![]() ![]() Despite my limited time with the game, Heat offered a unique layer of strategy that I can see getting much deeper when the game is able to be dissected fully. Do you pop Heat now through a Burst to shift momentum in your favour? Or do you wait for an opening to land an Engager, giving you even more options to keep your opponent guessing. These facets in tandem with Heat’s inherent power create tense moments of consideration amongst the chaos. If you’re wondering why you’d ever opt to use the Engager as opposed to a Burst, it’s because Burst only gives you one charge of Heat Gauge, where Engagers give you two. Engagers on the other hand, require specific attacks to connect with your opponent in order to trigger Heat, each character sporting roughly five moves each that are capable of this. Burst is the most simple, activated with a single button across all characters that’s handy in a pinch. There’s two ways you can enter a Heat state in any given round – Heat Burst, and Heat Engager. Both of these require Heat Gauge to activate, with Heat Dash consuming one charge, and Heat Smash consuming them all as a result of exiting your Heat state early. The former is a quick dash that can be cancelled to apply pressure, and lead into mix-ups, where the latter is a hefty attack that cashes in the rest of your Heat state in exchange for a good bit of damage. The most interesting options offered up to you in Heat are the Heat Dash, and Heat Smash. It should be noted that the Rage system is still here, sans TEKKEN 7’s Rage Drives, working hand-in-hand with Heat as opposed to replacing it. You can enter a Heat state once per round for 10 seconds, providing additional advantage on hit and on block, as well as bolstering or even changing the properties of certain moves. TEKKEN 8’s doubling down on aggressive play primarily comes in the form of the Heat. This is also something of a cause for concern, though, with a glaring lack of defensive options in the face of this design philosophy that often gives way to limitations in the ways you can respond to an overly oppressive opponent. It offers the white knuckle do-or-die moments from TEKKEN 7 melded with a style of play that encourages you to always be looking for openings in neutral. TEKKEN 8 feels tailor made with competition in mind, both to satisfy the perspective of viewers and players. From Michael Murray’s opening keynote to getting my hands on the controller, it’s clear that aggression is the name of the game in TEKKEN 8. After two hours of cramming in as many VS Battles as possible, I’ve come away from TEKKEN 8 excited to play more. Thanks to Bandai Namco Entertainment, we’ve been lucky enough to go hands-on with TEKKEN 8 to see how these changes pan out for ourselves. It’s a daunting performance to follow up, which is precisely the reason why TEKKEN 8 isn’t playing it safe. ![]() Accounting for almost one fifth of franchise-wide sales with a staggering 10 million units sold, TEKKEN 7 marked a turning point for the series as it became more mainstream then ever. There’s a lot of weight resting on the shoulders of TEKKEN 8 after 7’s rampant success. ![]()
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