Price: £34.99 Players: 1-2 Widescreen: Yes Online: Yes Multiplayer between PSPs: Yes Tekken: Dark Resurrection on the Sony PSP is largely like Tekken on any platform. There are two players ready to duke it out and one has to win in order for the next round to appear, the loser ending up flat on the ground after a Knockout, unless you're playing a timed round where the winner is the one who's taken the least amount of damage and if, as I managed once, you and your opponent manage to simultaneously knock each other out with the final blow, then that'll count as a win for both of you if it's the first round of a match. There are 36 customisable characters to choose from including 2 unlockable ones. New characters include Dragunov and Lili while classic favourites frmo the arcade version return as well as the Armour King.

The game contains a number of different modes, but nothing you won't have come across before, starting with the Story mode in which you'll play with the same character and defeat many opponents in order to view their end movie. These also have an intro piece about each character, which isn’t massively interesting since they all end up doing the same job in the end - going through 8 stages and then a final one with Mishima. Completion of this will unlock the Theatre mode where you can see all end sequences completed so far. The Arcade mode allows for straight-forward individual battles, Network allows you to play against others via an ad-hoc wi-fi connection, Practice... er... makes practice and the Attack mode has you battling opponents in matches with a rules such as Time Attack, as described previously, and Survival has you going through as many opponents as you can before you're defeated. The Tekken Dojo mode is the best one, though, as you'll hone your skills at various dojos located throughout the island, battling ghost characters in ranked battles, the ghost data being present on the disc in the first place, although you can create your own - since a ghost is a character that mirrors the actions and behaviour of a previous player - and upload it online, share it with your friends via the wi-fi connection or download more of them online. When you win league matches you'll go up the ratings from 9th kyu upwards, and Tekken: Dark Resurrection becomes so much more fun once you get into these league rounds because it gives the game a little more than just the usual you expect from a fighting game, since they all have Story and Arcade modes.

As usual with this style of fighting game, it’s a button-mashing affair of ‘hit-and-hope’ that usually helps you to win the day. That side, you are able to easily sidestep in the game and it contains very clear and crisp graphics with fast movement. However, while it handles very well indeed, I’m loathe to play a game with so much button bashing on a handheld like the PSP because it’s not like you can just plug in a new controller if you break the old one as the keys are part of the unit. One interesting graphical note is that I like the way the ground breaks up as you or your opponent fall on it, but, alas, it doesn’t stay broken like that forever, since when they fall on a new piece of unbroken ground, the first one magically heals up(!) The characters are superbly drawn and animated and Lili, my first chosen character for the story mode, had well-built thighs to match those of Tina Turner back in her heyday! Whoever you're playing, though, if you're unsure what combos work best, pause the game and you can view the Command List and also the Character Select screens if you want to change who you're controlling. Going back into the menus, you can also go into Profile mode to customise characters, review records and manage ghost data. At the end of the day, though, Tekken is Tekken, whatever its subtitle is, so if you have a need to play this on your handheld then buy it. Otherwise, save the pounding your poor PSP’s buttons will receive and stick with a PS2 edition from the series.

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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2007.