The best fighting game ever? Find out here!

The latest of the Tekken series and the first to hit Playstation 2, Tekken Tag Tournament is definitely one of the best launch games ever! Namco certainly put a lot of work into it and it surely is a must-have if you own a Playstation 2 (and one of the main reasons to buy one.)
I remember that when I first played Tekken 1 (its Japanese version on my Japanese PSX), one of the first games I’ve played on Playstation, I was amazed to see the “awesome” player graphics, putting Saturn’s Virtua Fighter to shame, the nice backgrounds (featuring even the Acropolis), the great and fun (by fun I mean with nice moves and combos, I am not a button-masher) game play and to hear the good music and sound effects.
Six years later when I first played Tekken Tag Tournament (its Japanese version on my Japanese PS 2), one of the first games I’ve played on Playstation 2, I was amazed to see the near-perfect graphics, putting Dreamcast’s Virtua Fighter 3 to shame, the extremely detailed backgrounds (where you can clearly see even the grass being pushed gently by the wind), the great and fun (by fun I mean with amazing moves and combos, I am still not a button masher) and to hear the exceptional music and sound effects. Tell me about history repeating itself!
As you have must have guessed by now, Tekken Tag Tournament follows the very successful Tekken formula (roughly said, better graphics than any other fighting game on the market to date + great music and SFX + addictive game play = tekken formula) with some additions and many improvements.

Graphics

The graphics… in the Japanese version they were near perfect with each and every one of the 34 character models (yes, you heard right I said 34- more about that later) looking (almost) life-like and their 113 costumes fitting them perfectly and moving smoothly along with every single of their exceptionally detailed moves and combos, (all of this moving in 60 frames per second) with the unbelievably detailed backgrounds with snow falling like… well, real life snow and full motion videos in a never seen before level of quality. In the US (and the European apparently) version they are as good as they can get with today’s technology, thanks to more anti-aliasing, which was included in this version in order to fix some minor problems that its Japanese “older” counterpart had.

Sound/Music

Tekken Tag Tournament lives up to the series legend as far as music and sound effects are concerned; Nothing new here, just the same old extremely high quality music, strong kick and punch sounds and cool, unique character screams :P
Seriously now, it could use a tad more, more original, character voices

Game play

One of the most obvious additions is of course the Tag mode. This new popular feature was quickly adapted to Tekken’s game engine and it won’t take more than 2 minutes to get used to it. (For both the new and older players) So, in this Tekken, you have to ability to select 2 characters and easily change them while fighting. When a character is out, his or hers health gauge will slowly regenerate (until it fills the red bar) and when one player’s gauge is depleted you lose. Simple right?
Other than that, the game play is basically unchanged. There are a few new moves and some new grab animations but nothing really new. As in other Tekken games, it just takes a few seconds to get the hand of the game (much for button mashers rejoice) and several months to truly “understand” it and master it. The game’s fighting engine manages to satisfy both categories (masher and master), as you can pull off moves if you just rapidly hit some buttons (especially if you have Eddie, or Tiger thanks to there awesome capo era techniques). Of course if you respect yourself and want to win because you are skilled and not lucky, there are plenty of moves, grabs, combos, specials, counters for each of the above and even hole strategies; the downside is that in order to use them to an extent you have to play with another non-masher. Note: a skilled gamer can beat any given masher to a 5 round fight. I assure you though, that you will enjoy the game much more if you play against an experienced player.

Features

One of the most amazing things in first Playstation 2 Tekken is that it features almost all of the PSX Tekken’s characters (except Gon that is) and adds a few more, reaching an awesome 38 characters. Wow! (If you are wondering why I said 34 character models before, it’s because it uses 34 character models. There 4 characters that are alike the same, with a different name and skin, 4 others (like Devil/Angel and Kuma/Panda) and are chosen by pressing a different button, just like costumes are) And of course, this line-up includes my favorite player (who wasn’t in Tekken 3 L) Kazuya Mishima (and his alter-ego Devil) Hurray ;)! Most characters have a different fighting style and there is always a good reason for it looking like another player’s (Baek’s fighting style, for instance, looks like Hwoarang’s, because he is his teacher.)

Finishing a game with a character will not only unlock a new character, but it will make his ending video available to view at the theater screen as well. Also finishing the game many times will get you new features such as new FMV’s, new modes like gallery and even a complete game of it’s own, Tekken Bowl!
Tekken Bowl is a full fledged Bowling game and, frankly, it’s the best I’ve played (it’s not really realistic though ;) Namco put quite some work into that, including deferent shooting styles for each player and putting in several strengths and weaknesses for each one.

Last (and maybe least ;P) there is an option to take screen shots in game and then access them at the gallery mode. Nice little add-on, but would you actually pause the game in the middle of a cool, tough fight to take a screen shot?

Story 10/10
Well, I haven’t said anything about the story, because I think that it would be a spoiler. Anyway you will find it out yourselves if you see all the cut scenes and use your imagination! And it is the best story a fighting game can offer.
Graphics 10/10
As I said, with the added anti-aliasing, this game’s graphics are as good as they get now. The very best eye-candy I’ve ever seen.
Sound/Music 9/10
The music is great, while the sound effects are “just” good.
Game play 9/10
In the hands in a skilled gamer, this game’s fighting engine is truly exceptional. In the hands of a button masher though it’s just a normal engine.
Replay Value 10/10
If 38 characters to beat the game with (in order to see all the ending cut-scenes and unlock secrets), 1 vs. 1, 2 vs. 2, team battle and even bowling addictive modes which offer endless single and multiplayer experience don’t define a 10/10 rating, what does?

Overall 10/10

Featuring 38 characters, killer graphics, astonishing music and literally lots and lots of extras, Tekken Tag Tournament is definitely the best fighting game there is. If you have a Playstation 2 and see it at the shelves, you have to buy it.