I’ve always thought of Tekken as being “the average Joes’” fighting game. Now please don’t start posting enraged messages down the bottom there - I’m fully aware of the millions of moves, the decades required to master the characters, the counter-counters to counters and so on. Just looking at GameFAQs shows the series is one of the most written-about and analysed of all time.

But it’s also popular with “the masses” … and with good reason. It’s got lots of funky characters, lots of flashing lights, it’s easy to get into, easy to look good and win (Namco fighters all have that “turn your back on the TV and just hit buttons to finish the game” thing going on) and, most importantly IT’S 3D!!! Ugh. Tekken is probably the most mainstream fighting game series of all time - it was one of the first PlayStation launch titles; and I remember back in 1995 being wowed by the CG intro, by 3D characters that looked realistic, as opposed to the boxy Virtua Fighter people, the ‘banging’ soundtrack and the sheer style and attitude the game exuded.

The sequel improved on every aspect, though the third game was less of a huge jump technically and focussed more on the contente, and being released next to Virtua Fighter 3 didn’t exactly help matters. The smallest technological leap of them all was the pseudo-sequel, Tekken Tag Tournament - but it was, and is still a huge arcade hit, despite looking decidedly poor and being essentially “Tekken 2 + 3 with a tag button.”

Now seeing as TTT was a PS2 launch title - releasing something as visually poor as the arcade version would have been suicide. Sure it would have been funny, but it would still have seriously harmed the machine’s reputation. So it was graphically overhauled and brought up to date.

And how.

I have to admit, the first time I saw it running, I was disappointed with the visuals - there are no flat out “OH MY GOD!!!” moments it’s true, but it’s so full of subtle things, little details, and the more you examine it, the better it looks. And the to people (rabid Sega fans) who were saying Soul Calibur looks better … just.. no.

The characters look wonderful - muscles and sinews rendered beautfully, highly detailed faces and outfits… The amount of polygons the PS2 can put out means there’s much less reliance on texture-mapping to create the illusion of lumps and bumps, and more ACTUAL lumps and bumps. The movement of loose clothes isn’t all that great, and I think the people still look slightly plasticky due to the lack of ultra-fine details, but they still look better than anything else available at the moment.

Where the graphics really shine is on the non-human characters. The giant Panda’s fur is almost photo-realistic, and Alex the boxing lizards’ smooth, reptilian skin shines in an absolutely awesome manner.

It’s the same with the backgrounds - they’re fairly generic locales, some from Tekken 3, others brand new, but they’re full of little details … plants that sway in the wind (and when you fall on them) … leaves that blow around the floor, the way the characters illuminate differently depending on the light source, fog, puddles of waters, the spectators (… actual realistic polygon spectators!) The more you play, the more you’ll notice, and the better it looks.

There are still those big coloured hit sparks, different for everyone, which have been in the series since the first game. I’ve never been a fan, and it definitely detracts from the realism a little. With the overhaul a few of them have been altered, when Ganryu scores a hit, something that looks like an exploding rock appears … huh? .. it’s not a big deal, just something that’s always bugged me.

The play field is still an infinite one, superimposed on the background, and there are small instances (replays and throws that move the ‘camera’) where the floor clashes with the BG … but it’s pretty rare. Overall it’s hard to criticise TTT visually - there are instances of that bane of the PS2 (*cough*) - jagged polygon edges every now and then, but you have to really looking for them to see them, and even then they’re no big deal.

The music is better than previous Tekken games as well, though this could just be a matter of taste. There’s the typical electronic high-energy stuff that the series has always had, but there are also some other, interesting pieces. A couple have truly excellent 70’s flavours (innapropriate yes, but oh-so funky) and the second-to-last fight against Heihachi and your characters’ sub-boss is a wonderful, film-like score that Jerry Goldsmith would be proud of. The sound effects are the same as always, literally in many places; still the same grunts, yells and cracks we’ve been hearing for six years now.

Approaching the game as someone who hasn’t played Tekken at all in over a year now, it all feels a little samey to me… the same moves, the same combos, LP, RP, LP, RP etc. A quick glance at a TTT FAQ or two shows that moves and combos have been added, as you’d expect and the “new” characters have been altered since their last appearance. The fact that you now choose two characters adds a new dimension to the match-ups - and then there’s the tag button.

One thing that elevates it above “VS game rip off” is the scoring system. If you lose one character, not both then you lose the round, so judicious use of the tag button to reclaim that precious ‘red energy’ bar is vital. There are also “tag throws”, a safe way to tag out during close combat, and “tag get ups” … which are self-explanatory. There are plenty of tag moves as well, which certain pairings can perform - Paul even gains a whole new move when teamed with Law. Whee.

But it’s still just more Tekken … I can beat the game using the exact same attacks and strategies I was using in the first game back in ‘95. Maybe I’m not “high-level” enough (that’s usually the problem) to appreciate the changes in the games, and the subtleties in the fighting engine - but it just seems to be the same LP, LP, RP/throw/juggle stuff there’s always been.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, if you love the series - but I’ve always been fairly ambivalent really, and more of that just does little for me. It’s prettier, there’s more moves .. but it still seems to boil down to the same basic routine.

Another of my problems with the series has always been the bland, personality-less characters. They look pretty cool, but they never speak, and all their win poses are just “jump … pose … grunt”. TTT is no different - and it still annoys me no end, however the way certain characters perform a short opening sequence when paired up is a nice addition … Nina and Anna argue, Jin and his father Kazuya glare at each other … I was rather disturbed by Lee Chao Lan and Heihachi’s intro; where Heihachi has Lee under his arm and is spanking his ass furiously. I don’t know what Heihachi and Lee’s relationship is … nor do I want to know now, but it was an amusing surprise. Certain pairings also do things when they lose, witness Nina kicking some poor sap (I forget who) in the balls. Yes.

The characters are also given another millimetre or so of depth from the short endings sequences. Sadly, they’re not CGI like the previous Tekken home conversions, but rendered in real-time. They’re on average a few seconds long, and range from “hmmm” to “what the…?” - with little relevance to the real story. Some look pretty nice, and are a good opportunity to marvel at the 3D engine.

There are a few goodies to unlock through multiple completions. First of all you unlock the 10 hidden characters. This is actually quite welcome, as the initial roster of characters is a little weak. I disliked the number of “clones” there were at the start - Nina and Anna; Julia and Michelle; King and Armour King and Baek and Hwoarang. It’s true they’re not identical; but they’re often close enough to be boring. The extra ten does lessen the tedium somewhat - and it’s nice to see Jun, Bruce, Kazuya etc. back and rendered in 128 bit yum-o-vision. A combination of Tekken 2 and Tekken 3 characters leads to a few interesting match-ups - Kazuya vs. his son Jin, Jun and Jin (ho ho), Jun and Kazuya and so on. I don’t think this game has a real storyline, as the Tekken series has always had a decent plot, and all the reappearances of people who are dead or were dead or whatever lead me to believe it’s a sort of “dream match” situaton. Jun is still a fabulous hottie though - her sports uniform … rowr! 0_o

Once you’ve got all the characters, (including stupid wooden dummy Mokujin and weird female boss “Unknown”) the next thing you get is “Tekken Bowl Tournament”. It’s a bowling game. And a pretty good one actually. You have to stop the moving gauge to choose the angle of the throw, and then stop a second gauge to get the speed. Your character will then throw the bowling ball down the well-drawn lane to knock over a set of pins with Heihachi’s head on them. Fantastic stuff, I’m sure.

Lastly comes the snapshot mode. This allows you to save twelve in-game screenshots to the PS2 memory card. I’m not sure how this counts as a ‘feature’ really … but it’s there, and it’s better than nothing I guess.

Complaints? Well personal differences on the actual game aside, I’ve mentioned the slighly weak roster (there are about ten characters with Kazuya’s LP, LP, RP combo) and the continuing lack of personality for the fighters… oh yeah - I don’t like the change in after-round replays. Before they showed the lead-up and execution to the final blow of the fight - perfect for gloating .. but in TTT you just see the killing blow only (nothing before it) repeated three times. Boo.

Aesthetically I have no gripes .. for a first generation PS2 game it is outstanding - I suppose it could have been more of a sequel, a little less familiarity would have helped, but it’s really an upgrade, and as such has no claims on being a sequel really. Oh well - it’s the only TTT home conversion available, so it’s all good really. Tekken games have always featured realistic-looking moves, motions and combat scenes - and so it’s nice to finally see them rendered as realistically as they move. Sure it won’t change the world, but it’s worth a look.

….

Incedentally, I challenged my brother; who is a big Tekken 2 fan to play this against me a few days ago. The final score? 21-7 to him. I shall be applying for a post on a knitting pattern website this weekend.

• Publisher/Developer: NAMCO
• Score: 85%