Tekken 2

"I still play this game all the time, even in this day and age..."

Gameplay 10/10: The controls for this game are excellent, they stay the same from Tekken 1 and that's a good thing. The game is at least 15% faster than its predecessor (you can get up a lot faster) and, if you're good, you can figure out how to side-step with some of the characters (unlike in Tekken 1 when you could only side-step with Heihachi). The reason I gave this a 10 is because the character's moves come off a lot smoother and you can actually feel the punches/kicks/etc. landing your opponent to the ground.

Story 7/10: This is an aspect of ALL the Tekken games that could definately be better. But then, most fighting games need not focus on a story anyway...just fight! Basically, Heihachi got his ass kicked out of the head of Tekken and is now re-entering the tournament to reclaim his honor. Which is why he's now a selectable character on the normal characters! (People who couldn't manage to earn him on Tekken 1 will probably be thrilled about this). Kazuya has made a deal with the devil and him and ''angel'' are now participating in the tournament, however, you can't fight against angel unless you play thru the game as Jun.

Audio/Video 9/10: I loved the two intro movies (especially the short one with the iron fist punching through the words ''TEKKEN2'')
The intro movie for this game was more dramatic than the first tekken's, it can get many a newcomer's curiosity going towards the end of it, where it flashes the faces of the secret characters, well...most of them anyway. The music isn't really anything bad, but nothing really stood out except for Devil's Arcade music! That was awesome! It sounded like a beating heart or something beating in unison with the music. But then again, Devil's PSX music was...weird! Who would expect quiet, sad music while fighting the devil?!? Basically, the characters' ending FMV scenes were pretty good, but some of them have no point to them!

Replayability 10/10: What would you expect? It's a fighting game! -With loads of secrets to earn! The best thing about it is its secret characters, which can keep you interested enough. Seeing as how you have to beat the game with a certain character to unlock the corresponding ''secret character''. (example: Nina-Anna, Heihachi-Lee).

You should definately buy this game. It's got way too many secrets for you to rent it, you'd never unlock them all in one night! (well...maybe you would....but I didn't! hmph...two nights!!) Buy it, it's a great place to start in the Tekken series and in the overall fighting series competition.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/22/01, Updated 11/22/01