Almost twenty years ago, in 1981, Namco was porting an arcade smash to the most powerful home console the world had ever seen. Now in 2000 they are doing it again. Things are a little different this time around; we arent getting Pac-Man on the Atari 2600. Nope, we are getting Tekken Tag Tournament for the most powerful console ever, the Playstation2. TTT is the quasi sequel to the mega hit Tekken 3. Fans of the TTT will already know what to expect from the gameplay, and Tekken3 fans coming back to the series will certainly not be disappointed.

Namco is well known for the quality of their arcade to home conversions, and TTT is no exception. Everything you found in the arcade is here, theres just more of it and its better looking. The first time I started the game I was treated to what is the most amazing rendered intro that I have ever seen. It is truly the first thing I have seen the PS2 do that I have not seen done before. Not being too familiar with the story lines of the Tekken series, most of it was meaningless to me, but it certainly looks amazing. This intro is what I use to show off the system to my friends, and it leaves them counting the money in their wallets seeing if the have enough to pre-order. Does the rest of the games graphics stand up to the introduction?
As with most of the current PS2 games, it looks great, but is not without its problems. First off, this game blows away its arcade counterpart. I went to the local arcade this weekend so I could make a comparison, but there really was none. Backgrounds are enhanced, characters are composed of many more polygons, and are better textured. The arenas are visually amazing, yet slightly uninspired. The sheer amount of action in the backgrounds alone is certainley impressive, youll see people cheering, a janitor sweeping and an awesome carousel, all fully animated. The arenas themselves are not terribly interesting; there is a beach, a dark alley, a snowstorm, as well as some others. Nothing bad, just not as cool as Dead or Alive or Soul Caliber. The PS2 version boasts stellar lighting effects, torches and neon signs shine brightly, lighting the surrounding arena. A minor gripe is that the arena does not line up properly with the background. This is hard to describe, but if you have seen the game in motion you will know what I am talking about. This misalignment does not affect the game play at all, and you will hardly even notice it when you are playing.

The sound in TTT sounds great pumping through my surround sound, the intro movies music gets you pumped up to play just as much as the movie itself. The background music is also well done, it fits in nicely and does not intrude on the gameplay, like the horrible Ridge Racer V tunes. Its mostly just electronic music, with heavy drumbeats, and synthesized instruments. The actual sound effects do not sound like they have been enhanced since we last heard Tekken 3 on the Playstation. The sampling of the punches and kicks does not seem to be of the highest of quality. Although this did not take away from my overall experience, it did nothing to enhance it.

The gameplay is exactly like any other in the Tekken series. This is good or bad depending on your point of view. I found the overall controls of the game to be a little slow due to the length of some of the attack animations. For someone that is new to the series the controls will take some getting used to. The basic controls are simple enough; two punch buttons; two kick buttons, back blocks, and up is to jump. The fighting system however, is fairly deep, you wont find yourself pulling off combos or powerful moves until you spend some time in the practice area. Since I am not a Tekken expert, I spent most of the first day, getting waxed by the computer, not having very much fun. As the days went on I found myself performing, combos, juggles and throws with several of the characters. On its default setting the Arcade mode is not terribly difficult; you can beat it without possessing a large arsenal of moves. But it will take lots of practice before you beat the game with all the characters.

Why beat the game with all the characters you say? Anyone that knows Namco knows that when you buy one of their fighting games you are buying much more than just an arcade conversion. TTT is no different, many options await discovery for those with enough skill and patience. Arcade mode is the basic format, and the one where you will unlock the extra characters, such as True Ogre, Panda, Alex, Kazuya, Devil, Wang and many others. Versus is where you will layeth the smack down on your friends. Survival will test your defense as well as your offense as you try to see how many teams you can defeat with one bar of energy. Theater mode will allow you to watch the character endings. Unfortunately these endings are very disappointing. They are all created with the game engine, which is a little bit of a letdown after the amazing visuals at the beginning. They do look very good, just not what I was hoping for. The bad thing about them is that they are about twenty seconds long, and pointless. If you are looking for the storyline, you wont find it here. Entering the gallery allows you to view snapshots that you have taken during battle. There is also a practice mode that is quite helpful. You can practice in a free mode, or learn and practice combos in the combo mode. This is a nice addition for people that are used to the more directional pad oriented moves of Street Fighter, or Killer Instinct. Tekken Ball is not present here, but dont be disappointed; you can now go bowling with your favorite fighters. This game is actually pretty fun, and suprisingly deep. Each fighter has their own bowling style: the women tend to be slower and more accurate, while the men, especially the larger ones like True Ogre just sling the ball down the lane towards the HeiHachi head pins.

Overall this is a very good game, especially considering the usual quality of Japanese launch titles. It's not the super, amazing, jaw dropping, awe inspiring title that Sony has promised and we are all waiting for. The fact that the controls are not super responsive and take some practice to learn, will turn some people off. However any fan of the Tekken series will not be let down, and would be wise to go pre-order this game ASAP. While its true that this game is not the best fighter that I have played ( Soul Caliber for Dreamcast holds that honor) I did enjoy this game. Keep in mind I do not have a long history with the Tekken series, so my views are basically from someone who has played a little bit of Tekken 3, and is still new to the series.