Tekken: Dark Resurrection

"Best 3D fighter on the PSP thus far"

Tekken is one of my favorite fighting series, next to Street Fighter but I will admit I haven't played a Tekken since Tag and that one hadn't thrilled me at all. I'm also not a big fighting game fan either so I'm not too good with the whole juggles, counters and all of that. This just made this newest addition to the Tekken series one where I just had to learn the new mechanics of the game. Those who are familiar with the more recent entries shouldn't have any problems picking this one up.

Tekken's story continues from what I will assume happened in Tekken 4. Most, if not all of the characters have returned and while some of the stories are interesting, some are terrible. Nina, a character that I would consider a main character, has one of the lamest stories and her ending is rather bad. I actually found a lot of the endings worth getting because they either had great action scenes or they were really humorous.

Graphic wise Tekken is pure eye candy. The stages themselves look nice but they are still one level and I really wish they could make levels like those in the Dead or Alive series (the only good thing from that series). I also liked the smashed floor tiles and stuff when you slam a character into the ground. Character models also look good, nicely detailed ECT. The cut scenes are obviously some of the best on the PSP so far.

The game also has some nice sounds going on. Music wise the game was very pleasing but now that I have to sit here and try to think of what kind of music it actually was I draw a blank. Be that what it may but I do remember finding it fitting and logging a mental note of that. I also made a note of how fun the music was during the bowling mini game. The voice acting is fairly solid as well. Nothing that made me want to plug my ears and I liked how some Asian characters spoke their own language, which makes things a bit more real. Sound effects are nothing special but you have smashing sounds, splashes from stepping in water, smacking sounds and all of that fun stuff.

Control is actually nicely done as well but the PSP does seem to be fighter friendly. The d-pad is just the right size. I did have a terrible time doing juggle combos and I wouldn't have even known about them or how to do them if I didn't mess around with the second unlock able mini game. I did find that some characters moved sluggishly for me while the compute seemed much faster with them, I then realized it was because I wasn't pulling off the sweet moves that they were.

Tekken 3 was and still is my favorite 3d fighting. I personally prefer 2d fighters that come off as a bit more hyper, keeps my blood pumping more so than the slightly slower 3d fighting games. Like most 3d fighters you have the basics here now. Juggling, combos, simple moves and complex ones, blocking and all kinds of other things. I actually had to stop and train, because I really didn't have the hang of things after 2 hours of playing the story mode. It's nice getting your ass handed to you once in a while.

I really like the options the game offers. You can make it one round fights or more. You can change the time limit. Hell, you can even turn on blocking damage which I ended up doing so I could unlock more endings because some characters are not beginner friendly and was having many problems with the computer blocking my attacks. The AI is actually rather smart on the higher settings and doesn't allow you to over use an attack.

This game also offers a wide selection of characters and most play completely different than others, or they have a male/female counterpart. I hate the character Eddie with a passion. I can't play as him and he beats me down almost every time I fight him. He's more of a low attacker and he has killer combos. He reminds me of one of the robots from Mortal Kombat 3, there was one I just could never beat and he would destroy me within 5 seconds. Anyway, it's easy to find a character to really train with and it will make the game a bit easier to get through but to master all of the characters will take a while.

There is also a whole new mode in this game. Tekken Dojo allows you to take a character and go from dojo to dojo and rank up and gain lots of money. This is a very addictive mode and offers a lot to unlock all on its own. This mode also can't be found in the PS2 version of the game.

The game also offers a lot in the replay area. Every character has an ending to unlock except I think 2 characters share one ending. It has story mode, arcade mode, training and a few other things. As you advance in the game you unlock mini games. I only had two of the three and then I some how accidentally deleted my save. The first was bowling which I had always sucked at playing in video game but for some reason it finally clicked for me and I realized what the meters meant, yes I can be that slow sometimes. The other mini game was kind of boring and just had you doing combo after combo. I wasn't too good at that one. After each fight and after each mini game you get money. You can use these to buy any endings you want but you unlock those also by just beating the game with a character. The money can also be used to unlock items to dress up or alter your characters. Each character has a large amount of items to choose from and it will require many play-troughs to get them all.

This is a very addition to the Tekken series but let me point out now that this is a port of Tekken 5. Unlike the PS2 version this one doesn't offer the arcade ports of Tekken 1-3 which I think was something that made Tekken 5 on the PS2 worth grabbing. This is still a solid title without those added bonuses. This game also uses some sort of online option. Again, I can't find a single hot spot anywhere so I can't tell you how the online thing works. From what I understand the game offers Ad Hoc and game sharing but with game sharing there is no sound and some minor lag. While you could rent this game and get a large amount of enjoyment out of it, I would recommend buying this if you want a very solid portable 3d fighter

Story - 7/10
Graphics - 10/10
Sound - 8/10
Control - 8/10
Game Play - 9/10
Replay value - 9/10

Final Score - 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/05/06, Updated 09/06/06