Is Tekken 7 The Prototype For Tekken x Street Fighter?

Tekken 7 has new additions such as rage arts and rage drive which can be compared to Street Fighter's critical art/ultra attack and guard break attacks. The gameplay still captures the essence of Tekken however the gameplay addititons could be in to present more interesting and fun fighting scenarios and/or to see if a Tekken X Street Fighter would be possible.

Akuma

The addition of Akuma in Tekken 7 is truly wonderful and he fits in the game perfectly despite the fact he is one of the few characters that have a projectile attack. What's even better is that the majority of his moves and combos from the Street Fighter series can still be performed using the same buttons/sequences. Akuma in this game may answer the question whether street fighter characters can exist in Tekken but for now it's fair to say characters like Ryu, Ken and Oni can definitely fit into Tekken based on having fighting characteristics similar to Akuma.

Rage Arts/Drive

Rage Arts and rage drive have changed the usual combat scenario when a fighter is low on health as the player can change the momentum by successfully using the rage art or drive. As most major fighting games such as Mortal Kombat and Injustice have cinematic high damage attacks and overriding attacks, it may have influenced the idea of rage arts and rage drive. The main difference is that Tekken 7 have implemented it in way which can be considered more fair as it's enabled once the player reaches a certain amount of health.

So far there is hardly anyone that feels the rage arts, rage drive or addition of Akuma compromise the Tekken gameplay. The game is getting very positive reviews and the most notable one is 9.5 from IGN and that suggests most people are enjoying the gameplay and the new features. In my opinion, this game proves Tekken X Street Fighter can happen and with Akuma being balanced with other Tekken characters yet maintaining most moves verifies the addition of other Street Fighter characters.