I've never been a big fighting game player, havent played any traditional fighters (ie: not Smash) extensively since Tekken Tag 2 and Street Fighter 3 back on the PS2 when I was a kid, but Tekken 8 has me hooked.

This game is excellent. The main campaign was a blast. The gameplay within it keeps it nice and varied, bouncing between different characters, opponents and scenarios. Despite having no context for the story, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and did find myself getting invested, and it has made me want to go and check out previous entries in the series.

Online has been a blast. Both ranked, and playing with friends, have been a great time. The matchmaking has felt solid, especially after a couple of months where ranks have had a chance to get settled, and haven't had any noticeable issues with lag or anything of that nature. I'm a particular fan of how a lobby full of your friends can have multiple ongoing matches at once, making it quick and easy to play in a large group and cycle opponents.

Characters felt easy to pick up and get the basics of so you can have fun trying them out or getting through their story mode battles, while still feeling rewarding to put more time in too. There is enough variety to find one you click with, without feeling overwhelming and as though there is too much choice, or that finding a character you love might take forever. Playing through the story also helps here, allowing you to get a bit of a taste of a large portion of the cast.

The other game modes, such as the Arcade Story or Character stories, can be nice for a bit of a change of pace, but I found that after putting a bit of time in to the game, the battles did become quite trivial even on the hardest difficulty. The Character stories in particular are quite nice for giving characters a test run to see if you enjoy their kits, while getting a bit of lore and plot in there too. Tekken Ball is also sort of ridiculous, but in a good way.

Honestly I'm really surprised I enjoy this game as much as I did. I basically only picked it up to play with friends, and I have found myself putting a tonne of time in to it, getting 100% of the achievements, and getting invested in to online Ranked. I'll be surprised if I put it down any time soon.