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PSP | Fighting | Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection

Boxart for Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection
Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection 53 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 4.50
  • SOUND: 3.25
  • CONTROL: 4.75
  • FUN FACTOR 4.50
  • AVG USER SCORE 2.9
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 4.6
Winner of the GamePro Editor's Choice Award

Review: Tekken: Dark Resurrection (page 2 of 3)

Review by Sid Shuman | 07/21/2006 | 13:56:37 PM PST

Uncompromised Vision

It's times like these when a PSP-to-TV converter would be a godsend. Dark Resurrection's visuals look simply sublime on the PSP's delicious widescreen display. They're not quite as meticulously detailed as those in Tekken 5 -- you'll notice the occasional blurry character texture here and there, and the environments look more sparsely adorned than the PS2 versions. But there are still more than enough visual flourishes to make your eyes dart from detail to detail: one arena sports a vast plume of billowing smoke, while another gives off a subtle heat-shimmer effect. Dark Resurrection's particle effects are also used to impressive effect -- sparks, gold coins, and stone tiles fly as characters are hurled into the ground again and again. All in all, Dark Resurrection is a remarkably pretty game, nearly good enough to pass as a full-blown PlayStation 2 title.

It's not surprising, on the other hand, that Dark Resurrection's audio and soundtrack don't impress. After all, the Tekken games have never excelled at creating a convincing, immersive soundscape. There's a smattering of cracks and snaps, some "oohs" and "arghs," and oddly lush, overproduced background music that sounds out of place. Some things, as they say, never change.

Fighting Frills

Dark Resurrection isn't a straight port of Tekken 5 -- it adds some welcome new features. The game adds two new characters: bottle-blond teenybopper LiLi and cadaverous commander Dragunov. Then there's Armor King, who has been re-worked with new fighting styles and attacks in much the same way that Tekken 4 reinvented Jin Kazama. The game features 19 fighting areas -- some are pulled from the PS2 version of Tekken 5, others are all-new -- and a whole new array of character outfits and customizations.

In a nice touch, Dark Resurrection adds a collection of addictive mini-games, many taken from the series' PlayStation salad days. These include Tekken Bowling, which makes a welcome return from 1999's Tekken 3, and Gold Rush, a fast-paced brawling mode in which the player has 30 seconds to inflict as much damage as humanly (or inhumanly) possible. These bonus games aren't much on their own, but collectively, they add a ton of replay value.

We'd love to talk about the wi-fi multiplayer mode, which supports two players via the PSP's ad-hoc wireless connection. We'd love to, that is, but we can't -- Namco Bandai's pre-release copy doesn't support that feature. Once the retail version hits, we'll report back with a full rundown on Dark Resurrection's multiplayer mode.


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