Tekken: Dark Resurrection

"Rehash or Remix?"

Yes, before you start shouting, it IS a rehash albeit a reasonably good one. It just doesn't bring enough to Tekken that isn't already there. Dark Resurrection is really just a remix of Tekken Five.

The game is pretty enough, with varied stages and smooth(ish – the transitions from crouching to standing can be jerky) animations, but the textures are often simpler than you'd expect from a machine of the PSP's power, and the hit effects (the little flashes of fire when a move hits).

But will you are in the middle of a fight, none of that will matter – who cares if an animation jerks when they are just interested in winning a fight? Or that there are weak textures when all they want to see are the characters? You can see what you need to see, so the graphics needn't be better.

The same is true for the sound – it isn't the greatest (in fact it gets really annoying very fast), but again – it doesn't need to be. It can't bring the game down very much, because if you don't like it, you can just turn it off!

The main game, is (as it always is with Tekkens) good, it retains the classic controls – and that would be good, if it were not for the dodgy D-pad, and fragile (at least in feeling) face buttons – diagonals are difficult, and it is hard to play energetically, as the face buttons feel in danger of falling of or breaking- but if you can get over this, the fighting would easily be up there with the best.

The game will last you a long time, as the story mode alone feature 9 battles for each of the 34 characters (more than 300 battles). But the online features are a real disappointment. There are no one-on-one online battles, only the ability to upload a ‘ghost' (a recording of your fighting style) and download other peoples ghosts. But, a recording of someone's style can never be as challenging as fighting a living THINKING opponent, who can change tact's in a blink of an eye, and truly react to you.

Another thing that will shorten the lifespan of this game is the fact that there are no unlockable characters, at all. They are all available from the start, lessening the challenge.

The truth is the PSP needs Tekken more than Tekken needs it. Namco have squeezed their IP to fit a box barely capable of containing it. But, this isn't a lazy port, it is a remix, and although there is nothing fresh about it, it is palatable nonetheless.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/10/06