Tekken Tag Tournament 2
Friday Sept 14th was a special day for me. There was a birthday in the family, it was Friday, and my 2 year wait for a new Tekken game was finally over! Sure, Street Fighter x Tekken was also a “Tekken” game, I found it had more Street Fighter influence, so getting my hands on Tekken Tag Tournament 2 was a great feeling!
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is finally here!
I got an early feel for the game whilst competing in a tournament to celebrate the game’s release. My local GAME store held a Time Trial tournament, clocking how fast I could finish one fight with 2 rounds. I managed to clock a time of 51s and came 4th overall, losing out to a great 36s attempt. After hearing I qualified for an elimination heat, I couldn’t get home quick enough with my game to get some much needed practice with the game.
Familiar Faces
I was greeted by some familiar faces when I started up Tekken for the first time in a few months. I was glad to see some old veterans such as Nina Williams, my favourite Irish assassin, Kazyua Mishima, my not so favourite Japanese murder machine, and the almighty Yoshimitsu! I was also happy to see my good friend Steve Fox was still there, meaning I was set for my playthrough of Arcade mode. There a few new faces, but by new, I mean I hadn’t seen them since Tekken 2/3 where they made an appearance but disappeared after that, like Ogre and more notably Jun Kazama and Kunimitsu. There is one new character, Jaycee. She’s a mysterious masked wrestler, or so they say but I think I’ve worked out who she actually is… *cough* Julia Chang *cough*
Gameplay
My first match on TTT2
I’m not very good at formulating combos so I’m not going to pretend, but I get pretty close with Steve, so I picked Steve and choose Lili as my partner and set out to try out the gameplay, mainly the Arcade mode. Gameplay is like any other Tekken game, only they elaborated a fun element of Tekken 6, and made it easier to use your equipped items as weapons. I’ve had great fun picking up the handgun and shooting away at Kazuya or Devil Jin in the hopes of hitting them. I can’t wait to try out the pineapple I’ve just unlocked! I’ve even come across a cat as a weapon? Apparently it’s meow hurts but I’m not sure how much… I won’t let it hit me!
Whilst using items has become easier, the ghosts have not. They still have their own rank, and you can still promote your characters. In fact, you can finally get past 2nd Dan offline (Tekken 6 only let you advance your rank further by playing online) so you can now attain the coveted Tekken Lord rank, not that I’m getting there anytime soon. Ghosts past 5th Dan are rather difficult to defeat, unless you’re very good, whereas I’m just lucky. This is probably why I won’t play online. Last thing I need is a Pro player in Japan kicking my ass every minute.
Narrow escape against a bot! Not ready for online yet….
I’ve only figured out 2 Tag moves so far; Tag Crashes that are helpful if your on the ground and need a very quick tag, and Tag Throws which are just fun to do. I know there are more Tag Moves that can be done, but I haven’t figured them out yet. Fight Lab has helped out a little but I’m still not confident using the other tag moves on offer.
Return of the Unknown
She’s back!
Of course one of the biggest things for me was the return of the boss from the first Tekken Tag game. She’s been revamped, she lost the silly floaty wolf thing similar to that of Z.W.E.I from Soulcalibur V, and she now utilises her environment instead, which looks so much better. This mysterious character is of course Unknown, and yes that is her name.
I got confused when they showed Jun Kazama as the final stage, rather than Unknown, but they cleverly crafted a cutscene to go between rounds, provided you stick to the conventional 2 rounds set as default. Upon defeating Jun once, she transforms into Unknown and somehow turns from rather skilled martial artist into someone almost completely different and can destroy you in 2 simple moves, one of which includes a hand rising from the floor and flattening you. That wipes the majority of your health bar away, so you’re screwed if you’ve already taken a beating from her.
Flaws?
No matter how much I may seem to like a game, it always has flaws, whether it be issues with the story, graphics, etc. Tekken Tag 2 has a few that have really stuck out. First off is loading issues during gameplay. I understand that when playing online that some lag can occur, depending on internet connectivity, but when I’m in offline mode, sometimes my game has an effect similar to lag and it always results in me either losing or getting close to. I’ve seen it happen a few times which is a little annoying, especially when entering a combo, the game “freezes” temporarily then anything I press after that didn’t count, therefore ending my combo. Saddens me a little, but I’m working past that on the hopes that it’s just the old console giving up and not an issue with the game.
I wasn’t really a fan of online play either. I haven’t played much of it, but I found it rather irritating and frustrating, but that might be because I’m rubbish at online unless it’s Guitar Hero, then I have a fighting chance. But even when watching my brother who is probably always going to be 10x better than me play online, even he found it irritating and he was on a 5 win streak! Maybe it’s because I will always prefer standing/sitting next to the person I’m fighting against so I have a little prejudice, or maybe it’s because no-one told me that you could have 2 controllers and have 2 people play! Would have been so much easier. Personal issues aside, the online is smooth, no huge connectivity problems, and the “Team” option (similar to Clans on Call of Duty) is a pretty cool feature too.
After 3 online matches…
Last but not least, this new feature in the game added another element of story, but was really complex and a little vague. Fight Lab is a tutorial, there to teach you how to fight. I was hoping it mostly teach you about Tag functions, but one stage 5 shows you that. Fair enough, the other stages teach new players how to play, but even those stages were a little complex and took me a little while to figure out, and I’ve been playing Tekken for over 10 years! *Shame I’m not getting any better at it*. By the time I reached the tag functions I was pretty much at the end of my tether, frustrated with all the aerial combos that wouldn’t register. Eventually I reached the end, only just otherwise I’d still be sitting trying to complete it.
The combos didn’t register correctly as I was trying to complete Tag Throws, Combot’s move-set wasn’t ideal and it took almost 20 minutes to realise the colours of the suits of people I was fighting signified which move I had to use. For a tutorial, it seemed a little vague and unhelpful, however I do now know how to use tag combos so I suppose it did what it was supposed to do… eventually.
Overall…
I love this game. Plot aside, its a great game. I can’t compare to Street Fighter, due to lack of experience playing it. Some people are either into one or the other, and in my case this is true. Tekken was the first game I ever played, back when I was only 4 years of age. I’ve watched Tekken grow into what this is now. It’s challenging in all the right places, and pretty easy to pick a favourite character or two. I wouldn’t say it was the perfect game, as like most fighters it becomes monotonous, and eventually boring.
Whilst the game is still pretty new and shiny, I’ll be playing it, but who knows how long that will last. Possibly until Assassin’s Creed 3 is in my hands this October…
femme gamer 