Preview: Street Fighter x Tekken

The biggest fighting games today are going head to head in Street Fighter x Tekken, a game mixing both characters from the Street Fighter and Tekken universe and pitting them head to head against each other. It’s a mix up that fans have been asking to get for a long time so at the Eurogamer Expo, the game was on display for everyone to play but let me tell you, there was quite the crowd surrounding it.

As you would have guessed, Street Fighter x Tekken is a fighting game that makes use of the characters from both games. The actual fights still take place on a 2D plane, the same way Street Fighter 4 does but things like the art style and overall mechanics have been re invented to fit the new theme.

Where's my wife!

The gameplay isn't too different from Street Fighter 4 but in a way that it leans more to the Marvel vs. Capcom side with the simple tag combinations. Rather than a focus attack, those buttons have been swapped out for tag use. You can tag your partner in any time during the match but in the case of an obvious balance to the game, you will have to wait a certain amount of time before you can swap again.

The basis of the fights is how you use the tag system properly in terms of defence and offence. For example you can tag in your partner halfway through your attack so he/she can continue it on and deal even more damage or juggle them continuously by tagging in and out.

The one thing I didn’t agree with the tag system is that if one of your characters lose, the match is over. It kind of seems like a pointless mechanic, I mean if the player can go on why not let them? This also doesn’t work with the new Pandora system. The Pandora system allows you to sacrifice your partner for a huge power boost which lasts a limited amount of time. The whole point of losing a player doesn’t make sense here, so then technically the match should be over right? Also once the effects of Pandora wear off, the player who activates it loses automatically!

The Pandora system in action! Oooh scary...

Honestly it just doesn’t validate the point of losing a match, if one of your characters gets defeated. They should have allowed it to keep going regardless because if they did, then the point of Pandora even being there and the risk of using it would bring a whole lot more meaning to the game’s mechanics.
The action is fast paced yet it still has enough technical details that button mashers will have a hard time winning. It’s interesting the kind of advantage the Tekken characters were given to deal with fireballs. They can simply duck under it, something similar to Dudley’s ducks which he uses to get inside. What this ensures is that fireball spammers can’t just cheat out the Tekken users but also the fact that it has to be timed well, balances the move on both sides.

Visuals are pretty sharp and take after the look from Street Fighter 4. No there is no splattering ink or smoke trails instead they have been replaced with more flashy effects to emphasise certain special attacks and tags. Stages are taken from both games and they seemed to have been given a sense of interactivity. After each round the characters move to a different stage, for example they were fighting on the roof but once the round is over, they jump down to the ground.

Some ridiculous super's there too! Seriously you get hit with his, just stop playing!

It’s unsure how this game will be received once it’s released since its character system makes no sense to me and is sure to frustrate some people. I can understand where they are coming from with the strategy aspect but come on; it just feels like the match isn’t over. The actual gameplay itself is fun and fast, pretty much the key aspects you would expect from a fighting game but for now all we can do is give the final verdict when the  the game is released next year!