Tekken Revolution

Fighting games come in all shapes and sizes, and many are built upon the concepts that genre giants like Tekken laid down in the past. Many games have come from the Tekken series, and one that briefly caught the eye of the public was Tekken Revolution. Released as a free to play PlayStation 3 title, it was the first game in the Tekken series to be free to play.

Though the game came to an abrupt end in 2017, for a brief period of time it was well-received by fans of the Tekken series. How does it stand up now, though, that we are five years from its closure?

Tekken Tag in a new setting

If you ever played Tekken Tag Tournament 2, then you have seen much of what Tekken Revolution had to offer you. It re-used many of its assets, though it did bring in some interesting new additions in the form of its Critical and Special Arts moves. On top of that, player movement was changed and it was easier for characters to move around backwards and forwards as opposed to the old, slow shuffle of previous Tekken games.

A big upgrade, too, was the introduction of a stats feature for characters that allowed you to grow and develop your favourite characters. With 29 characters to choose from, too, it had a pretty decent roster of characters to choose from. Everyone bar Eliza, the vampire, and Kinjin, a boss character, were in previous Tekken games.

The game itself, though, did not really do enough to innovate from the process that made Tekken Tag Tournament 2 so fun. It was a bit limited and it was felt to be a bit of a diluted equivalent of TTT2. Outside of that, though, it was an attempt to create a more arcade-inspired version of a Tekken game. While it was generally successful at the time, the introduction of pay-to-win features for stat boosting caused a schism within the community.

Entertaining combat but lacking in depth (6/10)

The main problem that Tekken Revolution had was that it simply did not do enough to innovate. Other games in the series always tried to bring something new to the table. Outside of some enhanced movement and the controversial stats system, though, Tekken Revolution did not do enough to innovate on the games that came before it.

What remained was an enjoyable but limited fighting game that probably failed to live up to the lofty standards of the series. Even for its time, too, the visuals were quite limited and outdated. That put a lot of players off, and when you factored in the play-to-win functions it was hard to give Tekken Revolution much of a positive review.

Pros

• Interesting roster of characters that helped to give fans some proper fan service
• Improved movement of characters was one of the major benefits of Tekken Revolution

Cons

• Visuals were outdated even for the time, thanks to the re-use of so many TTT2 assets
• Pay to win features helped to kill the game and stop it from realising its potential

Tekken Revolution is a fighting game that has captivated many players with its unusual but deadly characters. Immerse yourself in a universe of endless battles for the position of the manager of a large global corporation, where demons and ordinary people can fight on an equal footing. Cyborgs, schoolgirls, bears, aristocrats, and Russian generals are set to start the craziest competition of all time.

Pros of the game:

• For the first time in fighting game history, you'll be able to give your favorite character improvements
• Several different game modes