Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is filled with more. More characters. More in-match participants. More button smashing.

More lunacy.

The sequel to 1999’s Tekken Tag Tournament is a noncanonical sidestep in the constant battle that is Namco Bandai’s bare-knuckle 3D fighting franchise. So this 55-combatant (not including downloadable entrants), storyline-cracking free-for-all is technically nothing but an illusive blip on an already convoluted Tekken timeline — and a figment of chief producer Katsuhiro Harada’s already insane imagination.

But after stuffing myself with repeated trips to this buffet of brawls, I’m left wondering if Namco’s more friendly approach is the best direction for the series.

WHAT YOU’LL LIKE

Become the ultimate Don Armor King

In TT2’s fantasy world, you can put on the dream fights you’ve always wanted to see. You have a ridiculously dense (and in some cases, just plain ridiculous) roster of ruffians to rumble with, either solo or in tag teams. The franchise’s warring Mishima and Kazama clans are at your disposal, along with pretty much every other mainstay from Tekkens No. 1 through 6.

Gameplay is as tight as Nina Williams’ outfit

Tekken’s responsive and fast-paced controls are in full effect here. Fights are as frantic and fun as you would expect. The core mechanics introduced in the last Tekken release are back with a tag-team focused twist. Destructible, multitiered environments return, as well, making combat especially dynamic and dangerous.

Fight Lab is a useful, albeit bizarre new addition

Series newcomers and veterans alike can benefit from the Fight Lab. The all-new mode is a glorified tutorial, complete with a wacky storyline featuring Violet, the millionaire philanderer alter ego of playable pugilist Lee Chaolan. As you progress through the Lab’s brief campaign, you’ll help Violet program his prototype Combot. Each chapter highlights a specific gameplay mechanic, culminating with a boss battle.

By the end of the experience, you’ll have worked on offensive and defensive basics while learning essential tag-team techniques. And you’ll probably have scratched your head a few times at the completely random narrative interludes. As a bonus, you’ll be able to program the Combot for customized training sessions.

Flying sumo wrestlers are surprisingly charming
The King of Iron Fist Tournament has always had its quirky undertones, and the latest edition is no exception. After all, you can pair a boxing-glove wearing velociraptor with a living, breathing block of wood. And the goofiness doesn’t stop there. The aforementioned Fight Lab mode includes challenges that involve avoiding scud-missile-like flying clones of sumo wrestler Ganryu and defeating a giant, loincloth-wearing version of kung-fu fighter Feng Wei.

You’ll even see a few silly and not-so-subtle tributes to a certain 2D fighting series that I’ll refrain from naming. All of these lighthearted touches are quintessentially Tekken, and I’m glad to see the developers having so much fun with their work.

And who doesn’t love getting to fight in Santa’s Village?



WHAT YOU WON’T LIKE



New challengers might have trouble getting ready for their next battle
TTT 2 is for the hardcore Tekken fan. I’m talking about a person who’s debated the superiority of Japanese-style arcade sticks and scoured message boards for animation frame data to gain an edge. If you don’t have an opinion on such matters, then you might never end up playing Tekken Tag 2 at a high level because it requires that much dedication to master.

In traditional Tekken releases, you fight in a straightforward, 1-on-1 matchup. For most players, that’s hard enough. TTT 2 throws in the tagging mechanic, which adds an additional layer of complexity to the proceedings. Each fighter has specific launcher moves and bound hits that help extend combos and initiate tag-team focused salvos, which means a whole new set of timing-based maneuvers to memorize.

While most fighting-game fans love this type of depth, it leads to a somewhat steep learning curve for less experienced contenders.


You’ve probably played through most of this before
The sheer number of online and offline fighting modes — along with the brand new World Tekken Federation community-centered website — might seem intimidating at first, but after some hands-on experience, most of the options prove to be pedestrian and somewhat shallow endeavors. And many of them are familiar to fighting-game fanatics like the typical arcade and ghost battles, ranked and non-ranked online fights, time trials, and so forth.

Surprisingly enjoyable pursuits like the beat-em-up inspired Tekken Force are absent here, replaced with the less developed Fight Lab. And, unlike in previous years, you won’t find offbeat time killers like Tekken Bowling.

CONCLUSION

While Namco Bandai went out of its way to pack Tekken Tag Tournament 2 with an impressive number of characters and features, I came away from the game with a somewhat indifferent feeling. This is the Tekken I fell in love with, the Tekken that conditioned my thumbs as a teenager, and the Tekken that continues to put a smile on my face. But this is also the same Tekken I’ve played over and over again, even with the tag wrinkle taken into consideration.

I just feel the experience needs reinvention. And I’m not talking about more exclusive Snoop Dogg (or Snoop Lion) tracks and swimsuit costume packs.

Tekken doesn’t need more stuff. It needs more focus. Like the archetypical weathered warrior, the franchise needs to look within to find inspiration.

Score: 78/100 C
Good

It's been 10 years since the original Tekken Tag Tournament first saw the light of day, but the game has retained a cult following amongst fighting game fans. Namco Bandai now had a follow-up ready, with Tekken Tag Tournament 2 bringing the tag mechanics of the first game to the current generation of consoles. They also have some new tricks to roll out, namely in the form of some new online features.

Tekken Tag Tournament was mostly known for throwing the Tekken storyline out the window and the sequel is no different. This allows for the game to use the full roster of Tekken fighters. Players can welcome back characters like Prototype Jack (Tekken 2), Michelle Chang (Tekken 3), and Alex (everyone's favorite dinosaur with boxing gloves from Tekken 2) to join series favorites Heihachi, Kazuya, and Jin. Overall, the roster will launch with over 50 fighters.


Tekken Tag Tournament 2
The tag mechanics in TTT2 work the same way as their predecessor. Players select two fighters or two friends can play co-op with each selecting one fighter. Rounds end when one character is defeated with games typically played in a best-of-five format. While tagging out can be done at any time, skilled players will be able to use tags to perform double-team maneuvers and combos. I went into this preview as a Tekken novice, so I wasn't sure I'd see everything I was looking to see. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your perspective), I was playing against former tournament fighter Rich "Filthy Rich" Bantegui (sitting in via teleconference), who was more than happy to take me through a tour of the hard-hitting combos TTT2 had to offer.

Bantegui's team of King and Armor King started things off against my pitiful duo of Kazuya and Yoshimitsu. Bantegui tossed me around with Tekken's normal array of throws, juggles, and breaks. The show really began when he showed off combos that included Armor King tossing me over into a King powerbomb and a double DDT from the Kings. I also found myself getting juggled repeatedly between the two partners, as Bantegui demonstrated the ways that Tekken fighters can use the tag system to complete multi-hit combos.

TTT2 will contain unprecedented online features. Online play itself utilizes the net code from Soul Calibur 5. The preview build I tried out was connected through a Verizon MiFi hotspot and still proved to be a lag-free experience. In terms of supplemental content, every single online match will be recorded with players able to watch replays of their matches at any time through the Tekken Channel. Replays will prove informative, as well as entertaining. These replays will display details of how much damage certain combos dealt out and when certain counters were used. Players can either choose to study these replays for future reference or save particularly entertaining ones to re-watch later.

So did I learn anything else from my crushing defeat at the hands of Filthy Rich? With the new World Tekken Federation service, I can say that I did. Almost immediately after my humiliating loss, I was taken on a tour of the website that would house the WTF. The stats from my previous battle were already uploaded in full detail. I could then study Filthy Rich's profile to see his favorite teams, his number of throws used versus throws broken, moves and counters used, and other details that would help me better prepare for a rematch. Data from both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions will be saved to the WTF and players can view the stats from each console version at any time. Players can also customize their WTF profiles to include dual-layered team emblems that will show up in the game. The WTF will launch alongside TTT2 as a free service.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 looks to retain everything that made the original so much fun while also including new online components that promise to innovate for both casual and tournament play. The battle begins September 11 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

The Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter knows how to deliver virtual punches in the Tekken and Street Fighter games.

Shaffer Chimere Smith is best known by R&B fans as Ne-Yo. And to gamers, he may be their worst enemy if they happen upon him online in a game of Capcom’s Street Fighter X Tekken. The Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter recently took to the real gridiron to play flag football in the EA Sports Madden NFL 13 Pigskin Pro-Am alongside Brett Favre and other football legends on NBC. The singer loves to play games when he’s not writing music or singing. He talks about his gaming prowess in the exclusive interview below.
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The Hollywood Reporter: What was it like for you to be part of the NBC EA Sports Madden Pigskin Pro Am?
Ne-Yo: It was exciting. We had NFL Hall of Famers out there. The fact that I shared the field with them was super exciting.
THR: How big a Madden video game player are you?
Ne-Yo: I’m good, but not great at Madden. I have friends that their whole life is based around this video game. A shout out to them; they’re extremely jealous that I played in this game and they didn’t. I’m good at the game, but I’m more of a fighting and adventure games type guy.
THR: So what do you normally play?
Ne-Yo: I’m heavy into Max Payne 3. That’s a good one. I like any of the fighting games and all of the Tekken and Street Fighter series. They just did Street Fighter X Tekken, and I’m huge on that one right now. Undefeated, currently.
THR: Who’s your go to fighter?
Ne-Yo: Ryu for Street Fighter, and for Tekken probably Paul Phoenix.
THR: And they’re coming out with Tekken Tag Tournament 2 this year, too.
Ne-Yo: I heard. I’m looking forward to that. I’m sitting in front of the store with everybody else waiting on that game. Oh, yeah. Um-hum.
THR: When you do play Madden, who’s your “go to” team?
Ne-Yo: Let me see; I normally go with the Falcons.
THR: Do you have a secret strategy that you like to use?
Ne-Yo: Not necessarily, which is probably why I’m not as good as the other guys at the game. I just go in and go for it, pass the ball, and pray that the guy I’m passing to catches it. That’s pretty much it.
THR: Do you use the video game as preparation at all for the Pro Am game?
Ne-Yo: No. Actually, I went hard for a few weeks getting my knees right, and making sure that I can still catch and pass, and all that. I hadn’t played football in a few years. I’m pretty quick. I think I was one of the quickest on the field, so my plan was to just outrun everybody. High knees; that’s what it’s all about.
THR: At what point did you feel like Madden went beyond being a video game and became part of pop culture?
Ne-Yo: You know what? Madden is the closest thing to actually being on the field yourself. It’s so ridiculously realistic. Before I play it, I honestly didn’t understand. “What’s all the hype? It’s a video game.” Then I sat down and played it, and you feel like you’re on the field. It’s that incredible. Kudos to the designers and programmers, because they did the most with this one. Absolutely.
THR: When it comes to looking back when you were playing as a kid, do you have a favorite Madden memory you can share with us?
Ne-Yo: No, a lot of losses. As I said, I have friends whose lives are dedicated to Madden. I play them in their game and let them beat the hell out of me, and then we play one of my games, and I win.
THR: What role do you feel video games play in music these days?
Ne-Yo: I feel like the two are starting to go hand-in-hand. The right song in the game might just make you play a little bit better; you never know.
THR: Would you like your music to be in any of the Street Fighter or Tekken games?
Ne-Yo: Come on, man, I’ll write a song specifically for it.  Let me know. Just make me a character in the game; the strongest character. Make me one of the bosses in the game, and I’ll write a song for the series. I’ll do it.
THR: That’s a message straight to Capcom and Namco.
Ne-Yo: If you’re reading this, come on, I know what I’m doing. Trust me.

Excellent news for that one guy making a Street Fighter X Tekken stop-motion animation film based on the one fanfic he wrote, as well as regular people with cubicles that need decorating: Namco Bandai will be releasing two new series of SFxT Minimates figures, with the first wave arriving in November.

Regardless of which wave they're in, characters come in fixed packs of two: Ken vs. Steve, Cammy vs. Nina, Poison vs. Lili and Sagat vs. King (above) make up November's offering. Wave two, said to release sometime in February, pits Chun-Li vs. Hwoarang, Abel vs. Kazuya, Ryu vs. Yoshimitsu and Rufus vs. Julia, all of whom can be seen after the break. No word on pricing, but we do know that some pairs will be more rare than others.