Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Online Review

Originally released for the arcades and later ported for the PSP, Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection is best played on the Playststion 3, especially with the recently released Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Online. For $29.99 (or $9.99 for the online expansion if you already downloaded the older version), you will get to experience a solid fighting game and a great showcase title for the Playstation 3.

Story
Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Online has no story mode, nor does it needs one. You can unlock three endings (which are really random, but nice looking nonetheless) for the new characters. Unfortunately you can't unlock the endings for the older characters.

Graphics
Although, it wasn't built from the grown up for the Playstation 3, Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Online is one of the best looking games of the system. You can't help but get excited at the possibilities of Tekken 6 for the Playstation 3.

Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Online is one of the only true 1080p games out right now. Being super sharp, everything just pops out at you even more. It also runs at 60 frames per second, which really important for fighting games where a split second could make a difference between winning and losing a fight.

Sound
As always the case in the series, Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Online has excellent music. The Voice Acting is okay at best, but it's forgivable since characters only talk before and after matches.

Gameplay
Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Online is more of an expansion (a very robust one) for Tekken 5 (which was released on the Playstation 2) than a standalone game.

As with any Tekken game, Tekken uses the four face buttons to represent the limbs of the character's body. The Square Button is the left arm; triangle is the right arm; X is the left leg; finally, Circle is the right leg. Fighting is Tekken places equal emphasis on timing and position; mastering both will be the key to success as attacks have different speed and range.

Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Online features two new characters: Lili and Sergei Dragunov. Armor King also makes his return from earlier games of the series. In addition, Jinpachi Mishima is also playable for the Playstation 3 exclusively.

Those four is part of a huge cast of fighters. Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Online has 36 fighters in total. With that much fighters, the game does have some balance problems as some fighters are more powerful than others. Still, the main cast of characters, the ones everyone likes to use, are still very balance.

The Playstation 3 port seems to be missing some modes from the PSP version. Most notably is the lack of a story mode. Still, the addition of the online mode exclusively to the Playstation 3 is more than enough to overcome the omission.

In online mode, you get to test your skills against the top players in the world. Although the game suffers a bit of lag at times, it is still very playable. One interesting aspect is that, instead of immediately getting into a match with someone, you have to wait in line to fight the winner of the preceding match. While waiting, you can observe your opponents' strategy. Although it gives a more real-life arcade experience, this is a minor annoyance because if you lose your match, you have to go to the back of the line again and wait for your turn.

Fortunately, it doesn't deter from the online experience. Although Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection was great without it, the online mode just adds a whole new level of depth and replayability to the game.

Overall
Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Online is one of the premier fighting titles for next-generation gaming. The online mode alone will be enough to hold you off until the next evolution in the franchise, Tekken 6, arrives on the Playstation 3. At half the price of what next-generation games usually cost, you will get one of the best fighting games availble.