Tekken 6 for the PSP is nearly identical to its console brothers. However what it sacrifices in story it makes up for in the feel that of what the fighting series should have felt like on consoles.
The only real differences that can really be noticed in this portable iteration is the change in how the main character’s story is told and the visuals. Like most PSP games still images with text are used to help propel the story to reduce the amount of memory taken up by actual moving cutscenes. This style is acceptable as it allows for the game to contain nearly all of its original components. As to how you play through the story the PSP version ditches the linear fight path and puts you through many arcade style battles. An end battle cutscene is played after completing all of the challenges for a specific character. These are all unique to whichever character you choose which is a nice incentive to play through them all.
The visuals of the game are great for a portable. Granted it’s a fighting game Tekken 6 manages to balance well between environment visuals and character detail. Dynamic lighting and textures take a back seat to give more to the environment, fluid character movement, and a solid frame rate. Rarely are there any screen tears which helps to reduce distractions to keep a solid combo going.
An online mode is included in the game which is just as the same as the console version. You can face people online in ranked and unranked matches to unlock special items for your chosen character. The item and upgrade system is still very much intact with the chance to a lot of points to buy various items in the store. The amount of items available is shrunk some but not drastically that it dilutes the whole point of having it.
Online matches were very few and far between as the Tekken 6 arena of fighters pales in comparison to the console purchases. Even so with a solid internet connection things didn’t get too hairy. I would recommend just doing an Ad Hoc battle rather than full network span battle.
For what it’s worth Tekken 6 is a solid PSP game but nothing that jumps out and screams BUY ME! Classic gameplay and a depth that is shallow when looked at closely. Characters are nicely detailed as well as the environments. Controls are responsive and appropriate but the length of things may seem unsatisfying. If you are a fan of the series and would like a version to go then pick this up, otherwise wait for the price to go down to add this to your library. Tekken 6 for the PSP earns a Wait to Buy It.
