Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Review
Developer: Namco Bandai Games
Publisher: Namco Bandai Games
Platform: Arcade, Playstation 3, X-Box 360, Wii-U
Release date: Out now
Tekken has seen its fair share of instalments over the years and with every new entry into the series came an ever expanding roster. It was only in 2000’s did all of Tekken’s current characters come together in one game for an all out epic tag team brawl. The game was quite a hit back in its day mainly due to the fact it included many characters who had disappeared from the Tekken storyline. Up to that point, Kazuya Mishima being heavily focused on within that game, on its box art and most promotional material for Tekken Tag Tournament due to his absence from Tekken 3 and being a fan favourite. The game still holds a cult status today in that it is still played worldwide at game conventions and tournaments more often than any other entry into the Tekken series thus far.
It would be ten years since the release of Tekken Tag Tournament before Namco Bandai would announce at Tokyo Game Show 2010 on September 18, that Tekken Tag Tournament 2 was being developed. Namco Bandai said the game would expand on the tag mechanics, incorporate some gameplay mechanics from Tekken 6, and feature characters from the more recent Tekken games. This sounded like an amazing follow up to the original Tekken Tag Tournament, but the question is did Namco deliver with Tekken Tag Tournament 2?
To start off, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (TTT2) has an impressive starting roster of 49 characters. These characters range across the entire Tekken series all the way up to Tekken 6. The game features long lost characters such as Alex, Jun Kazama, Prototype Jack and Forest Law to the more recurring and popular characters such as Kazuya Mishima, Jin Kazama, King, Yoshimitsu and more. The game has an astounding roster of characters all with their own ending cinematics. That leads to a lot of replay value through the arcade mode alone. The game does indeed improve upon the tag mechanics of the last game, now including tag combos to switch in and out between partners by doing extremely powerful double team moves or air juggle attacks. Those who haven’t played Tekken games in awhile or want a brush up on their techniques will be pleased to know there is a ‘Fight Lab’ mode in the game where the player takes control of Combot and learns the basics and essentials you will need for Tekken Tag Tournament 2. This mode really is useful for new players starting out or those needing a refresher in basics. Customisation mode comes back in this game allowing players to outfit any character with a variety of different gear and there really are tons to choose from within the game.
The game supports an amazing soundtrack that fits seamlessly within the game, but in a great move Namco Bandai have included ‘Tekken Tunes’ a feature that allows you to take any music that you have on your console and you can assign it to any stages if you don’t like the music within the game or just prefer listening to your own music as you play. This is quite a nifty feature to include within the game. The game also features a gallery mode to watch any ending cut-scenes that have been unlocked or the opening cinematic for both the console and arcade versions of the game.
Online mode within the game is quite similar to its predecessors in the Tekken series but with some nice additions to it. Firstly players while waiting for matches can go into a practice arena and do a bit of fighting as they await there next fight which also ties into another nice feature, now you don’t need to play a match and go back into the menu screens, back into the lobby and find another match, it now prompts the player to search for more matches after the end of their current match. This is a big improvement over the older system of online matchmaking. Like the previous instalments the online mode consists of ranked matches and player matches and they played fairly smoothly for me with no signs of lag.
Characters within the game have been given a great amount of detail visually and each one looks amazing. New character models of characters long gone from the Tekken series look equally as impressive. The game is fluid and combat is fast. The audio makes an impact, punches make a satisfying thud noise and give the player the feeling they are really doing damage as each hit lands. There is even more for players who purchase Tekken Tag Tournament 2, before release there was many offers of DLC for pre ordering Tekken tag 2 which led many to think back to Street Fighter x Tekkens ‘dlc’ content where Capcom charged players for locked on disc content. This had led many fans to despair upon hearing there was DLC announced pre Tekken Tag 2’s release. In an unexpected move series producer Katsuhiro Harada stated that no DLC characters, stages or costumes would ever be paid DLC. Some say this move was made to distance Namco Bandai from the move Capcom made on Street Fighter x Tekkens ‘dlc’. Regardless of the reasons this added new costumes, stages and an impressive ten new characters to Tekken Tag 2’s roster bringing the total to 59 characters. Some of the DLC characters include Kunimitsu, Angel, Unknown and Violet. These characters are made available through a version update of the game. So all players need to access the extra content is an internet connection. More recently the stage music and endings from the older games has been released for Tekken Tag 2 and are on sale at a relatively low price for those fans wishing to put the older music onto stages or re watch over all the Tekken endings.
The Wii-U version of the game also supports a range of exclusive additional costumes based on popular Nintendo characters such as Mario, Link, Bowser and more. It includes mushroom power-ups for characters along with the return of ‘Tekken Ball’ which featured in Tekken 3. The Wii-U version also includes all the DLC featured for the PS3 and X-Box 360 versions of the game.
Overall : Nowadays with games all going on the pre-order DLC bandwagon its seldom you will purchase a game for €50 or more and get your money’s worth without having to pay for additional content that expands on the storyline. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is one of a few games that is an exception and it is worth the full price for the amount of content that is within this game. Harada and Namco have shown with Tekken Tag Tournament 2 that some companies still care about giving their fans there full money’s worth and more. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is a must buy for Tekken fans and fighter game fans.
SCORE : 9/10
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