Even with the fantastic visuals and great audio, the most impressive technological advancement of the game is that it contains next to no load times. They are easily the quickest on the PSP aside from Daxter (which, other than the initial start screen, contained absolutely no load times). I'm talking about load times equivalent to that of an arcade cabinet -- as soon as you select your character, there is a quick (~3 seconds) screen that shows both fighters, and then your in the arena fighting. The load times are so fast that they played a major role in my overall enjoyment of game. In fact, they're so dramatic that it's going to be hard for me to go back to other PSP titles. They're only exacerbated by the fact that it is a portable game, where long load times have an exponentially detrimental effect on the experience. Namco deserves major kudos for the load times alone, so when you tack on the amazing graphics, animation, and depth, it's blatantly clear that the development team did an awesome job. So much so that most other PSP developers should feel embarrassed.

The only detracting factor of the game is the PSP's damned D-pad. In other genres you don't notice how much of a pain in the ass it is, but every fighting game I've played so far has made it obvious just how hampering the PSP's D-pad can be. Unfortunately Tekken DR isn't an exception to this rule, and while you will eventually adjust to the D-pad's limitations you never feel completely comfortable with it. I've heard that the D-pad toppers available work wonders, but I personally hate the idea of having to buy a separate peripheral in order to fully appreciate a game, even if said peripheral is cheap. I ended up using the "Taped Quarter" Trick and it worked surprisingly well, but I still think that Sony or Namco should have packaged the game with a topper rather than making it a pre-order extra. While this might be a knock against the PSP hardware rather than Tekken DR, it still had an effect on my enjoyment (and hence worth mentioning).

Tekken DR also helped me figure out what makes certain PSP games look extraordinary, while others only look great; 24bit colour. It's not something you can see in the screenshots, but when you have the game running in front of you, on the actual hardware, the difference it makes is astounding. For instance, Syphon Filter DM and Metal Gear Acid are both wonderful looking games but not nearly as vivid as Tekken DR or Daxter - the difference? Tekken and Daxter use 24bit colour, SF: DM and MGA don't. That is the only difference between the games...Well, that and Tekken DR's animation is amazing - it uses higher polygon models, and the game runs at a silky smooth 60fps.

Even with the Ad-Hoc multiplayer, GameShare and the new Ghost option (the ability to upload a player's "ghost" to another player to fight offline), I still wish there was online play. Don't get me wrong, all of the multiplayer modes are wicked and have no notable problems, but I believe that online play would have helped this game sell well to even the non-fighting game fans. Fortunately there is enough single-player meat to this title (be it any of the modes, mini-games, or whatever) that it doesn't need to rely on multiplay to keep you coming back. In fact, at times you'll feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choices. Not only do you have the new additions and tweaks of the game to explore (moves, music, etc.), you also have over 30 characters to choose from. And like all Tekken games (and other more noteworthy fighters out there) learning characters inside and out will pay dividends later, as there is a surprising amount of strategy needed to kick some ass. In other words, Tekken DR isn't a button masher.

Admittedly Tekken: Dark Resurrection is probably what pulled me away from LocoRoco (which I recently reviewed Here). While I might be a sell-out for ditching innovation and quirkiness for more traditional awesomeness, I don't feel ashamed of it at all... That's the power of Tekken DR. It's not the "perfect" game, but when you combine great visuals, massive depth, multitude of modes/characters, load times better than most consoles, and then put it on a portable platform it's hard not to be impressed. Then, of course, there is the whole idea that it's a beefed up version of the already radical Tekken 5. If it had online play and the PSP wasn't gimped control-wise (lack of dual analogs isn't the only problem with the system) I would have given this game my full support and recommended it to everyone - fighting game fans or not. However, I have to be realistic and these few (slight) issues are enough to keep this game from being completely and utterly phenomenal.