Developer: Namco Bandai Games
Publisher: Namco Bandai Games
Platform: PS3, 360
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 – Review
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 has been released by Namco Bandai and is available for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. All of the familiar fighters from the previous Tekken games and a few alter-ego’s are available for us to control again. Will this be another hit out of the park or just one of the many in a famous franchise?
Story:
As with many fighting games there isn’t really that much storytelling going on or a major plot that unwinds when you play the game. However at the beginning of the game we get treated to an amazingly well animated intro that gives us just a glimpse of what Tekken is about. Well it’s pretty much about climbing the ranks and becoming the strongest warrior the world has ever seen. Cliché but I doubt many of us will buy Tekken games hoping for a great story.
During the fight the characters tend to make small references to each other (not always) that might indicate some extra background stories out of the previous games in the series. Welcome one-liners but again, not that needed in a fighting game. Personal touches are always welcome to create a better atmosphere though.
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 offers us some kind of ‘Story’ aside from the main game though. The game mode is called ‘Fight Lab’ and is basically a tutorial mode (which isn’t all too easy if you’re new to fighting games or Tekken) packed with a decent amount of humor and likeability. During the stages in Fight Lab you get to control Combot, a robot which is getting designed to be the best battledroid ever. You will learn the basics (which were already hard for me…) to power up your Combot. During the small cutscenes you will get to learn your designer who tends to be more interested in the ladies than his own projects, as is very noticeable when out of the blue your combot is knocking off clothes from a female ‘assistant’. Prepare to fight Power Rangers wannabe’s who just didn’t make the final cut to star in the series. All in all a very fun way to transform a mere series of tutorial levels to a small storyline with it’s many merits.
Note: When grading this category I will solely base myself on the ‘Fight Lab’ the game offers us and the enjoyment it gave me.
Graphics:
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is beautifully animated going from the cinematics to the actual game itself. Like many games that have a great appearance they have their own part of rough edges, for example the character customisation does not look all to well for each character. Some of the chosen items to customise your character simple float around your character not even touching them where they should normally connect. In some levels some of the background action and/or characters look a little more pixelated than others. The waterlevel looks nice but when standing still it just seems your feet are cut off and the water isn’t even around your feet and so on. I realise these are minor glitches but they tend to get in the way of the perfect graphics the game could offer us otherwise.
Sound:
When it comes to the overall sound of the game there are no complaints at all. Do not expect a soundtrack that you will hum when taking a shower or on a busride to town, but all in all the music is pleasant, action packed and most important of all – it’s not annoying after getting your ass handed back to you for the 100th time in a row. The action sounds are decent and the developers did their effort to give each of the playable characters a voice in the language that suits their character. (and that makes sense with the ‘story’) A good job, but don’t expect too many epic moments here.
Note: The game has a mode in which you can ‘choose your soundtrack’ when playing – a fun gimmick but I reckon not much time will be invested in this mode when you’re eager to fight.
Gameplay:
The most important part that defines if a fighting game is any good or not, the gameplay. To ease the mind of all of those who just read all the previous paragraphs hoping to hear if it’s good or not – it’s good. Everything works as it should work and the number of buttons is kept quit simple: 4 action/attack buttons (which can be combined to perform more actions ofcourse), several buttons just for switching characters when playing with a 2 man team and the D-pad to control your character. (Another honorable mention goes to the fact that the D-pads of this generation are so amazingly horrible to play with)
Even though the game is called Tekken Tag Tournament 2 the game offers us the chance to pick 1 or 2 characters to play with. Personally I think 2 characters is always the best choice seeing you can always switch your character if your opponent is annoying against the one you’re currently controlling. Keep in mind when 1 of your character’s HP is reduced to zero the match will end so don’t forget to switch at the right time to turn a loss into a possible victory.
After finishing the ‘Fight Lab’ mode (Tutorial mode) I still had a long way to go when it came to mastering the skills of guarding, grappling or my tag team combo’s. Some may be discouraged by the fact you will still need to learn a lot from actual games but the game will reward you for playing anyway. When you play you will get rewarded with currency to buy items/moves out of the customisation menu. This is a place where you can pick any character model, customise it and make your own powerful warrior. As stated before, this mode still has it’s own fair amount of bugs when it comes to fitting the chosen items to every character and keep in mind that you will earn a decent amount of the currency needed to buy items when playing, most items will still cost quite a lot. Playing a lot is the key!
The arcade mode consists out of you choosing your team (or going solo) and climb to the top to earn your better grade. Even when playing on a easy difficulty the game will noticeably get harder each level and it will prove to be a challenge to get through the arcade mode with several different characters. Yet again, this is what a fighting game is all about, climbing to the top with at least some effort put in to it.
For those that are ready (or just don’t want to play against a computer opponent) will surely enjoy themselves with the online modes. Which means basically fighting online and hoping to get a decent ranking. I reckon this will point out itself when you are interested in playing online.
Conclusion:
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is a fun game that’s all about fighting. If you’re a fan of the previous Tekken games this game will perfectly fit in your collection of Tekken games. If you’re a fan of other fighting games, this game might be a great way to expand your horizon when it comes to fighting games.
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 - Review,
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