Tekken 2

"A huge step forward..."

Graphics: 8

Character-design: 8
A problem in Tekken1 were those characters, who seemed nearly to consist of only 6 big parts (arms, legs, torso, head), and therefore were especially while executing some special moves looking a bit strange. In Tekken2 the movements of the character models do look much more smooth and realistic, although the extremities somehow look a bit chunky.
Stage-design: 9
The stages do not have many details in the background, but they are all very good designed. Especially the forest-stage of Yoshimito or the with spots enlightened temple-stage of Heihachi are remarkable.
FMVs: 8
Here you can also see a huge improvement, especially in the intro. The FMVs of Tekken1 all looked really crappy.

Sound: 8

Music: 8
Really nice tunes, with some outstanding tracks like the one of the forest-stage.
SFX: 8
Not many changes to Tekken1, very well done, and still including the famous ''bone-breaker''-sound.

Gameplay: 8

Now Tekken also features a Training-mode. This is very helpful to get used to the often very complex special moves. During the Training-Mode you even have the option to look at a list of all moves of the chosen character. Another feature you can also practice in the Training-Mode are the Combos. Every character has about three different combos, each consisting of up to 10 or even more hits. Well, they are really difficult to execute because you always have to mind the right timing, but you can also adjust your training-dummy to do a combo so that you can practice how to react to a combo when the computer starts one against you.
You will find all the characters of the predecessor in this game (apart from Kazuya), and you now can choose Heihachi right from the beginning, and two new characters: Lee, a cop from Shanghai with really cool moves, and June, a girl who wants to save an endangered national park with the price(I guess). She is a very annoying opponent.
And like in Tekken1 each character has his special FMV-ending. But in Tekken2 also the special characters you always unlock after winning the arcade-mode with a character now have their own endings.

Replayability: 9

You will have to play many times through the game to unlock all the hidden characters. And especially in the ''ultra-hard'' mode the game really is a challenge

Final Score: 8

Not surprisingly Tekken2 has much better graphics, really good designed stages, each of them with a special atmosphere, and plenty of different characters. So if you like Beat´em-ups, or if you liked Tekken1 you will have much fun playing this game. And unlike many other games of this genre you will not be successful with button bashing in this game. At least in the ultra-hard mode.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/28/02, Updated 08/28/02