Video Game Review: Street Fighter X Tekken

The stage is set. The fighters have assembled. The crossover of two epic franchises is here!

When Capcom and Namco Bandai announced to the world that they were going to have a crossover game between Street Fighter and Tekken during the 2010 San Diego Comic Con, my heart raced and pounded like crazy. The tech demo demonstrating the fight between Ryu and Ken vs Kazuya and Nina using a modified Street Fighter IV engine was literally candy to my eyes, and I couldn't wait for this baby to make it home to consoles and to the laps of dedicated fighters waiting to break in the game and push it to the limit. Fast forward to present time, and after almost two years of marketing, teasing, and occasional trolling/ battling between Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono and Namco Bandai Tekken lead director Katsuhiro Harada, Street Fighter X Tekken finally makes its way to the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC. After a week of release, how does the game fair in terms of performance and presentation? Find out with this short review, and see if fists collide with intensity in this brawler!

Video Game Music Month Song #14: TTT2 "Character Select" Theme

Tekken is a beast of a fighting game. There's no denying that Namco's prized fighter ranks up there along with my list of influential brawlers, and since I began playing the series way back with Tekken 2 for the Playstation, each entry in the series has been an exciting entry into the world of 3D fighting games. Sure, it still retains a sense of two dimensional rules, but Tekken was always more of a technical brawler than Street Fighter ever was. Unlike the latter, this game relied on getting the first draw and punishing your opponent quickly with devastating moves and combos that looked really painful to watch. Each fighter had his or her own unique fighting style based on real martial arts practices seen from around the world, and while it may sound as simple as picking anyone, it's quite the opposite. Every warrior in Tekken had a plethora of moves one has to master, and players literally spend countless hours practicing in order to hone their skills and learn their character's trade. That's how the game's been played all these years, and the system has only constantly evolved itself to allow new and dynamic ways to play it differently. No matter how much I practice, each new installment of Tekken always proves the point that you can't rely on your old tricks, and that suits me just fine.


Tekken Tag Tournament 2 - Character Select Theme

Choosing a memorable tune from the series wasn't easy. Since Tekken 3, there's always been an electronica/ techno based soundtrack for the series I've grown accustomed to, and right now I'm digging the character select theme for the newest entry to the series, Tekken Tag Tournament 2. Katsuhiro Harada, series producer (and someone I've met personally when he visited the country), has frequently collaborated with Akitaka Tohyama (aka AJURIKA), who also provided the techno beats in the first Tekken Tag Tournament. Since the game isn't out yet in my local arcade or the consoles, you can imagine my anticipation building up as I listen to this catchy beat. Groovy.