Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Keith Schleicher

With the limitations on the hardware of previous handheld systems, there hasn’t been any true 3D fighting games to take along in your pocket.  While some games, like Tekken Advance, tried to make a pseudo-3D fighter, most portable fighting games have been hand-drawn 2D fighters.  While some 2D fighters are classic in their own right, 3D fighters have a different feel to them, something that has been sorely missing from the PSP.  Now Namco Bandai has released Tekken: Dark Resurrection for the PSP.

 

T:DR is set about a month after The King of Iron Fist Tournament 4 has completed.  At the conclusion of The King of Iron Fist Tournament, Kazuya Mishima defeats Jin Kazama.  Heihachi Mishima is disgusted with the performance of Jin.  A battle between Heihachi and Jin ensues.  Black wings sprout from the back of Jin and he goes into a wild rage.  He stomps Heihachi and almost kills him in the battle.  Jin leaves before dealing a fatal blow.  After Jin leaves, a large number of Jacks attack both Kazuya and Heihachi.  Kazuya tosses Heihachi towards a large group of Jacks to distract the Jacks and make his escape.  The end of Heihachi is here.

While the PSP has similar capabilities of the PS2, the graphics for the system have not lived up to their potential.  That has changed with T:DR.  T:DR is an absolutely phenomenal looking game.  The characters all look spectacular with detailed character models.  The textures have a lot of detail to them.  Their clothes sway when appropriate.  Men have muscle textures to show their girth.  Instead of being blocky, the textures help the character models look smooth.

Great looking characters are nice, but if the animation is choppy great looking characters won’t help immerse you into the game.  T:DR delivers in this department as well.  The way Eddy and Christie move their legs and feet before a match starts is silky smooth.  None of the characters look stiff.  They are animated realistically, or at least as realistically as you can animate a fighting kangaroo.

Each hit registers a particle effect.  If the hit is successful, a red “explosion” shows up on the screen.  If your attack hits but is blocked, a white cloud of smoke appears.  This is a nice way to show off whether your hits are actually landing or not.

The backgrounds haven’t been given short shrift either.  Nineteen different backgrounds are available during the game, and each one is incredibly varied.  Fighting on an ice stage has penguins moving about, while another stage has leaves floating about.  A particularly hard hit to the ground causes the area to shatter temporarily, which is also a nice effect.

Each of the characters has their own voice actor.  Before each fight, they’ll speak something in their native language.  While it doesn’t add much to the story, it does give each character a bit of personality.

The music behind T:DR fits very well for a fighting game.  What’s even more amazing is that every stage seems to have different music to it.  While fighting in a dying forest with a heavy fog, the mood of the music is ominous.  Fighting in a neon-lighted area has a more upbeat, playful feel to it.  The music drives with a rock rhythm, yet still has a bit of an oriental vibe to it.

Controls for the game are standard for a Tekken game.  Movement is handled with the D-pad or control nub.  X performs a left kick, circle performs a right kick, Square performs a left punch, and Triangle performs a right punch.

Most of the time, the control scheme is simple enough and works well, but there are two issues with the controls.  Side stepping is done by a gentle tap up or down.  When trying to side step to the background, if you hold it too long, you can end up jumping, leaving you vulnerable for an attack.

The other issue is pressing multiple buttons at the same time for an attack.  While this might not be so bad when hitting Triangle and Circle or X and Square at the same time, trying to hit Triangle and X at the same time is a challenge.  Also, the timing has to be exactly right, especially when in the Command Training mode.  While these might be easier to pull off with a fighting stick, you aren’t going to find one for the PSP.

Tekken: Dark Resurrection features a large number of modes.  If you want to get a quick match in, you can play the Quick Battle that allows you play a single match against the CPU or play with two teams of up to eight characters that you create on each side.

Story mode follows the background of each character.  Each character has an intro explaining the background.  As you follow the story you fight until you reach the final boss.  Once finished with the final boss, you find out the aftermath of their win in the tournament.

Arcade mode doesn’t follow a specific story line where you face the same characters each time.  Instead, you choose a character and then fight against an opponent.  After successfully defeating that opponent you get to choose your next battle from three different characters.  You keep on going until you want to stop.  As you fight, you increase the rank of the character you are fighting with.

The Tekken Dojo is a competition where you take a single character through a competition.  You try to graduate from one dojo to the next, each increasing in difficulty.  Once the dojos are conquered, the mode is cleared for that character.

The Attack mode features a couple of minigames.  The Time Attack has you attempt to defeat each fighter as fast as you can.  Survival mode has you fight as many characters as you can before being defeated.  After each round, some of your health does replenish.  Gold Rush is a mode where your attacks determine the amount of money you win for each match is determined by the power of your attacks.  The heavier the attacks, the more money you can earn.

The extensive Practice mode gives you the chance to practice against the CPU with various parameters set, or with a specific difficulty.  A short tutorial and defensive training is provided, and the command training area gives you a good feel for the special moves of each character.

The Bonus Game area has games that might or might not be related to the fighting.  The Command Attack gives you specific commands and you earn money for each one done successfully. This area includes the Tekken Bowl game.  While this isn’t real bowling, it is a nice diversion from the regular game.

Tekken: Dark Resurrection is a fighter that’s simple to learn, but tough to master.  While the initial controls are simple, trying to learn all of the special attacks for each other the characters is a challenging task.  The fighting is a lot of fun, and fighting fans will have a lot of fun with this game.  With all the characters available, and the ability to get new costumes and new accessories, there is a lot of game to be had with T:DR.

The fighting in T:DR depends a lot on timing and blocking.  In fact, I think that at times Tekken could depend on blocking even more than the original Street Fighter II.  High, medium, and low attacks are performed depending on your position on the controls.  Missing an attack can leave you vulnerable to a counter attack.

The fights are fought within a confined space.  Those hoping to find some interaction with the environment will be disappointed.  In fact, if you move to far to the outside, you’ll be blocked by an invisible wall.  You also won’t find any environmental hazards in the arenas either.

The biggest problem with T:DR is that it suffers from CBS, Cheap Boss Syndrome.  Even some of the later fights seem to be very difficult and it feels like a miracle when you actually survive it.  Those who thought DOA4’s Alpha-152 was cheap should see the final boss Zaibatsu.  He has a ranged attack that can drain more than 50% of your life bar.  He is tough to defeat, and just as hard to get to.  However, once you defeat Zaibatsu, the opening and closing movie for that character in story mode are unlocked and can be viewed in the theater.

The load times for T:DR are rather quick.  However, sometimes I wished that when I was playing I could go straight to the fight instead of being shown the VS. screen with the two players on it.  Other fighters do this, so why not T:DR?

If you have read the previous section, then you know that there are a large number of modes that you can play.  Not only that, but you can play wirelessly in ad hoc mode.  You can also download “ghost” characters.  These characters take the strategies of different players online that can be downloaded from the Internet.

When fighting games started out, you generally had eight characters to choose from, although some had as few as three.  T:DR features over 30 fighters.  You aren’t going to be bored with any of the fighters.  While some characters share some similarities to each other, none of the characters are clones of each other.

As you fight you collect money.  You have an area where you can use this money to add accessories to the character wardrobes.  For example, you can add a tiara for Nina’s head, change the color of her costume, or add a whip for her to wear on her outfit.

So many options are packaged into this one game you might think that it was for a regular console.  It’s incredible that so many modes are available.  You’ll be playing this game long after you’ve shelved other PSP games.

Tekken: Dark Resurrection is one of the best, if not THE best game for the PSP.  If you own a PSP and are a fan of fighting games, picking this up is a no brainer.  Those who might have been hesitant to pick this up after the embarrassment of Tekken Advance have nothing to worry about.  Namco Bandai has a huge winner here.  If you have a PSP, you owe it to yourself to check out Tekken: Dark Resurrection.

Gaming Trend Score

91

1. Graphics: 92
2. Audio: 88
3. Controls: 85
4. Gameplay: 92
5. Value/Replay: 95
6. OVERALL:91