Tekken has long been the quintessential exclusive title for Sony. Once announced for the Sony PlayStation Portable, fanboy hearts went all aflutter at the possibility of their longtime favorite fighting franchise making its way to the games-starved handheld. Last week, I was able to sit down and get some quality time with Tekken: Dark Resurrection and see just for myself if this would indeed be the sure-fire hit gamers and Namco would obviously think it'd be once it hits store shelves this summer.One of the big problems I've had with the PSP are the agonizing load times for most of its games. So, whenever reviewing or seeing a PSP game for the first time, I always take a special mental note of a certain title's loading time. Whether or not because the copy I tried was in development, I was shocked at the absence of any noticeable delays.
The game snapped quickly between character selection and actual fighting. It all added something that definitely stood out and at least one factor I hope will remain with the game upon its release. My comments and questions to Namco about the loading times on the final version went unanswered, with little more than a smirk in response.
Now, on to the actual gameplay. Tekken for the PSP is pretty much everything you'd expect. The controls were responsive and besides being in my hands, there was no real noticeable difference between this version and its PS2 cousins.One of the new additions in Resurrection is the introduction of two new characters -- Lili and Dragunov. Of course, all the old favorites are there as well -- Jin, Heihachi, Paul and Law are all at your disposal. If you don't feel like fighting, then the game also offers up mini-games like bowling to allow players to take a break from the button-mashing pound fest of the battle arenas.
As far as how the game looked, the graphics were beautiful. If there's one thing the PSP always has going for it, it's how it can make just about anything look good. Like recent Tekken titles, this game has an abundance of eye candy packed into 19 beautifully-rendered stages.And because it is on the PSP, the Wi-Fi capabilities will be in full bloom allowing players to take on each other and test their Tekken skills for the first time with people not in the same room. As you fight through the game, you can collect what is called fight money. This money is used to fully customize your characters which in turn can be taken to your multiplayer battles.
Shipping sometime later this summer, Tekken is poised to be yet another strong title to be added to the PSP arsenal. That is, unless they do their best to really screw this one up.
