Overview:

As I was browsing a local video game store I spotted this game on one of the shelves. Picking it up I thought to myself \'Hey isn\'t this just the like game in the arcade?\' After seeing that it truly was a Tekken game, although a lesser know one, I proceeded to buying it. The Tekken label has come to mean first class fighter over the years and I was sure this game wouldn\'t dissapoint me.

Appropriateness:

Violence 7.5/10 (-2.5 pts) Non Deadly Violence (-0 pts) No Blood (-0 pts) No Gore Well, there is violence in this game. A lot of violence. The kick and hit the characters sustain would be enough to kill most humans. For example one of the grabs involves grabbing the opponents neck, and pulling on him, in which a snapping sound occurs. The game is a fighter however, so that would be expected.

Foul Language 10/10

(-0 pts) No Foul Language (-0 pts) No sexual dialogue A big plus for this game is the lack of Language. After playing the game I heard no swears whatsoever.

Sexual Content/Nudity 8.5/10

(-1.5 pts) Characters clothing is sexy or accentuates their sexuality There are several female characters with inappropriate clothing on. They all have second outfits that are more modest, but there is no way to specifically chose what outfit they wear, so sometimes it\'s okay and sometimes it\'s not.

Occult/Supernatural 6.5/10

(-0 pts)There is no occult or supernatural environment in the game. (-3.5 pts) Borderline magic is used by player. Well, there are several characters that are nonhuman, spiritual creatures. (Ogre, True Ogre, Devil, and Yoshimitsu [he is at least other-worldly]) Also characters such as Heihachi, seem to have supernatural powers that are used when fighting.

Cultural/Moral/Ethical 9/10

(-1 pts) Game demeans family respect and authority. (-0 pts) No prejudicial bias in the game. (-0 pts) No gross humor in the game. Well, the game portrays fighting as normal, so points cannot be taken away for that, but there are two sister in the game that are always mad/fighting with each other.

Total Score: 41.5/50

The Game:

Game Play: 17/20

Probably the single best part of the game, the gameplay is an amazing, if not overwhelming, system of combos and attacks. The main idea is that there is three attack ranges, Low, Middle, and High. There is four attack types, Left foot, Right foot, Left hand, Right hand. Each of the four PS2 buttons a maped to a Hand/foot, and the corresponding direction you push determines your attack. Depending in what order, or what combination you pushed the buttons, a certain combo would be executed for your character. The verious combos are mind-boggling. Even after using one character for hours you still cannot use all of there combos effectively. The system works to allow casual players to mash buttons, and strike upon combos by accident, and yet still allows for hard-core fans to memorize every last combo there is. In addition, the reason it\'s called \'tag\' is because you can switch between two character in battle. When one is almost Ko-ed, you can switch to your second character. When a character is out of the game, they will heal themselves in varying degrees, depending on how much damage they have. This adds a huge amount of strategy to when to take a character out/how long to keep them out. In addition to the several fighting modes (Tag, Arcade, 1v1, Survival) there is also a unlockable bowling mode. The bowling is top notch and could easily be a part of a professional bowling game.

Graphics: 6/10

It\'s a fighter. The graphics don\'t really add a ton to the game, and yet they don\'t detract either.

Sound: 7/10

I liked the music. I barely noticed it in all the heat of fighting, but it fit the characters and levels very well in blended in seamlessly with the game.

Stability: 5/5

No problems here

Controls/Interface: 2/5

Here is the one complaint I have. The game use ONLY the D-pad. The analog stick is not used to controll your characters. This leads to a nice arcade feel for the first 20 min, but after that my thumb hurt like crazy, because of all the buttons I was pushing. They should let you switch between the D-pad, and the analog stick.

Overall score: 79.5/100

The game is a solid buy. I got it for less than a latte at some coffee shops. You would easily spend more at an arcade than the cost of the game. The main reason I bought it was this: Multi-player. There are few games out there that have as solid a multi-player then Tekken tag does. The regular mode can be beaten in a matter of hours, but the multi-player is what keeps me playing Tekken.