Tekken 4


Tekken 4 is a 2001 fighting video game developed and published by Namco as the fifth main installment in the Tekken series, following the non-canonical release of Tekken Tag Tournament in 1999. It was released as an arcade game in 2001 and on the PlayStation 2 in 2002.
Placing distinction on the plot in the home version, the game also harbored many gameplay revisions, such as the series-unique ability for the player to move about before the round begins and the introduction of walled stages. There are up to twenty-three characters to choose from, including six new. The game's story reveals that Kazuya has been revived following his death 20 years prior and enters the King of Iron First Tournament 4 to take back the Mishima Zaibatsu.
Tekken 4 introduced significant new gameplay changes from the previous games in the series. For the first time, it allowed players to maneuver around an arena interacting with walls and other obstacles for extra damage. These "environmental hazards" in turn allowed players to juggle opponents for consecutive combos and allowed the designers to implement a "switch maneuver", which let players escape from cornering and throw the tide in their favor. The game engine had been tweaked to be more focused on the environment, causing the characters to move more slowly and fluidly than in Tekken Tag Tournament. Finally, the game introduced a brand new graphics system, that featured increased lighting, dynamic physics, and smoother surfaces.
The console version of Tekken 4 includes a beat 'em up minigame available from the outset, called Tekken Force. Similar to the previous minigame found in Tekken 3, it presents the player with an over-the-shoulder perspective as they fight wave upon wave of Heihachi's Tekken Force through four stages, eventually facing Heihachi himself. The player can pick up health and power-ups while fighting waves of enemies. In the minigame it is discovered that the Tekken Force possesses different ranks in the organization, evident in different amounts of stamina, strength, and skill. A new Story mode in the home version unlocks cutscenes when played, in contrast to previous installments in which such cutscenes were unlocked from playing the Arcade mode. Tekken 4 received generally favorable reviews. Its sequel, Tekken 5, was released in arcades in 2004 and the PlayStation 2 in 2005.

Characters

The game features a total of 23 characters. Returning from Tekken 3 are Bryan Fury, Heihachi Mishima, Hwoarang, Jin Kazama, Julia Chang, King II, Kuma II, Lei Wulong, Ling Xiaoyu, Nina Williams, Panda, Paul Phoenix, and Yoshimitsu. With Eddy Gordo there are 14 characters returning from Tekken 3, but Eddy appears only in the console version as a playable character. In Arcade Version, he makes a cameo appearance in Christie Monteiro's Ending. In addition, there are three characters from Tekken 2 who make their return to the canon series : Kazuya Mishima, Lee Chaolan, and Marshall Law.
While most characters face Heihachi at the end, four characters have their own boss characters: Kazuya and Hwoarang face Jin, Lee faces Combot, and Heihachi faces Kazuya. In addition, Tekken 4 featured unusual costumes for the returning characters, and replaced the character Mokujin with Combot.

New characters

Unlockable character
Only in arcade version a cameo character
Only in console version playable
Skin/palette swap
Skin/palette swap when Lee Chaolan unlocked

Plot

Two years after the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3, Heihachi Mishima and his scientists have captured samples of Ogre's blood and tissue to splice with Heihachi's genome, in order to make him immortal. The experiment fails since Heihachi lacks the Devil gene. His grandson, Jin Kazama, possesses the Devil gene but has been missing since the previous tournament. Meanwhile, Heihachi learns that the body of his son, Kazuya, who also had the Devil gene and whom Heihachi killed by throwing into a volcano twenty years ago, is stored in the labs of the G Corporation, a cutting edge biotech firm making revolutionary advances in the field of biogenetics research. Heihachi sends his Tekken Forces to raid G Corporation facility in order to retrieve Kazuya's remains. However, the mission fails when the Tekken Force is wiped out by none other than Kazuya himself, who has been revived by G Corporation. Unknown to Heihachi, Jin has been in a self-imposed training exile in Brisbane, to unlearn the Mishima karate style and master traditional karate, loathing anything to do with his bloodline since Heihachi's betrayal.
In an attempt to lure Kazuya and Jin out, Heihachi announces the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4, with the ownership of the Mishima Zaibatsu being the top prize. At Stage 7, where Jin and Kazuya are scheduled to fight, Jin is ambushed and captured by the Tekken Force and taken to Hon-Maru, a Mishima Dojo in the woods. Kazuya is declared the default winner of Stage 7 and meets Heihachi at the final stage later questioning him of Jin's disappearance. After the fight, Heihachi leads Kazuya to Hon-Maru, where an unconscious Jin has been chained. Kazuya's body is suddenly taken over by Devil, who telekinetically knocks out Heihachi and then subconsciously taunts Jin, which causes him to wake up with his Devil powers activated. Breaking the chains, an enraged Jin fights Kazuya and defeats him. Heihachi regains consciousness and goes to fight against exhausted Jin, but is also defeated. As he is about to finish Heihachi, a vision of his mother, Jun Kazama, causes him to spare Heihachi in her honor. Stretching his Devil wings, Jin takes flight, leaving the unconscious Kazuya and Heihachi in Hon-Maru.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Tekken 4 on their September 1, 2001 issue as being the most-successful arcade game of the year.
Tekken 4 has received an averaged score of 81% at GameRankings and 79/100 at Metacritic. Edge gave it a mediocre review, highlighting the game's experimental and pretty nature, and that overall it is a more solid and thoughtful proposition than its predecessor, but concluded that the game feels "over-familiar and curiously uninspired." On the other hand, GameSpot's Greg Kasavin referred to it to "one of the better fighting games in years" and "an extremely solid, long-lasting, accessible, and fun-to-play fighting game that comes from one of the world's best developers of the genre." GameSpot later nominated Tekken 4 for "Best Fighting Game of 2002". IGN's Jeremy Dunham noted the walls and confined spaces as "probably Namco's wisest decision," and called the game "a solid fighter in every sense of the word."