Tekken: Dark Ressurection has flaws, but it's mostly a solid port
The Good:
Mostly interesting characters + crazy story + amazing graphics, especially on the PSP + complex fighting system makes for some great fights + great music + the Tekken Dojo is a great idea and is executed very well + lots of great different modes will keep you busy for a while + fun mini games
The Bad:
The AI is essentially broken - trying to pull off combos with the d-pad can be frustrating.
Tekken: Dark Resurrection by no means, a bad game, what with its great fighting system, plus a large amount of modes of play. Dark Resurrection even has some fun mini games. But the odd AI, plus the difficulty of performing combos drags down the experience somewhat.
Let me start off by saying Tekken: Dark Resurrection is beautiful. The game uses a simplified version of the Tekken 5 graphics engine, which looked amazing on the Playstation 2, but even better on the PSP. The character animation is so stunning, sometimes you will trick yourself into thinking you’re watching a martial arts flick. Plus, the game’s character models, for the most part, look realistic, but there is an occasional weird looking character. For example, Marduk is very muscley on his top half, but his lower body is has little to no muscle, which, if that sounds odd, it kind of is.
The sound in Tekken: Dark Resurrection isn’t exactly the worst either, while your characters DO shout the same battle cries over and over. The music, though, will be stuck in your head, forever... (This is a good thing, considering that the music is awesome). So don’t fight it, okay? The voice acting is also spot on, in a corny-awesome kind of way, which is a pretty great feat, considering that most of it is Japanese (not trying to be racist). Most of the game’s characters are interesting, because many of them have different purposes for fighting, whether it’s a sumo wrestler trying to prove his love, or an old man trying to earn enough money to make a rocket to ship so he can send his brothers into space, it all just makes for a more satisfying experience.
There is a great potential lasting value here, too. Tekken: Dark Resurrection has 6 modes of play, Story mode, a mode in which you will pick any character, and battle said character’s rivals, this mode will take you a while, because the game has 30+ characters. Then there’s network mode, a mode in which players can download wallpapers onto their PSPs. Then there’s Tekken’s Dojo mode, the most interesting mode in the game where you will battle other Tekken player’s ‘ghosts’ (Interpretations of the person’s fighting style), this mode is especially cool because it’s not online, all you have to do is download the ghosts from the Network mode. Then there are the extras, a mode in which you can play mini games you’ve unlocked, all of the mini games are fun to play, especially in short, 5-10 minute bursts. Then, of course, Tekken: Dark Resurrection has the standard Arcade Battle mode, which has 3 modes within it, Arcade, Survival mode, and Time Attack.
But the problem with Tekken: Dark Resurrection is the AI, they constantly block and cancel out all of your long combos, only to let you low kick them in the knee until they’re knocked out. That, of course, is insane, especially considering the fact that the fighting system is so great. Also, the PSP’s d-pad doesn’t work well enough to perform combos at times, and the analog nub isn’t much better, so it’s probably best that the AI acts like it does sometimes. But if you’ve got cash to spare, and if you have an internet connection, Tekken: Dark Resurrection is definitely worth the small price of $19.99.
