The PSP has always been a very promising platform, but unfortunately we really haven’t seen many top tier games. When it comes to fighting games, you can count the number on your hands and still have some fingers to spare. Sure, Street Fighter was a fun game, but it was also an old game. I kept thinking, when are we going to see a more modern Mortal Kombat or Tekken game show up? Finally, Namco has brought Tekken: Dark Resurrection to the PSP and it doesn’t disappoint.

Namco has done pretty well with their fighting games (Soul Calibur and Tekken, anyone?), and the PSP is no exception. It is near stunning how they’ve brought this game that was originally an arcade game onto the PSP. It’s that good looking. The backgrounds in the game are simply gorgeous. From time to time you do see some clipping or jagged polygons but man, these are probably the best graphics I’ve seen on a handheld. It’s amazing how on some levels you can chop up the floor and watch as it comes up (the lava-like stage is very cool to see).

For those unfamiliar with the series, its ok, you can dig right into fighting without knowing the backstory. However, if you must know here goes: you are trying to win the King of The Iron First Tournament. You need to fight your way to the top by winning a best of 3 series, trying to knock out your opponent through the usual mad fighting skills.

If you’ve been anywhere near a fighting game, you’ll adapt to the controls relatively quickly thanks to the very informative tutorial. Of course, as with any post-year 2000 gaming platform, the controls could be better. You can use either the analog stick or the d-pad, and let’s just say that both are less than perfect. As is always the case with these fighting games, you have to be able to work combos and there always seems to be some difficulty in performing these combos with regularity. Thankfully when you hit the pause button, you can view a character’s moves via the command list, and watch what each move does in practice mode.

There are quite a few game modes: there’s quick battle (guess what you do here), story battle (follow the character’s story, like that of Lili, the only daughter of an oil magnate who was kidnapped and decided to fight her way out, and then she spend her vacations fighting (always fun). Then she received an invitation to a tournament hosted by the man who caused her father problems..so ready, FIGHT!).

Let’s pause here to talk about story mode. What is it with these Japanese fighting games…they all have some kooky story which are completely bizarre, complete with even more in-game bizarre stuff. In the middle of Lili’s battle, she meets Ganryu who has trouble figuring out a map and asks Lili for help. Lili can’t help him because she needs to concentrate on the tournament, so instead she beats the crap out of the guy? Come on! Even though the story is goofy, it is fun and under fighting game law, finishing story mode unlocks a movie.

Getting back to the modes, there’s also the arcade battle (no quarters necessary, but a warning: it’s can be very difficult), network mode (more on that in a bit); the Tekken Dojo (the best part of the game), attack (a set of fun mini games like gold rush where you can earn money for fights), practice, and view your profile (customize your character).

Tired yet? The breadth of options in this game is superb and leaves you with plenty of replay value. A unique part of this Tekken game is the ability to level up your character – which makes it worth playing again and again. The game also keeps win/loss records of every character you play, which is very cool. You also earn points for each fight which you can use to customize your character with different things (i.e. black stockings for Lili).

Gameplay is very good once you get over the handicap of the d-pad. You can get accustomed to it and work with it, even if you can’t pull off all the combos. The fighting feels very smooth and the amount of damage done feels consistent with the fighting move you’ve done. The more painful it looks on screen, the more damage inflicted.

I really enjoy the dojo mode and that’s where you want to go for the most fun. Arcade mode is always fun for a quick release, and the story mode is always good for a laugh, but the Dojo is where you want to be.