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Publisher: Namco
Developer: Namco
Genre: Fighting
Origin: Japan
Number of Players: 2
Dual Shock: Yes
Peripherals: Memory Card
ESRB: T

The Tekken series is probably the most highly liked in the world of videogames, surpassing the likes of the long-running Street Fighter series and the critically acclaimed Virtua Fighter series. In its first version of Tekken to appear on PlayStation, Namco has what is arguable the best version of the game released in the series. While it won't change the minds of those who haven't been fans of the series, Tekken Tag Tournament will likely please the fans.

Gameplay

If you've played any of the Tekken's in the arcade or on PlayStation, you already know what to expect with Tekken Tag Tournament on PlayStation 2. Sure, there are plenty of new moves, special moves, tag battle and some new characters, but the general play mechanics of the game is still exactly what you're used to from a Tekken game. The game is basically an upgrade over Tekken 3 that features all of the characters that were in the previous Tekken games bringing the game's total fighter list to over 24. In addition to having new moves added to each of their already robust moves set, the game brings to the fore a tag battle system that allows players to switch between two characters at any time. All of this help make this the deepest console fighting game in the planet in terms of characters, secrets, play modes and bells and whistles. As with most of today's fighting games, Tekken Tag Tournament's single player modes aren't really too useful for anything other than practicing moves and opening up the game's secrets. But where the game shines is its multiplayer modes that include standard arcade, versus, team and one-on-one versus modes. While some may claim that Tekken is nothing more than a button masher, and it is in many ways, it would be wrong to dismiss it as nothing more than that. In the hands of a skilled player, the game is a thing of beauty. However, it is entirely true that in the hands of average gamer, most battles will turn into nothing but mindless button mashing and mindless fun.

Graphics

Even before the brilliant coders at Namco redeemed both Tekken Tag Tournament and the PlayStation 2 by implementing anti-aliasing for the U.S. release of the game, it still looked pretty damn good. A very slight jaggy problem aside, the Japanese version of Tekken Tag already looked fantastic and it was always a very impressive game visually. It's just that now with the anti-aliasing in full effect, the game looks a lot smoother and much more polished.

The game features some great looking 3D backgrounds with some of the best-looking ground textures that you'll ever see in a videogame. While some of the polygonal models still have a slightly blocky look to them, they're all brought to life with some amazingly detailed textures. This can be seen best in things like Nina's black leather pants and Jin's red and black leather jacket, which look so realistic that it's mind-boggling.

There are also quite a bit of awesome special effects that will surely amaze you. Everything from the great looking snow, to the excellent lighting in some of the backgrounds and to the cool fog effects in some of the stages, just look fantastic and help give character to the game's various 3D environments.

The only problems with the game graphically are that the background and the ring where the fighters compete are not connected to each other and the character animation is a bit unrealistic. These two factors definitely take away a lot of the game's visual thunder, but don't kill its appeal. And if you're wondering about how it looks in comparison to the arcade version, it's no contest -- the PS2 version of the game is many times better looking than the arcade version.

Sound

The Tekken series is known for its fantastic music and this one is really no different. Upbeat and generally fast-paced, most of the music has been put together quite well. It doesn't always really fit the game perfectly, but it's by and large nice to listen to. Where the audio really shines is with the game's wonderful sound effects that help add a bit to the overall appeal of the game. There are different sound effects for when characters step or fall on different surface types and the sounds associated with punches and kicks help bring the player into the fight more than what you get in most other fighting games.