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Harada's
brief to his development team: "We want a tutorial, but we don't
want it to be called a tutorial. It has to be a series of mini-games
where the player doesn't realize that they're learning Tekken -
they're enjoying the mini-games as they go along. But then they look
back and realize they've gotten better, too."
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Fight
Lab finds you taking control of Combot - a fighting robot designed by
Violet (who is actually Lee Chaolan in disguise). The idea is that you
train up the Combot by helping it to complete exercises.
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As you
progress through Fight Lab's challenges you'll be able to learn iconic
special moves that belong to other Tekken characters.
"Essentially what this means is you can customize the moveset of
your Combot," says director Katsuhiro Harada. "You can have
Nina's Blonde Bomb, Paul's Phoenix Smasher and Heihachi's Wind God
Fist all in one character." You'll also unlock items that change
the look of your bot.
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You'll
be able to pit your customized Combot against other players online.
"Currently we hope to be able to use them in Arcade mode and
online play," says Harada. "Obviously there's a problem with
ranked matches, but other than that we hope to have other modes
available."
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One of
the first minigames lets you to pull of complex attacks and combos by
tapping any button successively; the aim here is to teach
players the importance of basic timing. After this prologue sequence,
Violet/Lee accidentally destroys the Combot, and you start again with
a new unit - and full controls.
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The next
challenge requires players to perform high, medium and low attacks
against incoming henchmen. Initially, this simply demands that you
respond to icons that appear over the opponent, and perform the
relevant attack. In the subsequent challenge, hitting the incorrect
target will result in an explosion that damages the Combot.
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These
targeting exercises round off with a boss fight against Jack, where
the only way to prevent a damaging counter attack is to hit specific
parts of his body.
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Aside
from what was shown, Harada discussed two other mini-game concepts
that may show up in the final release. The first is a side-stepping
trainer where the player must avoid (or collect) either incoming
sushi, or small pandas which roll towards the Combot.
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Another
"hypothetical idea" is a Juggling tutorial where players must hit
Ganryu up
into the air and then keep him afloat with successive strikes. With
each successful hit Ganryu expands like a beachball, until he eventually
pops.
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Overall,
Fight Lab is designed to train beginners and advanced players alike.
Challenges are graded based upon time and efficiency, so skilled
players will acquire rewards faster.
