It's that time again. We Are Tekken.The Mishima family rivalry never seems to come to an end to their bitter family disputes and here comes another King of Iron Fist Tournament. Unfortunately, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is NOT canon to the official Tekken series storylines. This is regarded as a fan-service title that pretty much packs roughly every Tekken character to date into one title - the only notable absence is Gon (Tekken 3 on PSone) due to licensing issues.
Note: This review is strictly geared towards the PS3/Xbox 360 versions, with online experiences noted from the Xbox 360 version.
Gameplay Modes:
I. Fight Lab
This is the new mode that replaces the mediocre Tekken Force/Scenario Campaign from the previous entries in the series. Instead of a few pointless storyline narrative battles in a poor attempt to weave the Tekken story onto players, this time Namco has taken a new approach. Fight Lab exists to educate newcomers and veterans on various changes brought in by TTT2's new system.Fight Lab takes a comical approach in educating players by following the routines of Lee Chaolan/Violet as he constructs his latest line of Combot attack drones. He goofs up and ends up deleting it's core AI and memory. As the player, it's up to you to customize your Combot as you see fit and master his fighting techniques in 5 stages. There a lot to learn here, and even more laughs to be had. Fight Lab takes a few cracks at Street Fighter and it's own whacky cast of characters during it's many lessons.
Your customizable Combot can be used in other modes as well, with the exception of Ranked Match for proper balance of course. To my knowledge, there's still a glitch that freezes the game if you assign any DLC character moves to Combot, though.
From my personal experience, the lessons go from extremely easy to the point of tossing your controller in frustration on the next lesson a few minutes later. In the long haul though, I have benefited from what these lessons educate you in. It's even more of an asset if you assign Combot with moves from characters that you are interested in mastering, then you gain even more experience on learning on how to properly construct combos, juggles, and the core mechanics of the Tag Assault system.
If you are new to Tekken or a veteran looking to hone your skills to perfection, this is the perfect place to begin since the Tekken series demands such strong fundamentals to survive at all levels of play.
II. Offline Modes
- Arcade Mode
The pure arcade experience of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 that players who had the rare opportunity to play the demo of this game on Tekken Hybrid or the Japanese arcade cabinets of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Unlimited will feel right at home with. Arcade Mode takes your team of 2 characters or just one solo fighter, through several fights before ending with a boss rush sequence of the team of Jinpachi/Heihachi Mishima first, then Ogre solo, and finally Jun Kazama as the final boss.
I enjoyed this mode thoroughly until I got to Jun. It sickens me to see Namco still resorting to tactics from PS2 era gaming, whereas the AI reads your button inputs and counters accordingly before you have any indication to prepare or mount an offense. That being said, there's still a few exploitable moves per character that can be spammed to net an easy victory against her. Regardless, I still find this difficulty, even on the default setting, is a bit much for newcomers of the game if Namco expects people to keep with this title for the long run.
You can set the difficulty down if the Final Boss if giving you too much trouble. Regardless, this isn't enough to ruin the overall experience of this mode.
- Time Attack Mode
The same thing as Arcade Mode, but this time you're trying to clear this mode in the fastest time possible. There's a few preset records, but you can set a few personal best records to conquer as well.- Ghost Battle Mode
My personal favorite mode from Tekken 6 returns in TTT2, pitting the player against the ghost AI of some of the most talented veterans of the Tekken series. These ghost AIs can range from the infamous FilthyRich to Mr. Harada (creator of the Tekken series) himself. They provide a healthy dose of competition and you're always downloading more of these ghosts into your game when you connect your console online. Other players may encounter your ghost as well in their game.- Team Battle
Pick a team of up to 8 max fighters against the opposing team and fight until the last man is standing. This is a definitely a fan-favorite mode from Soul Calibur players. It's a great addition to see this mode here with such a vast roster to experiment with.- Pair Play
Pair Play allows two players on the same console to pair up on the same team in Tag Mode in other game modes, including Arcade Mode and Versus Mode. This mode supports up to 4 players on the same console for Versus Mode. Sadly, this mode only works when the same players are playing on the same console and that team is only limited to playing as a team online together. As it stands, Namco has no initiative to patch this feature for online multiplayer and party settings online.- Versus
2 Player versus mode. Controllers are set to the corresponding players and they head straight into the action. A lack of a button-check option for a tournament environment is rather questionable to say that this title is expected to replace Tekken 6 in a lot of major fighting game community events.- Practice Mode
Veterans to any fighting game in this generation will feel at home here. It's not as in-depth as UMvC3's training mode, but TTT2's Practice Mode has more than enough tools to keep even the most hardcore of Tekken fighter satisfied.III. Online Modes
- Ranked Match
Much like other online game modes, your win/lose ratio is displayed prior to every match - along with your team affiliation (more on this below), so you have an idea of what you're getting yourself into before the match starts.
A proper patch to give players more of an idea of how they are progressing forward, a general fix to the stability of the netcode/connectivity, and more precise and accurate filters will benefit in the long haul if Namco expects players to hold out until Tekken 7 - whenever that is going to drop in the far off future.
- Player Match
Much like Tekken 6, if you want to test your skills in a less taxing/spamming environment, then this your place. There's Quick Search options available for those of you who just want to jump immediately into the action.Currently, this is my preferred online mode of choice. Players are free to compete and experiment, without being burdened by the high stakes of your ranking status being consantly being on the line. Win/lose ratios are not displayed - it's just like the arcades, players jump in and out of the action. You win some, you lose some, but it's all a good time here.
- World Arena
World Arena is pretty much Player Match, but divided into individual lobbies separated by specific countries. Players can gather in this huge lobby and chat, accept/make open challenges, and simply spectate other bouts going on.During the first few weeks of its debut after the October patch, these rooms were full to capacity, but now they are showing little to no players at all. I don't know what going on here, but I'll look into it and update you guys with a follow-up article.
- World Tekken Federation
Inside of every copy of Tekken Tag Tournament 2, is an online pass/code that is required to tie your XBL/PSN account to the official WTF (couldn't they think of a better acronym LOL?) site. Here, you can create teams and accept invites to other teams. Sadly, you can only be a part of ONE team at a time. Your online win/loss records are tied to your Player Card, along with your achievement progress and character usage.For newcomers and veterans alike, your WTF account also grants you access to the official Tekken forums to discuss anything Tekken - local/regional matchmaking, tutorials, or simply customer service and troubleshooting. It's amazing to see that Namco put so much time into a social media environment for the Tekken series like this, instead of Capcom and other properties allowing sites like Eventhubs or Shoryuken govern and dictate their core fanbase.
My only gripes with the site is that it's VERY slow to load on any browser, due to the sheer number of people accessing it regularly. Then there's a few glitches and hiccups on loading pages periodically, but I'm sure they are working on these improvements even as you are reading this review.
IV. Customize
Other unlockable parts for costumes can be obtained from defeating particular opponents (read - much TOUGHER opponents) in Ghost Battle Mode, that drop Gold Boxes upon defeat. These Gold Boxes unlock items, such as custom character panels, endings, and even unique costume parts. Generally, every character can purchase roughly the same items in the shop, but there are a FEW unique items to be had per fighter.
The October patch added the ability to customize your fighters with unique logos/emblems as well.
I wish Namco would have put a bit more thought into some of the costumes, as a lot of them are palette swaps from other characters and vice versa, while others are cheap imitations of alternate costumes dating as far back from Tekken 3, 4, and 5.
Plus, someone explain to me the point of having Eddie Gordo being able to be customized as Tiger Jackson when Tiger is actually already in the game as FREE DLC? Again, pointless addition.
V. Tekken Theater
- Tekken Tunes
If you wish to have your fighters fight to a different beat, then TTT2 allows you to do so by customizing the tracks with any music you have on your console's hard drive. I'm personally running a mix of Tekken 3 (Arcade) tracks with a bit of Bushido Blade, Killer Instinct Gold, and S-Cry-ed. Yeah, I know I'm weird...XBL/PSN have added the feature to purchase the soundtracks to EVERY Tekken entry to date to add into the game. Honestly, this is a complete rip-off as you can easily find these tracks online, rip them to a CD, then upload to your console, without the need to purchase them individually.
- Movie Theater
Much like the option to exchange the music, both XBL/PSN have the option to download all of the character endings from the entire Tekken franchise to date to view in-game. Another rip-off, especially in this day and age, you can easily view this stuff on YouTube.Presentation
From the easy to navigate menus to the gorgeous backgrounds and character models, Namco definitely doesn't disappoint in the slightest here. Visual effects can be adjusted in the Options menu for those with unique TV sets.There are a few moments of slowdown during intense battles, especially when triggering the Tag Assault system, where both characters on a team are on the scream simultaneously, but it is not enough to ruin the overall experience.
The game looks beautiful on standard TV sets, while HDTVs just adds more visual flavor to the eyes.
Audio
Snoop Dogg offers his own original track, created specifically for the game, "Knock 'em Down", that plays on his featured stage.
Every hit, clash, and impact is beautiful to the ears, while the whimsical background stage themes and menu tracks suit every occasion. I personally found the final boss theme to be far more than appropriate to suit Jun and Unknown's good/evil sides of the coin. That track alone just really sets the tide of the battle.
Every hit, clash, and impact is beautiful to the ears, while the whimsical background stage themes and menu tracks suit every occasion. I personally found the final boss theme to be far more than appropriate to suit Jun and Unknown's good/evil sides of the coin. That track alone just really sets the tide of the battle.
To be honest, the Tekken series, nor Namco in general, never sells themselves short when it comes to excellent audio tracks and TTT2 is no exception. They definitely delivered in the audio department.
The Verdict?
As of today, anyone who picks up Tekken Tag Tournament 2 will receive ALL of the pre-order DLC and bonuses, along with the additional DLC characters, free of charge. This brings the roster to the biggest arsenal of characters in a fighting game to date - at least since Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Take notes Capcom, THIS is how you please your fanbase.
If you own Tekken 6, then you shouldn't expect much more from TTT2. This game is pretty much Tekken 6.5 (or Version 3 if you want to count Bloodline Rebellion as the 2nd release) with the Tekken Tag mechanic added in. It's enough to make the game fresh again from the various balances and tweaks done to all of the various fighters. It is a welcome addition to see so many Tekken characters - old and new back under one roof. The team-up combinations are near-endless as one could spend years experimenting and trying out various combinations or learning the various match-ups.
Whether you're a King (or Queen) of the Iron Fist nor just a fan of the series looking to have some fun with friends, this is definitely worth a look. There's enough here to keep veterans invested for next few years until Tekken 7 drops, but newcomers need to be wary as Tekken is a VERY difficult game to pick up - even more so if you expect to excel well at it. The brutal single player difficulty, coupled with at times frustrating Fight Lab lessons only add to the burden of learning this game.
That being said, there's still some fun to be had with this title. Assemble the crew and you can have a blast, grinding for hours end in Pair Play and Versus Modes. Those solo warriors will spend hours on Online Modes or unlocking the various Customize parts and character endings. There is a lot to offer in this game for both veterans and newcomers alike, so I'm definitely giving this game the thumbs up. This is one of the few current-gen fighters (outside of MK9) to offer something for everyone of all skill ranges to enjoy for the long haul.
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