

An admitted fan boy, I had mixed emotions about the differences on several levels: Though I loved the fact that you could now fight within enclosed arenas instead of infinitely open areas, I was dismayed when I learned that tagging a partner had been nixed.

And eventually we found out.Ī near-drastic change from the previous four games, Tekken 4 has made more alterations to its fighting engine than we have previously seen.

Implementing the 'sidestep' and tag features for the third installment and Tekken Tag respectfully, the designers at Namco continued to wow us with their innovation and dedication to improvement and left us to imagine what Tekken 4 would bring. Humbly planting its roots as "that other" 3D fighter in the wake of Virtua Fighter and Battle Arena Toshindenand then rising to prominence with the follow-up still considered by many an old-school masher to be the greatest "3D" fighter of all timeTekken has always raised the bar a notch higher than what the rest of the world was expecting. Consistently improving in all aspects, the journey from Tekken 1 to Tekken Tag Tournament has been the perfect example of digital evolution. The once mighty king among all PlayStation fighters, the slick Namco fighter has been sitting triumphantly on its roost for years. This rule not only applies to existence and human beings, but also to videogames and what better subject to illustrate this point, than Tekken 4? Constantly evolving and transforming into something slightly different than before, inevitablitiy of change is one of Nature's true absolutes. Things change attitudes, philosophies, perspectives, and other such notions that can shape and mold a person's ideal of what something is, was, or could be.
