6 Hours of Tekken 6 BR!!!! (Hands-On Impressions)

Originally, I was going to Super Arcade at Walnut, CA to play more Street Fighter IV and surprisingly, Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion is already out (it came out on Friday) in SoCal. Six hours and over ten bucks later, I was done for the night playing with SoCal's best players and Super regulars ranging from Kane, Cynnik, Suiken, Unconkable, Rip, MYK, Calsonic, and more. These six hours were pretty fun times even though I lost all my matches, but came close on several against some of these tourney-level players. Every 50 cents spent per game is a learning experience in terms of what to do and not in certain spots. I as usual was playing my main character Bryan Fury and it is about time I return to the Tekken franchise even though console SF IV is just around the corner.

Anyway, your card from Tekken 6.0 works in Bloodline Rebellion as a transfer, but your character resets to the default costume even though the items you bought from the previous game are still in. The character customization in terms of wardrobe is pretty crazy with more wacky items. Some customizations can be too nuts and you can't tell if your character is the same from his or her's default appearance. Other than that, the card system is the same as before winning matches gets you more money even though you still earn money by losing. Also, the roulette is the same as before with more opportunities for money and getting lucky for rare items.

As far as gameplay is concerned, it is pretty much the same as Tekken 6 with the obvious changes to characters' movelists and properties to balance the game further. The low parry is now an automatic bound and certain things you can get away in Tekken 6 doesn't work anymore in BR. From what I seen, the new characters, Lars and Alisa, are fun to play as adding more unique styles to the huge character roster (about 40 to choose from, which is nuts). Even though the machine is set to three rounds, eventually, it will be five in a month or two. The rage and bound systems are basically the same as before too which change the momentum of a match to someone's favor pending on the situation. Sure, its still a combo heavy juggle festival, but its Tekken, and it is still the most fun I had with a 3D fighter.

Okay, I save other thoughts for my review soon, so stay tuned for that. If you're around the SoCal area and a Tekken fan, go play Bloodline Rebellion because it will be a while before it comes out on consoles.