first game I purchased for my PS4.
Story Mode: The Mishima Saga
Like its predecessors, the game follows the Mishima story line. Tekken 7 does a great job in summarizing the events that have occurred on its past releases. This is great for beginners or those new to the franchise as they can easily catch up and grasp the gist of the Tekken realm. In story mode "The Mishima Saga", you follow the path of a reporter whose wife and son became casualties of the war between the Mishima Zaibatsu and G-Corporation. He works on his exposé, seeking the truth behind the Mishima Zaibatsu's history and intentions. As the story progresses he is able to uncover the secrets of the Mishima family. Akuma has been well advertised as a part of this release. When and where does he come in? Apparently, he is indebted to Kazumi (Kazuya's mother) and the latter wishes for Heihachi and Kazuya's demise. The first encounter is with Heihachi on the Mishima dojo and later with Kazuya on the G-Corp building. I don't mean to put a lot of spoilers into this as the story can be much appreciated when played. Seeing a crossover between Tekken and Street Fighter gave me nerdgasm. Oh wait this happened before but it kind of sucked big time. Sorry, I was not a fan of the Street Fighter x Tekken game. Anyway, is it just me or is it a fact that Akuma was badly forced into the story? I feel that if you crop him out, it wouldn't really affect the story line at all. Still, what's not to love about those awesome fight scenes and being able to use Akuma to beat the living daylight out of our beloved Tekken characters or the other way around. Speaking of this guy, he really gave me a hard time (instant karma). See below. As a Tekken fan, I really enjoyed Tekken 7: Fated Retribution's story, it makes me wonder what's in store for us in the next Tekken release (hint: yes, there is a short post-credits scene!).
If you want to beat this mode, I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the following character movesets as some sequences would prove to be tough for beginners: Heihachi, Kazuya, Lee, Lars, Alisa and Akuma.
Well if you're too lazy to play around, you can watch my full playthrough for this mode here:
Once completed, a special chapter is unlocked. Guess who the final boss is?
In order to beat this guy, you have to play it safe as normal combos won't work. He'll just block or dodge your attacks and then punish you hard with his own hard-hitting combos. Just side step against the Hadoukens and time your moves (tip: you can use story mode assist buttons for faster input). I will not explain here in detail, just watch the video to get the hang of it (and see my a** kicked).
You also unlock the other character episodes as you progress. You are to fight one specific opponent depending on which character you are using (gotta love Lili and Asuka) and then you are rewarded with a short character ending scene upon winning. Fear not, I have also compiled these for you:
List of available characters in Tekken 7:
Alisa Bosconovitch
Asuka Kazama
Bob Richards
Bryan Fury
Devil Jin
Eddy Gordo
Feng Wei
Heihachi Mishima
Hwoarang
Jin Kazama
Kazuya Mishima
King
Kuma
Lars Alexandersson
Lee Chaolan
Leo Kliesen
Lili Rochefort
Ling Xiaoyu
Marshall Law
Miguel Caballero Rojo
Nina Williams
Panda
Paul Phoenix
Sergei Dragunov
Steve Fox
Yoshimitsu
Akuma
Claudio Serafino
Gigas
Jack-7
Josie Rizal
Katarina Alves
Kazumi Mishima
Lucky Chloe
Master Raven
Shaheen
Eliza (DLC)
Geese Howard (DLC)
Arcade Battle
Typical arcade mode, you can up your rank here as you fight the A.I. You earn gold as you progress. I honestly don't use this mode much as Treasure battle is better.Treasure Battle
Just like arcade mode, you can fight A.I. here and improve your rank. The fun part is you can also earn gold and unlock items for your characters at the same time. If you finish story mode, I think you unlock more special matches which feature Devil Kazuya, Kazumi, Heihachi and Akuma. Consecutive wins also grant you more treasure chests and higher quality items. Furthermore there are special modes that occasionally appear:Heist Battle - upon defeating that A.I., you are granted a rare item he/she is wearing. This will prioritize the current character you are using, meaning you will most likely ave a mirror match, but upon unlocking all his/her items, you can meet other characters and unlock those specific items as well.
Turbo Battle - from the name itself, go turbo! Both you and the A.I. will move faster than usual, which screws up your usual timing. I am not sure but this might open up new combos. It's not worth the effort to study those though.
Aerial Juggle - you can only deal damage via juggles. Moves outside of juggles will not damage you or the A.I.
Double Damage - damage is doubled duh. Pretty much makes the rounds faster as 1-2 full combos will finish the A.I. off.
Now that we're done with the modes. Let's move on to the game mechanics.
Game Mechanics
If you're new to the game the most basic thing you have to remember are the controls. Each button corresponds to specific limb such that square = left punch, triangle = right punch, x = left kick and circle = right kick. Combine these with directional buttons and you get a variety of moves at your disposal. The only way to really familiarize yourself with this is on practice mode. Since the game does not have a tutorial itself, this mode is going to be your best friend. On practice mode you can view the complete movelist of your chosen character as well as test them out on a dummy opponent. One more thing to remember is that Tekken is a 3D fighting game, therefore, movements aren't linear and you can actually sidestep back or into the foreground. The coolest thing about fighting games are combos. We mostly refer to them in Tekken as juggles since most combos are done with consecutive attacks while opponent is in the air. More on combos later, I aim to create sample combo videos to help fellow players. One side note is that even though these are very attractive and pleasing to watch, they are not the most important part of the game and will not always win you your battles. If you just joined in the community of Tekken, learn the fundamentals such as spacing, wake up options, sidestepping, blocking certain attacks, etc. Once you have your movements refined, polish your offense with combos as they are meant to optimize your damage output.Now if you are familiar with Tekken's concepts...
What's new to Tekken 7? The most notable mechanics introduced are the Rage art, Rage drive, and Power Crush moves. We'll talk about this later. The "bound" state incorporated into the combo system has been replaced by a "screw" state (yes, you are screwed). Kidding aside, I do not exactly know what to call this state but this is triggered by what are called "Screw" attacks that make the opponent appear spinning awkwardly as they land on the ground. Same with the previous bound state, this is used to extend juggles or combos. Most of the old bound moves are still available but no longer trigger that bound state and are now commonly used for floor breaks. In short, the usual combo formula involving bound moves has been replaced by screw moves. Something like launcher -> juggle fillers -> screw attack -> juggle ender. Luckily, the low parry still triggers the bound state and can turn into a full combo as well. More on all of these below. Most characters received new moves nd some existing moves have either been nerfed or buffed. Now, on to some cool stuff!
What's the difference between a Rage art and Rage Drive?
When your character enters "Rage" state, your attacks do more damage and these new moves are available to use. This state can easily be noticed as your character emits a red aura when your health bar drops to a very low percentage. Both moves cancels the rage state after use. Rage art moves are like special attacks that trigger some cinematic attack animations. On the console version these can be assigned to a button. Hell it makes your life super easy. If you are not a fan of that, just sift through the movelist and check your character's rage art button input. One important note is that these moves do more damage depending on how low your health is. Talk about turning the tides. However, having some pros, these moves have deadly cons as well. They can be easily blocked, making you vulnerable to your opponent's most damaging combos. The best way to use them is to incorporate them into your juggles as your ending move. Or, you can just time it waiting for your opponent to whiff or simply by catching them off-guard. I have a simple compilation of all character rage arts below:
We move on to Rage Drives. These attacks do not trigger a cinematic attack animation but rather makes your character glow blue while performing that attack. These are very unique and bring about more variations into combos. The properties of rage drives varies for each character. As for Lili, it causes a screw and you can then then perform some moves that can lead to a second screw and then finishing with your juggle ender. Did that make sense? Yes, you are definitely screwed if this sh** lands on you. I'll include an example on my combo Here's a picture of Lili doing her Rage Drive:
Power Crush
These are moves that push through even after getting hit. You still lose HP upon contact but your attack will not get interrupted. Honestly, these is my least favorite of all the new additions to Tekken. Some will actually spam these moves and can be annoying as f***. Still, with timing and predictions you will be able to use these moves to your advantage. Examples for these moves are Lili's f,f+2, Nina's f+1+2 and Leo's 1+2.
Combos
I made a separate post for combo videos, check it out:https://28gameslater.blogspot.com/2017/12/a-definitive-guide-for.html
