Tekken: Dark Ressurection is a game that makes your PSP occupied for a really long time.
[9/10]: Gameplay: Tekken: Dark Resurrection (DR), is a 3D fighting game, you fight a computer/player one-on-one. There are more than 30 characters, each with a unique set of skills and requires days of practicing to master the character. The combos ranging from easy to hard combo, such as normal 2 button combo, then 3 button, then a combination of many buttons press at the same time. Since some buttons are hard to press at the same time (like the X and Triangle button), the L and R button are used to represent one or 2 button(s).
Attacks in this game comes in 3 types: High attack (attacks that hit the head/shoulder/neck), Medium attack (attacks that hit the chest -> waist), Low attack (attacks that hit the leg). There's 2 type of block, to counter those attacks: Medium + High block (simply press backward) and Low block (crouch then press backward).
Tekken: DR allows character to be "rank up". When you buy the game, you'll notice that all your characters are marked "Beginner". As you play through Arcade Mode and Tekken Dojo, you'll sometimes encounter "Ranking Battle", which will level your rank up. You'll have to work all your way from Beginner till Tekken Lord. If you lose too many fights in a row, you'll be ranked down (even if your rank is Tekken Lord). This ranking system is just for showing off, but yeah, somehow it feels satisfied to max a character's rank. And remember, only Tekken Dojo and Arcade Mode will record your Win/Lose/Draw and have "Ranking Battle", other mode doesn't.
DR has a unique feature (I believe it isn't unique now since there's Tekken 6 - I haven't played Tekken 6 though, don't have a PS3) called "Ghost Character", which you'll encounter in Arcade Mode and Tekken Dojo. They're merely a copy of a Tekken player's character, meaning they'll fight almost the same as the real Tekken player would do. This is really an interesting feature, since you're opponents will be unpredictable, and requires lot of practicing to develop with new situations. You can also save your own Ghost Character and exchange Ghost Character(s) with your friends via ad-hoc connection. Quite an interesting feature.
There are many modes in this game: Quick battle, story battle, arcade battle, tekken dojo, minigames, customize, theater, practice.
> Quick battle is a simple one on one battle. You choose the character, the enemy, the stage, then fight. There are 2 types of battle. One is VS CPU, the typical battle type. The other is Team battle, where you can choose your team (1-8 unidentical members - meaning you can't have 2 Asuka or 2 Jin in your team) and choose your enemy (1 to 8 unidentical members). You'll fight until all your team members/opponent team members are KO'd.
> Story battle: Fight through a character's story.
> Practice: Here you can practice combos.
> Arcade battle: Fight nonstop battles (like when you're playing arcade) with Ghost characters until you decide to end. After you win a battle, you can choose either to fight one of 3 enemies shown or end the game. If you end the game, you'll be back in the menu.
> Tekken Dojo: The most interesting mode of the game. You fight through dojos in an island. You will proceed to the next dojo until you are ranked 1 in the current dojo. To proceed, you have to fight through leagues and tournaments. As you proceed, the opponent gets tougher. Opponents here are also Ghost Characters, just like arcade mode. Once you've reached a specific dojo, you'll earn money and clothes for the character you're using. There's also a special dojo for you to battle with your friends' Ghost. All you have to do is carry your friend's ghost data over to your Tekken profile using the ad-hoc connection.
> Minigames: There are 3 minigames. One is Tekken bowling, 2 is Gold Rush (fight and earn money according to the HP your enemy lost/HP you lost), 3 is Command attack (perform skills...this one suck so don't care about it). So far, I've unlocked 3, but I doubt there's more. All these minigames net you load of money, so if you have the time, and want to relax, try them.
> Theater: Watch cutscenes and listen to soundtracks.
> Customize: Yep, as the mode name says, you can customize your character here. You can buy stuff (using the money you earn from battle) and make your character unique. There are 7 types of unlockable equipments: Headgear, Face, Upper Body, Aura, Lower Body, Footwear, Color.
The gameplay is just really cool. You'll be bored of a character when you master it (usually takes weeks), then you can move on to next character(s). This game really knows how to suck you in.
[9/10]: Graphics: The graphics in this game are just really awesome. Characters are highly detail (could be compared with a PS2) and move really smoothly. Combos look devastating. The backgrounds are nice with a mix of 2D and 3D. The opening cutscenes are merely portraits with lines, but the ending cutscenes are freaking awesome. They're pre-rendered movies, with awesome graphics and sounds (like those OMG cutscene in Final Fantasy). With all these great graphics, the game never/very rarely experience a slowdown.
[8/10]: Sound: DR's soundtracks are a mix of techno and electronic musics. They sound kinda nice in my opinion. The voice actings okay. There is only one thing that really annoys me, that is the "Get ready for t3h next battle!" voice whenever you're about to fight.
[--/10]: Story: I don't rate story for games that don't need a story to be a good game.
[9/10]: Value: Loads of stuff to do. Though there's no unlocking characters (meh, it's a hassle to unlock them anyways) the game's still very rewarding to complete with tons of outfits and the "ranking system". Even though there's no online play, the "Ghost character" system could satisfy you enough.
----- OVERALL: 8,5/10 ------
Ending comment: Tekken: Dark Ressurection is a great game for all you Tekken freaks and fighing-lovers out there. And even those who never tried fighting games before, try this game, since it's sooooo great.