This is where Tekken really begins. Everyone got the lead out of their shoes, and compared to the first two games, Tekken 3 is blindingly fast. It's also really fun. It's stuffed with features that will have you coming back for more continuously. On Playstation, this game could actually hit 480i. Which is impressive for 1998. Every other Tekken has tried to capture the magic of this one, with decidedly mixed results. This game however is a certified classic. A game so good, it killed Virtua Fighter's relevancy outside of Japan. Even without the extra features of the PS1 version, it's a fantastic game. With Tekken Ball and the Beat-Em-Up side content, it becomes one of the greatest fighting games ever. Street Fighter 2, 3, 4, Soul Calibur, Virtua Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat 1, Marvel vs, Capcom 2, and Tekken 3. These are the most important games in the genre, in my opinion. So what are you waiting for? Enter the King of Iron Fist Tournament. Enter the Tekken.

With Gears of War: E-Day announced recently at the time of this writing, I have taken it upon myself to play through all the mainline Gears of War games, with Gears Tactics possibly being on the docket, as well. I played through Gears of War 1 through 3 in a marathon in 2016, but this is my first experience with the world and its characters as told through The Coalition, the studio that took over after Epic Games sold their soul to the devil to make Fortnite.

Overall, it was a pretty decent shooter. There were some decent innovations to the combat, such as grabbing your enemies out of cover and vaulting over cover. There were even some truly inspired set-pieces involving mech suits. The story itself seems to be progressing in a logical way from where Gears of War 3 left off. Humanity is 25 years removed from the Locust War, and while the newly reformed COG continues its regime, many live outside that society as Outsiders, scrounging off the remnants of the old civilization to survive. One such person is JD Fenix, son of the legendary Marcus Fenix, who has abandoned the COG. JD and his friend Del joined up with a group led by a woman named Reyna. One day, while scavenging with Reyna's daughter Kait and Reyna's brother Oscar, they learn that COG civilians and cities have been disappearing mysteriously. This creeping, dreadful presence, a pack of monsters similar to the Locust known as the Swarm, attack Kait's village and abduct her mother. So it's up to JD, Del, and Kait to save Reyna and avenge the village. Along the way, they'll encounter old friends and learn some pretty horrific truths.

It's such good setup, but unfortunately, that's all it is. It's set up for other games. Without spoiling too much, not much is resolved in this game. Hopefully, we'll get more answers in Gears 5. That lack of a resolution and the attention to worldbuilding results in uneven pacing in terms of gameplay sadly. The first two acts of the game are fighting robots, and while they are fun to kill, I don't think that's why people play these games. By the time we truly shift into 2nd gear in terms of action, the game is basically over, and we never truly get into third gear. Which is unfortunate. Insufferable MCU-like quips from JD, Del, and Kait aside, I still found them likable, and I genuinely want to know more about what's going to happen.

Because of that lack of pacing, the game, while about as long as the other Gears games, feels longer, particularly around chapter 3 or so. It becomes a bit of slog. After about hour 4, the game stops introducing new enemies, and there's very little variation in the combat after that, save for those mech fights which were admittedly very fun.

Graphically, this game was top notch for 2016. A real chance for the Xbox One to flex its muscles. Music and sound and voice acting are sharp all around. Many characters from the first trilogy of games are back and still in top form, and I don't think Laura Bailey's ever turned in a bad performance, and her turn as Kait is no exception. Still sucks they killed Anya offscreen, though. I would be remiss however to say that during my time with the PC version, the cutscene sound would desync from the cutscene sometimes. It was like watching a badly dubbed Japanese monster film from the 1960s at times. Thankfully, restarting from the last checkpoint would fix it, so it wasn't that big a deal.

So the gameplay gets tedious and annoying at times, the story has great set up but no pay off, and the PC port has the odd glitch every now again. By rights, this should be a 3.5 out of 5, but I'm giving it a 4 because I really enjoy Gears of War 4's multiplayer. One thing you can never fault Gears for is its commitment to co-op. Horde Mode is excellent still, and there really is no other online multiplayer shooter like Gears of War. I've liked the multiplayer in all these games.

So, I say give it a shot. It goes on sale all the time on the Xbox games store, and it's on Game Pass, too. While it could have been better, The Coalition proved to me that they are much more competent as shepherds of Gears of War than 343 Industries are as the keepers of Halo.