Tekken 8 is shaping up to be the franchises’ most ambitious outing yet, and with the recent Tekken 8 Closed Beta Test (CBT), the hype has reached new levels. Running from October 20 up to October 23, the test set out to give players a feel for the game before its grand launch in January of the coming year.
This isn’t the first time that Bandai Namco has given players access to Tekken 8. The Closed Network Test took place in July, and although it set out to fix the game’s servers, it still gave players a taste of what is to come. As someone who has played both the Tekken 8 Closed Beta Test and the Closed Network Test, I’m happy to report that the game has only gotten better since its admittingly excellent outing those few months back.
The Tekken 8 Closed Beta Test Adds a Bunch of More Content to Pick and Play
The CNT was pretty barebones. Ultimately, it only had one mode: Ranked Match. You could still practice your combos in a pseudo–Practice Mode (just don’t accept any matchups while pairing up), but that was pretty much it.
In the Tekken 8 Closed Beta Test, there’s a lot more going on. First and foremost, there is a lot of emphasis being placed on the new Tekken Fight Lounge mode. Here, you create your own avatar and interact with other players in a setting trying to replicate the arcade feel. Originally, I wasn’t completely on board with this, as it looked kind of goofy, even for Tekken.
But you can clearly see that there is a lot of potential here for fun activities in the full game. It seems like it’ll be the main way that you customize your characters. I especially like how it’s the way that you enter Ghost Battle, which is a shining feature from this CBT.
If you go up to any player in the Fight Lounge, you can view their profile and select to fight a Ghost version of one of their characters. A Ghost is basically an AI trying to replicate that player’s playstyle as much as possible. Not only is this feature insanely cool, but it’s also very well implemented. The team has clearly been improving their AI from Tekken 7 and it shows. The Ghosts utilize Heat, and they also do unique combos. All of this just makes for a really good time.
And let’s not forget: the Tekken 8 Closed Beta Test also adds a few familiar faces, as well as a cool new character that fans have been really excited about. In addition to the characters from the CNT, the new beta adds Raven, Feng, and Azucena. Raven and Feng are back and feel better than ever. But the star of the beta was definitely Azucena. Her unique fighting style adds so much more depth to the roster, and she’s just a fun presence on the screen in general.
Other than that, we’ve got a new stage, titled Ortiz Farm. This stage includes a bunch of gimmicks, like Balcony and Floor Break, and a lot of Wall Blasts. It was a blast to play on, and utilizing all of the gimmicks to continue your combos was a ton of fun.
How does the Tekken 8 Closed Beta Test Improve the Game’s Netcode?
In the Fighting Game Community (FGC), netcode has always been a sensitive topic, especially when it comes to Tekken. Many feel that the game’s netcode doesn’t stack up well against contemporaries like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. But personal experience with the Tekken 8 Closed Beta Test, I feel as though they’ve greatly improved from Tekken 7, and even the CNT.
It may be attributed to the game being available to more players, but I felt that I was matching up quite frequently. And the connections were pretty solid as well. Unlike Tekken 7, one and two bar connections are actually playable. I played with players half-way across the globe, and hardly noticed major issues. Can it still be improved? Yes. But I think a Network Test was well worth it if this was the result.
How is Overall Balancing? Has the Tekken 8 Closed Beta Test Improved on the CNT’s Shortcomings?
With games like Tekken, proper balancing takes a decent amount of time. Most players would say that Tekken 7‘s balancing is finally in a pretty good place right now, and that game’s lifespan is nearing the end. The CNT had a ton of balancing issues, such as Kazuya’s incredibly powerful new string, and Jin’s launching, delayable, and safe 3-hit string that was a bit too overpowered.
Some of these issues, like the aforementioned ones, have been ironed out. But the big problem comes with the Heat mode. Characters like Hwoarang still benefit too much from chip damage, and Heat mode spam. Heat in general still needs a lot of work. It’s a fine system right now, but once the game officially releases, it should be a bit more balanced.
It feels like currently they’re two camps of characters: ones that benefit from Heat, and ones that benefit too much from Heat. Slightly reducing the chip damage taken during Heat for those spammy characters would go a long way in fixing the game’s underlying issue.
But overall, I had a blast with the Tekken 8 Closed Beta Test. It feels like Bandai Namco is listening to the community’s complaints and is taking action with the game accordingly. Tekken 8 is set to release on January 26, 2024. Before then, I cannot wait to see what the Tekken team has in store for us next.
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