Tekken 2

"A classic worth playing anytime"

This has to be my first 3D fighter and I must say it was also the first 3D fighter to change my opinion of 3D fighters. I have first played the game in 1996 and have recently to take it out to play again.

Storyline-10/10
The 3D fighters from Namco have always had great storylines even though most companies have gotten away with mediocre storylines. I would seriously recommend anyone who is interested to surf for information on the Tekken 2 fighters. I also feel that out of all the Tekken games this one has the best storyline. While most games would only give certain key characters a decent storyline and ending, Tekken 2 actually gave every character a decent storyline and ending. They did that and even ensure that every character would tie in with the main story.Somehow I feel that the characters in this game were so well designed and well like that Namco was forced to put them back in Tekken Tag and Tekken 4. Yes you know who they are. Excluding the ones that only made an appearance in Tekken Tag the two guys who made a great comeback in Tekken Tag and Tekken 4 are Lee Chaolan and Kazuya Mishima.
Lee Chaolan was my all time favourite character in this game and I was kind dissapointed when he and Kazuya were believed to be killed before the start of Tekken 3. Speaking of character design the characters in the Tekken series were always well designed and popular. I mean if you were to play Soul Calibur II today you would see yoshimistu and Heihaichi Mishima in there.

Graphicss-8/10
I admit that they were blocky if you were to compare them with the ones in Tekken 3, Tekken Tag and Tekken 4. However they were really good during its time. The opening FMV was excellent and the ending FMvs for the various characters were also done very well as well.

Gameplay-9/10
Some might ask why this game has a 9/10 for gameplay when it has lesser characters than Tekken Tag and lesser modes than the other Tekken series. The difficulty of this game is actually harder and more challenging than Tekken 3.The sub boss are actually very challenging to fight in the hard difficulty. I had a hard time trying to learn how to fight the sub boss and bosses on the hard difficulty. One way to enhance the replay value of this game is to choose a character based on his sub boss. Purposely lose the first match and choose your favourite character. Then you have it a match between your favourite character and a different sub boss. This is also the only way you can fight the various sub bosses on a decent difficulty in the arcade mode.There are also 23 characters which is more than Tekken 4 and Tekken 3.

Music/Sound Effects-10
Sometimes I wonder why Namco's soundtracks were better in the years 1996. I realised that Namco's soundtrack were so good in 1996 that I was unable to accept the mediocre soundtracks in Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag. Although Tekken 4 made some improvement my favourite soundtracks in Tekken 4 were the ones from Tekken 2.In fact it was after I played Tekken 4 and hearing the music from one of the Tekken 2 stages that I decided to play this classic Fighter again.
Its hard to find a game with great sountrack and its hard to find a game with many great soundtracks. This game has one of the best soundtracks for a fighter and the only close contenders would be Battle Arena Toshinden 2 and Namco's own Soul Edge. The soundtrack itself is already a good reason to play this game.

Conclusion- This game is a timeless classic. It has one of the best soundtracks in a fighting game and has great gameplay and replay value. I would recommend people to look past its blocky graphics and play it.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/08/03, Updated 06/08/03