Tekken Tag Tournament 2 preview

The most exciting new feature in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is sure to be a genre-changer: the Tekken World Federation premium service. At its core World Federation is an official online community for the game, but it goes further than the standard forum and community features, aiming to bring a consistency and legitimacy to online competition with the kind of stat tracking and rankings you’d find in professional sports. After my first match I immediately noticed the game sending match and player data off to the Federation service.

After putting the controller down and checking out the site itself I saw that all the data of the match I just played had been uploaded. This data includes button inputs, combos, damage dealt, character usage, pair usage, who you’ve played against, team and individual rankings, latest achievements, and specific battle history. Having this service will prove invaluable to the competitive community, as it will provide an official, undisputable log of every single match integrated seamlessly into gameplay. What’s more all of the data that is tracked was based on information provided by some of the top players in the world; people who know the game, and the genre, inside and out.

Players will have a single Federation profile that is linked to their Xbox Live and PSN accounts which tracks the player’s progress. Arcade and training modes aren’t tracked, so new and casual players needn’t worry about their profile announcing their stats to the world. This is hardly a pro-only service. In fact, World Federation will be a useful tool for new players as they can use it as a virtual coach that tells you exactly how you’re doing in excruciating detail. Maybe you play Nina most of the time, but you actually have much better win percentages with Yoshimitsu; now you know to either work on your Nina, or to start using Yoshimitsu more. Using World Federation in conjunction with Tekken Channel replays will let the button mashers of the world actually analyze what buttons they mashed so they can know how to make that awesome combo happen again next time.

On top of all of that players will be able to form teams that function much like a guild or a clan in other online games. Teams will have their own forums to chat with one another, overall team stats, custom profile elements like emblems, and more. Solo play scores will aggregate with other team members to unlock bonus content for the teams. And, of course, all of this data is integrated into the game itself immediately. Change your team emblem and the next match one of your team members plays will have the shiny new emblem next to their health bar.  Namco Bandai promises special limited time events, online tournaments, and more that encourages team play.

Tekken World Federation is easily accessible via computer, or even on tablets. This service is running full time and has the potential to change the entire competitive fighting game world. Imagine going to a tournament and having data logged instantaneously by the game itself, and spectators being able to track matches remotely from anywhere in the world as they happen. Now I did mention earler that World Federation is a Premium service, and so there must be a fee of some sort involved. Well, there is and it is a whopping $0.00. That’s right, this fully featured premium-level serviced is being made completely free to players and will go live alongside the game at launch. Who could ask for more?

No matter what you’re after in a fighter Tekken Tag Tournament 2 has got it. The most extensive roster in the series’ history, polished gameplay, beautiful presentation, the series' trademark wackiness, and a new online service that hopes to revolutionize how competitive fighting games are played. If you’re as anxious as I am for this bad boy you don’t have to wait much longer because the game drops September 10^th, 2012 for PS3 and 360, with a Wii U release to follow in the Winter.

Fighting games mean different things to different people. Some players are all about competition, tiers, and studying frames of animation. Some set their sights entirely on characters, background stories, and customization. Some just like to go online and button mash until cool, well-rendered things happen on the screen. The genre has enough room for everyone, with different titles putting their focus in different areas. The soon to be released Tekken Tag Tournament 2 has something for everyone.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 doesn’t stray too far from the series’ roots. Gameplay and controls haven’t changed much from the last few iterations of the 3D fighter. This being the eighth game in the massively successful franchise, why fix what isn’t broken? Instead, developer Namco Bandai has focused on refining what they already have, expanding features and options, and taking their formula and polishing it into what is sure to be the definitive Tekken experience.

The story of the game is the same as ever; there’s a world tournament gathering the greatest fighters in the world to beat the crap out of each other in bizarre locations. This being a tag tournament you select two characters from the extensive roster that includes nearly every single playable character from the series’ history. Longtime players will see all of their favorites, like returning characters Jun and Kunimitsu. At launch a handful of bonus characters will be available for download, with more fan favorites to be added over time as free DLC.

Players can play solo in the arcade mode, versus locally, online, or in the revamped training mode. Online play is smoother as ever, completely reengineered from Tekken 6 to now, using the Soul Calibur 5 net code. Even just running the game on a weak MyFi signal on the swanky Tekken bus it played as smoothly as on a home console with a dedicated network.

New features include the Tekken Channel, Tekken Tunes, and the Fight Lab. The Tekken Channel mode lets players watch rematches of their fights to study later, or maybe share their fights with friends for bragging rights. The new Tekken Tunes feature gives players the ability to chop up and play with in-game music as well as import their own music into the game. Fight Lab is  a new in-depth training ground for new players to learn how to play, bringing back Combot from Tekken 4 to practice with as well as customize with other characters’ moves and bring into the main game.