On this week's Free-2-Play Friday we are going to spend a little time in the ring with Tekken Revolution.
Tekken Revolution is the first free-to-play fighting game to make its way to consoles. In your first hour of playing it is very hard to grasp how Tekken Revolution can exist as a F2P game because it looks like Tekken, plays like Tekken, and sounds like Tekken. The game even has its own classic arcade mode where you battle your way to the top of the King of Iron Fist Tournament. There is one noticeable difference that any Tekken fan will instantly pick up on however, and that is the smaller roster of characters.
This is where the first elements of the F2P model become apparent. At the start of the game, you have eight playable characters to choose from. These eight are comprised of both newer and older characters from the Tekken franchise (and sorry Tekken fans, Yoshimitsu isn't one of them). Currently there are 16 characters in the full roster of the game, four of those 16 were added in updates, and more are being planned for future updates. To access these extra characters you must win matches in either the arcade or online battles.
Each battle you win gives you XP and gift points. Online battles give more XP and gift points, but arcade battles provide a great opportunity to build rank more easily. It takes 1,000 gift points to unlock your first character, 7,000 for your second, and from that point on every time you collect 30,000 gift points you can unlock a character. The character that gets unlocked is picked at random so you might need to play quite a few matches before you unlock the character you want. The characters unlocking at random may seem like a deterrent for gamers but with how well Tekken Revolution plays it's hardly a punishment for the hardcore gamer. Tekken Revolution isn't just for the hardcore gamer though. Tekken Revolution is more open to casual gamers than any Tekken before it. One obvious reason is that it is free-to-play, but there are two other reasons that make it more accessible for the casual gamer.
There are RPG elements in place that allow players to level up their fighters like never before. Currently you can level up your character's power, endurance, and vigor. Power increases your damage, endurance increases your health, and vigor increases your chance of a critical hit. Players can choose to level these stats making their favorite character more powerful or stick to playing classically with no stat boosts at all—much like the handicap system that exists within previous Tekken games. This plays in the casual gamer's favor, as they will be more likely to want to beef up their character for battle compared to the die hard Tekken fan.
The other reason is the coin/ticket system that was built into the game. There are three types of coins and one type of ticket currently in the game. Each time you want to play a match in the arcade or online you have to use one of your coins or tickets. The ticket and coins that you use are as follows:
Arcade Coins – Used to play the arcade mode. You can have up to 2 of these at a time and 1 generates every hour.
Battle Coins – Used to play Online matches. You can have up to 5 of these at a time and 1 generates every half hour.
Premium Tickets – Can be used to play the arcade mode or Online matches. You can have up to 999 of these. You get your first premium ticket from beating the arcade mode. If you use a premium ticket or premium coin for either modes and win, you are rewarded a premium ticket back. Also, regardless if you win or lose, you get more XP when you use premium tickets.
Premium Coins – Used the same way premium tickets are, but you can only acquire premium coins from the PlayStation Store. 99 cents gets you 4 Premium Coins, $1.00 for 10, and $4.99 for 30.
Tekken Revolution allows casual gamers to have a good gaming experience without being obstructed, but hardcore gamers will find it harder not to buy those premium coins. Of course, it is not impossible to play Tekken Revolution for long periods of time and not spend money. As long as you hone your skills and beat your opponents, you can continue playing the game nonstop for however long you want due to the premium tickets. The F2P system in Tekken Revolution manages to reward skilled players and also cater to the casual audience. This is quite an impressive feat for any game, Harada-san.
When it comes to playing F2P games there is nothing better than being unable to see the influence of the F2P model on the gameplay, and Tekken Revolution achieves this for the most part,s. With no hint of pay 2 win the gameplay of Tekken remains uncompromised and is definitely worth trying out. So pick up your controller and jump in the ring.
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Tekken Revolution is currently available to download free on the PSN. Have you played Tekken Revolution? Do you think the F2P model has hurt the Tekken formula? Let us know in the comments section below.
If you missed last weeks issue of Free-2-Play Friday check it out right here. Every Friday we will share updates and gameplay details on a different free-to-play game on PlayStation, so stay tuned and be sure to come back for next weeks Free-2-Play Friday.
