2009 has been the year of the fighter with many noteworthy (and somewhat disappointing) entries into the fray. Namco Bandai hasn’t been asleep this year having already released the PSP fighter Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny and now, their flagship series Tekken returns with its sixth iteration. After being released in overseas arcades in 2007, and completely missing stateside arcades, Tekken 6 has arrived for both PS3 and Xbox 360 (the first time appearing on a non-Sony console), and as a mainstay in the fighting genre, it crosses the finish line with proof that a good fighting game is always worth the wait.

Tekken 6 continues the storyline of the Mishima power struggle between father and son, with Jin Kazama positioning himself to rule the world and his father Kazuya Mishima being the only opposition around to stop him. While the act may seem noble, Kazuya’s true ambitions are also that of world conquest with his cursed son being his only obstacle. In the wake of these events, The King of Iron Fist Tournament 6 is announced which sees the return of the 35 competitors from Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection along with 6 brand new fighters. With the largest lineup of characters in the history of the series, Tekken 6 makes strides keeping the game exciting and packing enough reason for hours of replay.

True to its tradition of stunning visuals, Tekken 6 brings out a new level of artistic direction with new stages that are completely immersive and downright distracting. You’ll have your fighters slugging it out in snow covered mountain valleys, a secluded rainforest lake, or even a downed colony satellite filled with flying overhead jets and upside down land formations. Along with being breathtaking, the background stages also have more interactivity with many stages allowing for walls and floors to be broken through, carrying fighters to new arenas to finish the fight. The character customization first seen in Tekken 5 also returns and carries the largest arrangement of modifications to character appearance. Along with that, there are now equipped item moves that add a (very) small amount of weapon combat to the game.

The Tekken series has always been about combos and juggles and Tekken 6 introduces new tweaks to its mechanics that introduce a deeper level of strategy while competing. Character specific combos now have variable ‘combo ender’ options that allow for finishing touches and bonus damage. To longtime players of the series, the combo enders add the missing link to Tekken’s much cherished fighting system and really bring out the flash in each match. While it may seem that juggles are starting to feel like infinite combos, the damage scaling has been revised to keep gameplay from becoming a one-combo round.

The console release of Tekken 6 brings a new mode called Scenario Campaign. Scenario Campaign is a throwback to traditional brawlers such as Double Dragon and Streets of Rage but incorporates the actual move sets of the Tekken fighters. While similar to both the Tekken Force and Devil Within modes from previous releases, the scenario campaign mode gives players a bigger level of storytelling by following the two newest characters of the series – Lars Alexandersson and Alisa Bosconovitch. The duo will travel together and try to piece together the connections to Jin’s need for world dominance, Kazuya’s obsession with destroying his own son and why both Lars and Alisa seem to be integral to those plans. Though this mode has a serious issue with camera placement and broken AI, it’s worth playing given that it’s the easiest alternative to acquiring customization items without using actual fight money credits in game.

For fighting games, the cast of fighters is always a make or break (pun intended) factor. Everyone’s favorites like Paul Phoenix, Nina Williams, Yoshimitsu and the wooden fighting dummy Mokujin return. The 6 new characters all introduce their own uniqueness to the talent pool. Bob is an overweight fighter that uses his size to gain more leverage in the martial arts arena. Alisa is the cybernetically enhanced daughter of Tekken 3’s Dr. B whose graceful fighting style is overshadowed by her robotic attributes. Zafina is an extremely agile assassin researching world ending occurrences stemming from the father-son blood feud. Miguel is a Spanish brawler seeking vengeance for his dead sister. Lars steps in as the wild card with a hidden secret that makes itself apparent during the scenario campaign mode. Whether you’re a casual player or a longtime acquaintance to the Tekken series, these characters drive the overall appeal of the game and provide some of the most exciting thrills in the fighting game genre.

While missing its release in arcades here in the west, Namco Bandai has made sure to include an online fighting mode allowing players to fight against others around the world. Though it’s an excellent way to seek out competition, server lag issues on both consoles have diminished the broad appeal of online fighting. As an alternative, the Ghost Vs mode provides players with computer controlled rivals that mimic actual flesh and blood opponents. Players can also download ghost fighters from both the online community of their own respective XBL and PSN buddy lists.

Tekken 6 has done a spectacular job of giving the players what they want with a fighter, and with so much content and a huge cast of characters, Namco Bandai continues to prove that the genre still has a lot of fight left in it.

This will mark the first time that a title in the Tekken series will be released for a non-PlayStation platform. More details as they break.