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TEKKEN DARK RESURRECTION REVIEW |
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Written by Donny De Leon
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Tuesday, 22 August 2006 |
The second Handheld Tekken game in the series makes its debut. Is this game worth picking up. Yes, Maybe and No. Full review inside + screen shots
Tekken was first introduced back in 1994 for Arcades. However it wasn’t until 2003 when I first played Tekken 3. I was looking around my local game store and I saw the arcade machine so I decided to play it. I liked it so much that I stayed for over 2 hours and wasted a total of $10 bucks in quarters. Later on, I borrowed Tekken 1, 2, 4 and 5 from my friends and after hours and hours of playing the game, it hit me, “these games are all the same”. Aside from the story and additional characters these games are nothing but button smashing, slow moving characters with some strong punches and kicks. Tekken Dark Resurrection is basically Tekken 5 with some new characters and customizations. So just think Tekken 5 on the go.
"Talk about equal right"
The game specs are as follows:
TEKKEN?: Dark Resurrection arrives on the PSP, bringing one of the most explosive fighting games to the handheld platform.
New characters Lili and Dragunov join the classic cast such as Jin, Heihachi, Paul and Law in the battle to be crowned King of the Iron Fist Tournament. An all-new intro movie lets you dive into the midst of the world of
TEKKEN?, this time with ad-hoc multiplayer mode to fight against friends as well as more items to customize your favorite characters. Now you can fight anytime, anywhere - are you ready?
STUNNING GRAPHICS: The beauty of TEKKEN is re-created on the handheld console, delivering one of the most realistic graphics on a handheld platform. A variety of destructible objects pump up the action on 19 stages!
VARIETY OF CHARACTERS: Play as one of over 30 characters, including classics Jin, Heihachi, Paul, Law and more. New characters Lili and Dragunov join the classic cast with all-new fight styles and moves. Collecting victories to lead your character to become king rewards you with ending movies for each character!
CUSTOMIZABLE CHARACTERS: Use your fight money to customize your characters - with more than double the items seen in TEKKEN?5, the sky's the limit on the unique look your character will have!
AD-HOC MULTIPLAYER BATTLES! Using Wi-Fi connectivity of the PSP platform, you can battle against your friends - take your customized, original character against theirs and let the battle unfold!
BONUS MINI-GAMES: Mini-games provide a little breather from heart-pumping fighting action for more fun against friends!
Tekken has been favored by fans all over the world and I think it’s a great game. However just like Madden football or every other sports title out there, every time they come out with a new game it’s basically just an update of an old game and engine. However unlike madden the game does feature a great story to go along with the game, and a few additional features that are not found in the original Tekken 5.
Main Menu:
Quick Battle: Battle CPU opponents in an unlimited series of matches.
Story Battle: Play through the game while following the character’s story.
Arcade Battle: Play the arcade mode of Tekken Dark Resurrection.
Network: Show your friends who is the Master or get your ass handed to you online
Tekken Dojo: Hone your skills at various Dojos located throughout the island.
Attack: Battle opponents in matches with a variety of rules.
Practice: If you’re a rookie this is the best place to start.
Profile: Customize characters, review records and manage ghost data.
Theatre: Unlocked as soon as you pass the game with any character. Here you can watch ending movies and listen to the games’ music.
Options: Change Difficulty, Controls and save/load settings.
"Show your friends who's boss in Multiplayer mode"
Graphics:
Although I really couldn’t expect anything less from this game seeing as this is a PSP, The graphics are some of the most amazing I’ve seen. The environments (although they say they’re destructible I find that hard to believe because as soon I throw someone on the ground and brake the floor it the goes back to normal after a few seconds) are filled with details.
You can have a much better view of everything in the game when the brightness on the PSP is adjusted to level 4 but level 3 works just as well.
The characters details are not as bad either. Their outfits as well as the models are all high def. Not to be compared with the PS2 version because we all know the graphics in the PS2 will beat the graphics in the PSP up the curve. It’s like comparing a Nissan Skyline with a Honda Civic SI. Come one there is just no comparison.
Game play
The game handles just like its predecessor; however a faulty D-pad makes the game not as enjoyable as the others. Many say that is a problem the PSP has. I say it’s a problem within the game. I’ve played many PSP games with the D-pad and I could say the D-pad handles extremely well. The game is slow to respond when try to do combos.
Just like Soul Calibur or all the other fighting games out there that requires no skills to master, Tekken: Dark Resurrection is one of those games. All you have to do is punch your opponent a certain amount of times and you win.
The characters move slowly through out the game. This causes some characters to loose HP when getting up because the opponent will keep on punching you until you get knocked out. The characters are hard to control and by the time your character gets the command to hit the opponent your character will probably be on the ground
"one of my many favorite screen shots....drool....."
Controls:
Like stated above there is a problem with the controls. They’re too hard to handle and takes a while for your character to receive the command (I’m counting the time in milliseconds not seconds). This is an in game problem not a PSP problem.
The fighting controls are simple.
D-pad (+) Joystick: move
Square: Left Punch
Triangle: Right Punch
Circle: Right Kick
X: Left Kick
L and R: Not used
There are many combinations or combos for each and every character, although that requires timing and a lot of it. If you press a button too soon it will not work and it you press it too fast it will not execute.
Sound:
The sound track is typical fighting music. Just instrument no vocals or nothing. The music sounds great but can get boring after a while. If you get tired of the music you can always turn it down or turn it off and have all those great sound effects and voice over.
There are some characters who speak Japanese, some who speak English and some who just don’t speak at all. If you happen to miss what they’re saying or have a hearing problem you can always read the subtitles.
"a busted control system could make you loose the game"
Life Span:
There game is long enough to keep you occupied until another great PSP title comes along. You can unlock every characters movie or just buy them with the money you earn. It does not end there however; there is still plenty to keep you occupied for a very, very long time. There is character customization, mini games, upload able and downloadable ghost data and of course multiplayer mode to battle your friends. You can go online to view other players’ scores and download content suck as wall papers but I think that is just a waste of time.
Conclusion:
Tekken: Dark Resurrection is just a port of Tekken 5 with some additional characters, and even then it does not bring anything new to the table. Even though there are a couple of add-ons available in the PSP version than the PS2 version it’s still the same old Tekken.
To some people that’s good to others that is bad so I guess you can classify me as the others. The game was created for all those Die Hard Tekken fans who want the game on the go. Tekken Dark Resurrection is an awesome game, but the game play is getting boring and the story alone is not worth buying future Tekken titles in the near future unless they decide to change something. This is definitely one of those titles that you can either buy on the PSP or wait until something better shows up.
Graphics: Clean, Sharp and stunning details to both the environments and the characters. 8/10
Game play: Nothing new if you’ve played Tekken before. 5/10
Controls: Characters do not respond quickly to the commands and the controls feel heavy. 4/10
Sound: Great music although it can get boring and great sound effects and voice over. 7/10
Life Span: Many characters to choose from, Mini games and Multiplayer is enough to keep you entertained for months until something better shows up. 10/10
Bonus Points: One of the Very few fighting games on the PSP that’s interesting. 2/5
The Second Handheld Tekken Game 1/5
Total Score: 74% = C
"get your groove on mon"
"If you're an environmentalist and an animal lover, look away"
"love hurts"
"if you don’t like this screen shot, there's something wrong with you" |
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