Tekken 6

When you have seen a man in a tiger mask punch a panda in the face, you have seen brilliance. We saw this — hell, we did it — in a preview version of Tekken 6, and we’re pretty sure you’ll want to do it, too.

Since Tekken has been primarily a PlayStation franchise, Xbox owners might not be familiar with the series’ fighting style. The gameplay in our early build was not slap-happy; unlike the weapon-based Soulcalibur IV or the fireball frenzy of Street Fighter IV, Tekken 6 seems more…grounded. Many of the moves are based on real martial-arts styles like capoeira, judo, and karate, and real fighting styles incorporate things like, you know, defense and blocking. So be ready to pull back on the joystick. It’ll give you time to gush over the gorgeous visuals.

With a 40-character roster, every Tekken character you have likely ever heard of has returned — Eddy Gordo, Marshall Law, Heihachi, King, Jack (this time upgraded to Jack-6, of course), and Nina among them — but there’s still room for six new characters. The most interesting of the bunch were Zafina, a Middle-Eastern fighter with assassin skills; Bob, a martial-arts master voluntarily turned round boy in suspenders (sorry, we couldn’t help but think of Street Fighter IV’s Rufus for a sec); and the console-exclusive Lars (illegitimate son of Heihachi) and robot-girl Alisa, complete with pop-out mechanical wings…and pop-off mechanical head. And then it gets weird. A bear, a 2,000-pound wooden training dummy, a divorced kangaroo…suffice it to say that Bob isn’t the only character thrown in for laughs.

The King of the Iron Fist Tournament might be the main event, but we were just as impressed with the Scenario Campaign — a proper 3D brawling adventure in the spirit of the Tekken Force and Devil Within minigames. Only there’s nothing mini about the Campaign: you can choose any of the 40 characters and smash through the storyline, unlocking character customizations as you go. The only thing that really baffled us — and we’re saying this about a game that features the aforementioned headless robot girl — was that the campaign is playable cooperatively on Live...but not offline. No couch co-op for a brawler? That makes as much sense as a man in a tiger mask punching a panda in the face.