As one of the front-running 3D fighting games, Tekken is a favorite of hardcore and casual players alike. Given that Tekken Tag Tournament is one of the all-time great fighting titles and is still played today, it is a little surprising that it has taken Namco Bandai 12 years to produce a sequel. But it has been worth the wait. Hardcore fans will find plenty to enjoy here, with more than 50 fighters, plenty of modes, stunning visuals and new tag mechanics, including satisfying double-team moves. Those of you who’ve played the original Tekken Tag Tournament in arcades or on the PlayStation 2 will instantly be at home with the basic tag-match gameplay. You can either go solo, or pick two characters and fight it out tag-style, like the original Tekken Tag Tournament or Street Fighter X Tekken, all you need to do is knock out one character to win the match.

Featuring an astounding variety of martial arts styles, compete with an impressively unrealistic physics engine, it creates a fighting game where the action is delivered up close as the fighters work towards the ultimate victory of being the Iron First Tournament winner. Alongside with the expected Arcade, online and offline Versus, Time Attack, Team Battle, Survival and Practice Modes, the Tekken series spices things up with a few series-specific additions: Ghost Mode works as something like ‘Practice’ mode that lets you play against a series of computer-controlled opponents, and Pair Play lets four players battle it out in teams of two. The biggest features the new title pushes is Fight Lab–which doubles as the game’s Story Mode–and a very in-depth character customization mode.

Fight Lab follows Violet (Lee Chaolan’s Counterpart) as he attempts to rebuild Combot, a customizable fighting robot. Taking control of Combot, players learn the basics of Tekken‘s fighting system, starting with movement, then going into strikes, throws, and later focusing on core mechanics like follow-up attacks and tagging. As you progress through the mode you will unlock points in which you can customize your Combot with moves from other characters and make it YOUR character which suits YOUR needs!

With Tekken 6‘s sloppy online experience with constant lag and long waits between matches. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 arrives with greatly improved netcode, giving fans on both consoles a great online experience. Playing on the 360, I’ve had the joy of playing lag-free matches with opponents in Japan, the UK, and across the US, and I’ve only heard reports of minimal lag for the PS3 version. The wait time for setting up matches is really short, and if matchmaking takes longer than a few seconds you’ll be moved into Practice Mode so you can warm up before a new challenger arrives!

In conclusion, Namco Bandai has wowed us once again, a sequel fans has been waiting for… A blast from the past with returning characters in the huge 50+ roster list. Along with an excellent physics engine. Countless moves that needs to be mastered and modes which will keep you occupied for numerous hours. It has certainly got my vote and keeping in mind that Katsuhiro Harada, Tekken’s Project Producer has announced that upcoming characters and settings DLC will be free of charge which will keep you fighting till their next sequel to this fantastic franchise.

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