Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (Ps3/360/WiiU) review

[saturn-gamer]

I received a message that I could pick up this game at my local shop. Finally. I pre-ordered and I got Ancient Ogre, Kunimitsu, Bikinis and also Tekken 1 PsOne classic (but I already have NTSC version of that). Been playing it all day.

What can I say, the best fighter of this generation is upon us. Its amazingly good. I already liked Tekken 6, but it was flawed. This game is a not-flawed Tekken 6 with twice as much to offer and a better performance to boot. No scenario campaign either, just fighting modes. And yes, a great netcode along with it as well.

The graphics are cleaner than Tekken 6, yet I think some sacrifices have been made. Although the TTT2 looks better, I think T6 had a more detailed look and more impressive lighting. The gameplay of TTT2 is slightly more responsive as well. The soundtrack is bat **** crazy, its being composed for me. Bountiful sea is proper techno, and the Netherlands stage has one brilliant piece of music behind it as well. But if its not your cup, you can completely edit the OST of this game with your own XMB stored MP3 via Tekken Tunes.

The Arcade mode is back! It grants you an ending like it should. The rest of the modes are same old but training mode has been improved although there is still no command practice. But I've heard Sega actually patented that. Oh, and the sample combos now have inputs listed.

The game is difficult, the tag mechanics are deep. Best dive into Fight Lab and learn everything before you take others on. Excellent game.

[SCCAAMMM]

May I add you to my psn list?

[englishbob]

Has the loading been optimised in this? I had 6 on the PS3 and hated the clunky loading, very un-Namco. Soul Calibur came after and was much better, so was wondering how this is?

[saturn-gamer]

Yes, loading has been improved. The game looks and runs much more solid overall. Netcode is on par with SCV, better perhaps. Downside though is that Ranked also seem to have lone wolves. I don't like those 2 vs 1 fights.

But you could say that, as this game has proper 1 vs 1 mode as well, that T6 is rather redundant if you get TTT2.

But this is one difficult game. The tag combos are something I can't nail right away.

May I add you to my psn list?

Dural_NL

[JSR]

Was thinking of buying this, as I loved TTT back in the day, but the lack of any incentives or progression when playing alone has put me off it. Even the characters are all unlocked from the start. Is there any point in going through all the modes except unlocking decorations for the characters?

[saturn-gamer]

Trophies, ending movies... dunno actually. Survival, Time attack etc are also back and there are leaderboards. I hate unlocking characters anyway, doesn't keep me from finishing arcade mode to see movies and grab credits. The boss is also an improvement over Azazel. Some call her cheap, but I think shes okay to fight. Unknown is slightly more difficult than in TTT1, some nasty moves added.

[JU!]

I received a message that I could pick up this game at my local shop. Finally. I pre-ordered and I got Ancient Ogre, Kunimitsu, Bikinis and also Tekken 1 PsOne classic (but I already have NTSC version of that). Been playing it all day.

What can I say, the best fighter of this generation is upon us. Its amazingly good. I already liked Tekken 6, but it was flawed. This game is a not-flawed Tekken 6 with twice as much to offer and a better performance to boot. No scenario campaign either, just fighting modes. And yes, a great netcode along with it as well.

The graphics are cleaner than Tekken 6, yet I think some sacrifices have been made. Although the TTT2 looks better, I think T6 had a more detailed look and more impressive lighting. The gameplay of TTT2 is slightly more responsive as well. The soundtrack is bat **** crazy, its being composed for me. Bountiful sea is proper techno, and the Netherlands stage has one brilliant piece of music behind it as well. But if its not your cup, you can completely edit the OST of this game with your own XMB stored MP3 via Tekken Tunes.

The Arcade mode is back! It grants you an ending like it should. The rest of the modes are same old but training mode has been improved although there is still no command practice. But I've heard Sega actually patented that. Oh, and the sample combos now have inputs listed.

The game is difficult, the tag mechanics are deep. Best dive into Fight Lab and learn everything before you take others on. Excellent game.

Sounds good. Seems they missed a trick not putting in a Legendary Souls mode like Soul Calibur or a type of Quest mode like Virtua Fighter. I`m interested in Tekken and sometimes find it annoying unlocking characters if its difficult. I think the online sounds nice and stable too which is nice to hear. Harada was raving about the Training mode how is it?

[saturn-gamer]

I've seen better. But its an improvement over Tekken 6 (shocker!), though it has no command practice as I said before. It should have to do with Sega and their patent. I think old Tekken did have it. But you can easily lock a certain move or combo and try it yourself. It does have a record feature, and you can actually practice with someone else online via Player Match..

There are also Ghost Battles in TTT2. The catch is indeed that nothing has been spent on something like Scenario Campaign. As dull as it was, it was a pretty big ass story mode.

[mugetsu]

very nice game so far.
love the tekken 2 remixed music in the ending credits.

[MrKirov]

Really loving this after a night play, lots of single player modes, seemingly solid online and full CG endings for everyone

There are still unlockables characters btw, not everyone is unlocked straight away!

My only gripe right now is that tag assaults are fairly difficult to pull off for my right now, but might be because I'm using a standard 360 controller... Anyone got any tips?

Return of Jun

[saturn-gamer]

Fight Lab introduces you to Tag Assaults. But basically, they work like Tag Combos. Which means you have to press the Tag button before the move makes impact which is a Bound move in the case of a Tag Assault. From there, you can hold down the Tag button for an auto assisted combo or you can do something yourself. I'm not too far into that yet. But it should be doable on a controller, I moved from TE to DS3 as I don't find Tekken to be all that fine with arcade stick (the opposite goes for VF).

The easiest way is starting with Tag Combos, which were in TTT1 already, by pressing Tag right before your launcher hit connects. I'm learning Jun.. she's really, really fun to play with. Most of her sample combos are easy and effective as well. I also pull them off online.

I also found you can 'next' a locked move in practice mode by pressing Select + R1. You don't get confirmations if you pull it off correctly or anything.. but its something. Select + triangle is a demo. So yeah, its a decent training mode.

[MrKirov]

I've finished the fight lab, and can do them in that, but in live play is a different matter!

Also, Jun's bound attack hits low so I can never connect it to go into a tag assault!! Still, only the first go, hopefully I'll learn to do better! I just seem to panic whenever I try to do one in live play... So many buttons and directions in quick succession :/

[saturn-gamer]

Yeah well Tekken is about the most difficult 3D fighter out there. I mean, people say VF is difficult... but I found Final Showdown to be rather easy to get into. There aren't that many buttons, characters, matchups and moves. There isn't tag, and less meter management. I never played Jean Kujo before, but after a few days of training I could manage with him online. Its a very fine game.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is a different beast, execution is MUCH harder and combos are bigger. Try to remember all that, its difficult.

A nice easy tag assault combo I came up with is this one:

Jun - Kazuya.

f+RP, Tag, df+LP,RP, Tag assault (hold), f,n, df LK.

6 hit, 72 damage.

[Shoju]

Yeah well Tekken is about the most difficult 3D fighter out there. I mean, people say VF is difficult... but I found Final Showdown to be rather easy to get into. There aren't that many buttons, characters, matchups and moves. There isn't tag, and less meter management. I never played Jean Kujo before, but after a few days of training I could manage with him online. Its a very fine game.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is a different beast, execution is MUCH harder and combos are bigger. Try to remember all that, its difficult.

A nice easy tag assault combo I came up with is this one:

Jun - Kazuya.

f+RP, Tag, df+LP,RP, Tag assault (hold), f,n, df LK.

6 hit, 72 damage.

VF has gotten considerably easier with the last couple of games especially VF5:FS which really made VF a lot more accessible and it's no longer such a hard game. I agree about Tekken having some really difficult execution, particulary it's combo system which must be among the deepest yet seen in a fighter.

I haven't played that much yet but first impressions are that apart from the tag mechanic (which can be bypassed altogether) it just hasn't changed things enough. VF5:FS and SCV in comparison went much further in freshening things up by altering the characters and system. Some of the VF characters for instance were completely overhauled. The stages are impressive but the character models look poor compared to the other 3d fighters. The arcade version supposedly looks much better but runs on superior hardware.

[shaffy_oppa]

I'm playing it and I'm amazingly rubbish when it comes to tag combos but it's fun experimenting and finding which luncher connects with my partners combo. I'm having a great time with it learning all the new mechanics.

@MrKirov: everyone is unlocked from the get go :/ unless you mean the DLC characters...