Tekken: Tag Tournament

The game supplies more than just the standard 2 vs 2 tag mode. Included are the obvious multiplayer modes, a great team battle option (sort of a king of the hill with a group of characters to work with), time trials, a single player mode (1 character run instead of a pair), a Tekken Bowl game (Bowling in a fighting game, what will they think of next?), and a picture and movie galleries. The last two allow for people to save a picture of a match or to review all of the in-game movies that can be uncovered (not to mention a juke-box) and trust me, you'll want to watch all of the FMV movies that are on the disc.

The game itself is beautiful; fully 3-D rendered characters and backdrops make this appealing to the eye. The backdrops each carry their own music and, more importantly, action sounds. For example, on metal levels you will hear the sound of metal impact whenever someone is knocked flat or you will hear a muffled impact whenever someone hits snow on other levels. The music for the game is excellent and more importantly differs dramatically from each area – techno music for the industrial zones, rap music for the streets, chanting (or similar) for religious or training zones, and classic tempo music for the final battle. To gamers who prefer to play alone, the single player modes provide some excellent challenges at the higher settings but the AI still doesn't reach the level of treachery or craftiness that a good human opponent can throw at you.

Detractions: some of the controller controls are very problematic. Some of the more complex move sequences are nearly impossible to pull off. Forget about duplicating them when you want. It can be truly frustrating to be unable to use the more powerful moves because if they don't work your character is going to have their ass handed to them in a moment. Opening all of the characters is another pain in the rear – it must have taken me the better part of two weeks to free all of the hidden characters and worst of all they aren't documented in the manual (2 of the hidden characters duplicate other characters moves and styles and it would have been nice to be able to control their transformations). Other than these minor things, this game is solid.

This is a great game and a must have for an arcade addict (like myself) who wants to save some money from the arcades and loves their fighting games.

- Tazman

(July 7, 2001)

"Those monsters aren't so tough."

"Uh Chief, that was the captain of the high school basketball team."

"Uh yeah, he was turning into a monster."