Tekken Tag Tournament

"Fuse Tekken 2 and 3 together, and throw in better graphics."

This game is the 4th installment to Tekken. It has nothing to do with the storyline progression, because it isn't labeled as the 4th tournament. Tekken Tag Tournament came with the 1st Playstation 2 console game line-up, it hit hard in stores and was an immediate hit in the arcades. It is a well ported version of the arcade version and stands today as one of the most amazing 3 dimensional fighting games today. Namco comes back for another try in 2000, this time they up-scale to the Playstation 2, opening new doors for sound, graphics, and effects.

On this version it includes every character from the previous Tekken games, aswell as adding a few new characters. It's nice to see the same characters back in the day, new and re-freshed with crisp grahpics. There isn't much difference in gameplay, it's still the old Tekken engine with a few tweaks here and there. Arcade mode demands that you have a partner to team up with. In-Game you can Tag between characters in and out. You can also play Co-Op mode if you have a buddy near, you both can play Arcade mode, while both being able to tag with each other. That gives a better aspect of multiplayer and makes Arcade mode more enjoying from the original. Namco decided to take out Tekken Ball Mode and add a new mode called Tekken Bowl Mode. This is pretty self-explanatory. You can pick a Tekken fighter and with that character you can bowl, the character selection matters because each character has more speed, accuracy, or strength. That mode really hits hard in the multiplayer department and has a high replay value.

The graphics are polished and enhanced from Tekken 3. There isn't any jagged edges or blocky figures in the game. Mostly everything is smooth and realistic. The stages are more massive and detailed. There is movement in the background, people and other things going on. They added some small effects like the ground plummeting or moving as soon as a player hits the ground with impact. Which makes the game more realistic as well. They could have added more dialogue to the characters to bring them to life more, but they decided to have silent ending movies with only music and sound effects.

The sounds are great and really match the environment and feel. Some characters voices are recycled and re-used from the last game but players don't notice it that much. Going back to the gameplay. in Tag mode, if one character's life bar runs out the entire team loses. It doesn't make since if one character on tag-team dies, and the other player has full health, they should enable you to keep playing with only one character. Other modes are brought back too, such as Tekken Force and Theater mode, where you can view characters endings and listen to Stage Background music of your choosing.

The fighting system seems to be a tad bit deeper from the last game. They added more in-depth reversals and defense moves and counter attacks. This adds more character depth and replay value. Aside from that, if you've never played Tekken before and you're looking for a good brawler, Tekken Tag is something that you should pick up. Especially nowadays Tekken Tag can be found of stores like EB Games for 5 dollars. If you like Tekken and you haven't played any Tekken game after Tag, you should pick it up aswell.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/25/08

Game Release: Tekken Tag Tournament (US, 1999)