The Wii analogue stick is no arcade stick, sure, but it plays out as perhaps the ultimate “handheld” Tekken. You can play on the smaller screen, which has its benefits as well as providing a flawless version of the action on your big screen. The most obvious difference at play here is the ways you can employ the Wii U Gamepad.
What gamers are going to want to know though, is what whizzy new stuff the Wii U Edition provides. All of the modes present from the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions survive intact, including your standard story mode, the versus and online battles, the ghost mode and the absolutely first-rate training mode starring the endearingly hatstand lothario, Violet. GAMEPLAY: Tag Tournament 2 is a fine game, with the time honoured limb-based attacks, juggle combos and a vast array of characters, most of whom are markedly different, with unique movesets and individual feel. SOUND: Again, the Wii U comes correct with a rollicking soundtrack which features some ace re-workings of long-time theme tunes, a stack of multilingual speech, crunching sound effects and the inclusion of the ace Tekken Tunes option, which allows you to select your own soundtrack based upon whatever music you have on your hard drive. Best of all, is the way the game has been sprinkled with that aforementioned Nintendo fairy dust, to hilarious effect – more of which later. All of the sparkle, the motion blur, the way your environments physically alter your characters, it is all there. And what characters! They are absolutely huge, packed full of detail and animated beautifully.
The backgrounds, and the way your characters interact with them are absolutely first rate. This is no mean feat when you consider that the game originated on arcade hardware that is comparable with the PlayStation 3. GRAPHICS: The Wii U copes absolutely fine with the rigours of Tekken, and indeed I was unable to distinguish this version from the 360 copy I already own. But enough of that, there is an Iron Fist tournament to attend to. As ever, the whole Mishima related goings on are entertaining in a confusing kind of way, and I particularly loved the way that this time around, formerly grey, partially bald Heichachi sports a cracking head of Just For Men jet black hair, courtesy of a regenerative serum he has been playing around with. STORY: Tag Tournament 2 has a plot running through it, including the addition of Violet and his crazy robot factory in the training mode. Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii Edition seeks to furnish the Wii U launch lineup with a version of one of 2012’s most impressive fighters, promising some new bells and whistles and a dash of special Nintendo magic added along the way. Prime Edition, the recent 3DS game was a missed opportunity which provided a surprisingly solid game of Tekken, with a set of game modes and options more akin to an Atari 2600 game than an all singing stereoscopic 3D fighting game from the future. Warriors Orochi 3 stumbles a bit but has still given us a decent enough port that allows Wii U owners to satisfy their need to cleave through legions of enemies. Tekken Advance was a Gameboy Advance title which valiantly struggled to emulate the 3D fighting of the core game series, and retains a soft spot in my heart for that, goddamnit. Cripes, when I think about it, there has never actually been a Tekken game on a Nintendo home console, just the handhelds. Much like Tecmo Koei’s Dynasty Warriors series, Tekken is a gaming concern that has never been done justice on a Nintendo console. Still it is pretty tacky that this massive difficulty spike that is basically a relic of the Arcade days to get people to put more coins in still exists on the consoles.įor those who've only played TAG1 Unknown has her own moveset now instead of borrowing other characters', although it's still basically Jun.Game: Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition Just cheese your favourite juggle combos and don't stand there like a berk. Overall not as cheap as Jinpachi or Azazel it's mostly just hard AI. The first time I beat Unknown I sidestepped it and she was left extremely vulnerable. I've only rarely been able to avoid it.Īlthough there is little warning it is easy to avoid if you sidestep it. Much like how the "gravity" spells work in Final Fantasy games the attack can never outright kill you but it knocks that character down to 1% and instantly forces the other member of the team in. Yeah, the worst offender being this forcefield that can appear under you WITHOUT WARNING which then locks you in place and a giant hand tentacle monster thingy squishes you reducing you down to 1% health.