Tekken Tag Tournament 2 – Review

Until this year I was not all that into fighting games, with the extent of my knowledge in the genre primarily being focused on Blazblue and a couple of other random Playstation 2 purchases. This year however has seen a number of successful fighting game releases which have really helped me get into the genre – Skullgirls, Soulcalibur V and now Tekken Tag Tournament 2. When Tekken Hybrid, a Playstation 3 exclusive title that included the original 1999 Tekken Tag Tournament release and a prologue to Tag Tournament 2 last year, I wasn’t too sure what to make of it given the Prologue’s limited scope.

I am not going to make any comments on how it brings new life to a franchise that is nearly as old as me… but I can say that as someone who is relatively new to the franchise… the game is very enjoyable although features a considerable learning curve to newcomers.

Core Gameplay

The gameplay is what you would expect from a game of this caliber, with the added draw of allowing you to use two characters in battle and “tagging” them in and out of battle, which can leave an extra element to your strategising. While fun, it is not a major build upon the classic elements of forming combos, special moves and matching them with precise timing. Even with the difficulty set to Easy, the AI still provides a solid challenge and this isn’t the fighting game you can simply mash buttons on your controller and expect to win easily and certainly not expect to offer much challenge for the games online mode.

The game doesn’t limit yourself to the tag mode, although in my opinion it was more fun to utilize it. As this is “Tag Tournament”, even if you chose to go solo your opponents may still choose to tag team or not (ie. 2 vs 2, 1 vs 1, 2 vs 1 or 1 vs 2). Going solo makes you or the opponents stronger so it comes down to your play style. Annoyingly however, unlike what you may be expecting initially, if a single character is KO’ed irrespective of team or not the win will be handed to the opponent. To further tag gameplay past the two characters, given specific conditions you can also perform tag attacks which when used right can turn the tide of battle.

The game comes with a sizable character roster, and while for the purposes of this review it was not possible to test every one of them in-depth (I found myself regularly using the team of Lili and Leo), they provide a solid and sizable set of combos and attacks and can be referred to at any time through a move list in the pause menu. Everything I was expecting in this game was there plus more, coupled with some creative level and character designs, voice acting that represents a multicultural and multi-race background of characters and some very enjoyable music.

Starting from the Fight Lab

Most fighting games feature a tutorial mode in some shape or form, some simply provide you with a single summary, others provide you with the freedom to test and some like in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 give you the whole Story Mode treatment. Given the games sizable character roster, the game does not facilitate a story mode per ce, but instead provides storyline through the games tutorial mode “Fight Lab”. Rather than letting you select what character you run through the Fight Lab with, you are given control over a customizable Combot and follow a series of instructions and comical dialogue split up into many separate and lengthly chapters which by the end have you mastering the basics and experimenting with the complex maneuvers of the games battle system

Through a convenient plot twist, the Combot’s AI is completely reformatted at the beginning of the “campaign”, therefore you start off with only simple abilities and obtain more as you progress through the chapters and through obtaining points to spend on new moves and combos (Based on the games character roster) which you can equip it with. Generally with these sorts of modes I would go through the basics and learn the rest through experience… but the Fight Lab felt purposeful and enticed me to continue on with it. However, the game does practice tough love with this mode, and while it will provide you with ample comedy through visuals / dialogue and in-depth instructions and mentorship… the challenges can get challenging at times and may serve as deterrents to beginners.

I Know how to Play… So What Next?

Online

So after going through the rigorous Fight Lab mode or not and hopefully now having a grasp of the gameplay mechanics either way, the game provides you with a selection of things to do. The online mode will inevitably be the place most gamers will be spending their time and provides both ranked and general player matches. While I did find matchmaking did take longer than I would expect at times, the games netcode is great and aside from the occasional disconnect the battles are lag free even with so-so connectivity.

Namco Bandai have also opened the “Tekken World Federation’ website, which allows you through your web browser to create or join teams of players and give you access to a number of online features (Emblem, Boards, Team Page etc) and in-game competition to rank up your team in the leaderboards. Given time constraints, I was not able to go into too much depth for this system, but from playing around with it a bit – provided they can keep the community interested and active it is a good system to keep battles interesting and give purpose to working together to reach the top tiers of the leaderboard.

If it doesn’t kick off… you are left with the same Ranked and Player Matches almost every fighting game has.

Offline

The game also offers an array of gameplay modes for those who don’t wish to take part in online battles. The games “Arcade Battle” mode is what you would expect to see in an arcade version of the game, you select one or two characters and face against sets of enemies, alongside two sets of sub-bosses and a rather challenging boss at the end – unlocking a brief ending sequence for the character of your choice. Aside from the randomly generated groups of fights at the start, the bosses didn’t seem to differ irrespective of your character choice. The game also features your general Ghost Battle mode which pits you against an endless set of fighters and Team Battle where you can select what fighters you face against. A perk about the Team Battle mode is that you are not limited with 2 vs 2, and can go up to 8 vs 8 (In elimination style with only two players available to tag team at once).

For those who want more of a challenge on higher settings, the game also throws you Time Attack and Survival Modes which as the names suggest give you limited time or health to take out as many enemies as possible. The problem with many of these modes however is that whenever a single player is knocked out, the battle does not continue but instead goes through the same interlude showcasing the characters you are going to be up against. Given loading times, this can get frustrating after awhile – especially taking into consideration 8 vs 8 Team Battles. While the game does a solid job with their Fight Lab mode, the game still keeps a Practice mode open for those who want to refine their skill without distractions.

Multiplayer elements are as you would expect. You can choose to take part in Vs Battles where you and a friend are on separate teams or Pair Play where you and up to three friends can battle each other by tagging yourselves in and out. While online multipler is the real draw of this game, solo players still have plenty of options available to them.

Customization

I like having the ability to customize and create in games, and while there was room for improvement it was a system I quite enjoyed in Namco Bandai’s other fighting game franchise SoulCalibur. While the game does not allow you to build characters from the ground up, you are rewarded for your game time with in-game currency which can then be spent on accessories, costumes and more for your characters…. and the selection is diverse for a game with so many characters.

Do you want to see Lili wearing a gothic lolita dress with cat ears and paws?

Do you want to see Leo wearing fairy wings, a braided ponytail and a school uniform?

How about making Panda look like he is about to appear in a ballet performance?

The game offers a nice selection of outfits, accessories and customization options for all the characters and provided you have the funds and time to be creative you can end up making your characters look distinctly different. It does make me wonder how much further content if any will be released as DLC.

While this seems like an afterthought in comparison to the detail provided with customization, the game also allows you to change the battle music that plays during fights on particular stages – with a surprising warning that changing songs may have adverse affects on gameplay performance.

I now wish I was writing this review from the perspective of a veteran of the series rather than this being my second game in the Tekken franchise ever. But can happily say that while nothing much in the game proved genre changing, what is provided should provide ample challenge for newcomer and veteran alike, evidently had a lot of effort put into it and has the potential to deliver a lot in the way of game-time when taking into account the online functionality. It is easily a game I will be jumping into again soon.

Final Score
Storyline/Character Development: N/A
Design: B+
Music/Voice Acting: B
Gameplay: B+
Replayability: A
Personal Opinion: B
Overall Score: B+