Tekken 2 is a huge improvement over the first game with a ton of new features, fighters, upgraded graphics and overall, a fresh new experience, despite it being the same concept as the original Tekken.
The story continues in Tekken 2. Two years after throwing his hated father off the cliff, Kazuya is now the leader of the Mishima Zaibatsu family. In rapid pace, he becomes more powerful and corrupt than ever, engaging in everything that can be considered illegal. He smuggles endangered animals, assassinates rivals and critics without conscience and is feared throughout the land. Aided (or better said, corrupted) by the Devil gen, a result of his hatred for his father, he gets eviler by the minute.
Meanwhile Jun Kazama, an animal rights activist wants to arrest Kazuya for his animal abuse. Heihachi has finally returned from his little hike up the mountain and swears to train harder and overthrow Kazuya and returns his position as leader of the Mishima Zaibatsu family. Kazuya organizes a new contenst, The King of Iron Fist Tournament 2, knowing that his old man will definitely compete in it. Jun also enters the tournament. When Jun faces Kazuya, she wants to arrest him, but the devil gen attracts Jun to Kazuya and eventually they do a certain fighting pose without hands, so to speak and Jun becomes pregnant with Kazuya’s child and drops out of the tournament.
And oh yeah, Heihachi is beaten to pulp by Paul Phoenix and loses the tournament. However, in the final match, Paul is being stuck in traffic and Heihachi takes his place as final contester against Kazuya (who comes up with this). Father and son battle once again but this time, Kazuya is almost completely consumed by the devil inside him and his good side, an entity called Angel, is trying to keep him from perishing. Because of the constant struggle going on inside him, Kazuya is not able to focus and is beaten by Heihachi, who throws him into a freaking volcano (just to be sure) and reestablish himself as head of the Mishima Zaibatsu family.
Meanwhile Jun gives birth to the love child of Kazuya and her, a boy called Jin.
The principle of Tekken 2 is the same as the first game. Choose a fighter, compete in the tournament and defeat seven opponents, a sub-boss and then the final boss, which is Devil Kazuya in this case. When clearing the game with all the original ten fighters that the game start with, you unlock a total of twenty-five characters, a huge amount for this game. Many characters are veterans from the first game, with the addition of eight new ones.
Tekken 2 also adds new games modes, something that became the basis for the rest of the games. You now got Survival mode, in which you try to defeat as many opponents as possible without being defeated yourself. There is a time attack mode in which you play the standard arcade mode but do it as fast as possible to set a record. You also got Team Battle now, in which you choose a team of eight fighters and play Survival mode. When all your eight characters are defeated, the game is over.
The graphics have been greatly improved and the animations are a lot more fluent and less stiff. The character models and environments all look great, and it feels like a completely different game when comparing it to the first Tekken. The sound design is mostly the same as the first installment and still sounds just as fine.
In terms of controls, there are many more combos and attacks assigned to each character.
Overall, Tekken 2 is a huge upgrade from the first game and offers more than three times as much content. The new characters, the excellent story and the new modes, it is all great.
Definitely recommend this gem of a game.
