Metareview + Our take: Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection

So, this title has been out for a little bit, but we've had our hands full with other stuff lately. Until last week, this game went relatively untouched. Things change, but one sad truth remains: I suck at Tekken 5. What's worse is that when I reverted back to Virtua Fighter 5 after playing this PSN title, I sucked at that too. It seems a friend was right -- you can only play one 3D fighter at a time. In any case, here are some review numbers given to Tekken 5 by some big sites... our review will follow after you click that "continue reading" link.

• IGN: 8.2 / 10

• GamePro: 8.5 / 10

• GameSpot: 8.3 / 10

• 1UP: 7.5 / 10

Here's what we have to say about this game, as objectively as possible: pretty slick. My personal preference for VF5 aside, there are a couple of points worth noting about the title -- positive and negative.

• Graphically, it's all right. It's a port of the arcade version, so not much has really changed except for the 1080p... which, by the way, makes everything awesome. The stage designs are fun and fairly plentiful. We're not saying that we weren't impressed graphically -- it's a pretty attractive game, especially for $20 and downloaded directly to the hard drive.

• Load times! Namely, not having them. Awesome. Although that's to be expected from a downloaded title, it's still almost a dream, recalling the old days of cartridges and no load times. It's great to toss on for a quick round of versus matches with some friends. There's hardly any time for them to rub your defeat in your face before you've got a rematch already underway.

• Unlockables... almost too many to count! In addition to having a plethora of design choices with any of the characters (with a shared wallet, it seems... take notice, VF5), there are also images and movies to unlock with your hard-earned battle cash. This brings us to an inevitable comparison...

• VF5 Quest Mode vs. T5 Ghost Battle

  • As mentioned above, unlockables are numerous. In both of these titles. The advantages T5 holds are a shared wallet for all of the characters (what money you gain fighting as Eddy Gordo can be used to get some badass Jinpachi outfits) and the aforementioned image galleries and videos. What T5 lacks in comparison to VF5's Quest Mode is just that: the sense of questing. No travelling to different arcades with players of different skill levels... it's just fight after fight. Where do you go for the "big tournament"? It all comes down to what you personally prefer.

• Gameplay, gameplay, gameplay. For Tekken vets, there's not much new here. Not really any new characters to learn, not much changing with the movesets (even across characters, in some situations). That doesn't make it any less deep or enjoyable, but if you've mastered previous Tekken titles, you won't find much to challenge you here.

• Worth it? Our verdict: yes.

That's all we're going to bother blabbing on about. Leave us your thoughts on the game and most importantly, we'll depart by leaving our score.

PS3Fanboy rates Tekken 5 with 7.7 silly costume combinations out of 10.