A multiplayer demo of the game for Xbox One was available for us to play. The demo had access 29 playable characters with lots of Fan favorites returning and many new ones. The demo included access to the story mode of the game or 1 v 1 matches with other players. 

The combo system in Tekken 7 takes some of the aspects of Tekken Revolution, in which it is no longer possible to bound a character during a combo. However, the bound state still exists, but “a lot of movies that use to bound are being taken out”. In order to compensate the lack of bounds, many moves were given new dynamics in order to extend combos. Low parries will still cause a bound effect as they do in Tekken 6. 

One of the new battle mechanics introduced was a new type of move called Power Crush. These moves absorb damage from a mid or a high attack, and it still continues despite taking damage. Rage Arts is another new mechanic that will alter the performance of a single move of a character during Rage Mode. A Rage art will perform an attack animation similar to Ultra Moves from the Street Fighter series. Characters will immediately lose their rage when Rage Art is performed.

Visually, Tekken 7 is gorgeous. The game is being run on Unreal Engine 4 and the graphical fidelity is pushed to new heights. Character models are beautifully rendered and combat is very fast and fluid and very easy to get into. One mechanic I did like was the new weather effects that can happen at any given time during a match. One minute it will be sunny and then it may start to rain after a while.

I played three 1 v 1 matches with some other players and had a lot of fun trying out some of the different characters. I am not very good at fighting games by any stretch of the imagination but I am pretty excited to delve deeper into the game when it comes out. Tekken 7 will be available for Xbox One, PS4 and PC in early 2017. Whether you’re a Tekken fan or looking for a fun fighting game, then look no further.