Tekken 6 (PSP) Review

After the success of Tekken: Dark Resurrection, it wasn't a huge surprise when Namco Bandai announced that Tekken 6 would also be arriving on the PlayStation Portable. Impressively though, Namco are doing everything they can to make the Portable version as close possible to the home console, with the game including a ton of characters, stages and modes. How does this all translate to Sony's handheld offering?

Despite attempting to match the home console versions, there is one notable omission. Scenario Campaign, Tekken 6's main story mode, isn't present in the PlayStation Portable version, meaning there is no Tekken Force mode to be found anywhere. It doesn't leave a huge hole though, as the more minor story mode is still present. This allows players to choose a character and get a small blurb about the character's situation, and why they want to enter the King of Iron Fist Tournament 6. There are only four rounds though, and one of the rounds is against the incredibly annoying final boss. It's also very similar to Arcade mode, and aside from the fact there's a tiny amount of story, there isn't really any difference between the two.

All of the fighters from the home console version are present, including Lars Alexandersson and Alisa Bosconovitch to give players an incredibly huge roster to choose from. Most of them have differing styles, but they are all controlled roughly the same way. This means Square and Triangle control punches, while X and Circle are used to control kicks. It's the tried and tested way of Tekken, and it still translates extremely well to the PlayStation Portable. What doesn't necessarily translate as well are the movement controls. Both the d-pad and analogue stick have niggling issues, which means players may well find they end up using a combination of the both. It's very hard to use the d-pad to perform diagonal movement, so rolling commands are made quite difficult. However, it does an excellent job with regards to the rigid up, down, left and right commands. The analogue makes the rolling commands much easier, but it's harder to perform actions like, pressing a direction twice, or to use the 8-way run.

Niggling control issues aside, the game is silky smooth, and all of the characters have the moves players will expect. There are some graphical concessions, but that's to be expected - but considering the difference in calibre, it really does look the part and it plays the part too. The cartoon art-style of the story mode returns, as does the music, which is a bit hit and miss. Overall though, the presentation in Tekken 6 on the PlayStation Portable is top notch and the loading times aren't actually that bad, even with no data install or boosted CPU.

To compliment the Arcade Battle and Story Battle, there is also Ghost Battle and Challenge Battle. Ghost Battle allows the player to go against an infinite amount of opponents, which have different martial arts gradings. These get progressively harder, to match the player's increasing skill levels, and it's actually possible to choose the next opponent. Challenge Battle contains a few subsidiary modes, which are Time Attack, Survival and Gold Rush. The first two are pretty self explanatory, while Gold Rush challenges players to try and collect as much gold as possible, by dealing damage to their opponent. This mode especially, will help players to increase their ability as they are rewarded for using unique moves.

As well as all the aforementioned modes, there is also a full network mode, which allows the game to be played ad hoc against other human opponents. Fortunately, there's actually no lag in this mode - a notorious problem in most fighting multiplayer experiences - so players can thoroughly enjoy the action, instead of having to worry about external factors. It's also possible to trade ghost data and ranking data with other Tekken players through the use of this mode.

Despite the various modes, there isn't a massive amount of replayability in Tekken aside from fighting continuously against the AI, or a local opponent. However, performing successful feats in the game's various modes rewards players with cash, which can be spent on buying items. These can be used to modify all of the various fighters in the game, which is a reasonably nice addition. Unfortunately, there isn't really anyone to show off any creativity too.

7

Average

Tekken 6 makes an impressive transition from home consoles to the PlayStation Portable. There are only a few omissions between the two versions in terms of modes present, but the controls do present a slight problem and make the game a bit less enjoyable to play. There also isn't a huge incentive to keep playing, with only a few unlockables available. It does improve if the network mode can be played, but playing against the AI repeatedly does get a bit tiresome after a while, a problem which could have easily been corrected with some new and unique game modes. Nonetheless, Tekken 6 is still a formidable opponent for any fighting game on the PSP.