Tech credit 2 and English credit 1- Review #1

Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower Review

The Darkstalkers series, which hadn’t seen a game in years, finally got another game, in the form of this PSP launch title. If you don’t know the Darkstalkers series, it’s a fighting game with a bunch of monsters as the cast. Okay, review time!

GRAPHICS 8/10

Though the graphics are still the same as the last game’s graphics, they’re still pretty good. Each character has smooth animations, so you won’t have to worry about having an arm teleport from hanging lazily to flailing in the air when you punch. The backgrounds look pretty, and most of them move quite a bit while you fight. Fitting with the ‘horror’ theme that the characters are supposed to create, some of the backgrounds are quite freaky.

SOUND 7/10

Sound is pretty good, though lacking in a few areas. A few of the tracks just sound somewhat similar, but most of them are different, and very memorable. Particular ones I can remember now are the ‘Tower of Arrogance’ and ‘War Agony’ tracks. The music usually fits the stage well, blending with the background to sound even better. The second half of sound, sound effects, are alright. The voices don’t always fit the character, some sounding completely ridiculous. The hit sound effects are done very well, sounding almost like the real things(except for the comically loud punch and kick sfx). Overall, well done sound.

STORY 7/10

Unfortunately, the story is only displayed in the endings, but on the other side of things, the endings do show a lot. Some of the story’s are more well done then others, as one’s like Huitzil’s NW ending doesn’t quite make sense, because in the apparently official storyline, the Huitzil robots were created by Pyron to exterminate all life on the planet. However, in the ending they are called ‘Protectors’. Other stories, like Pyron’s NW ending, are kind of funny, and quite charming. All in all, the story section is not bad for a fighting game.

GAMEPLAY 9/10

This game has terrific gameplay! The controls are easy enough to get used to, with the varying levels of power for punching and kicking set in escalating order on the X,O,[], /\,L and R buttons. Special moves are simple to pull off, and for people who can’t pull them off there is the ‘Easy’ control mode, where you can set special moves to be pulled of when you tap R. Every character from every game appears in this compilation, and all are playable! From the mummy Anakaris to the cat-woman Felicia, you’ll have plenty of choices! The new tower mode is a lot of fun, letting you select three characters to make it through a 100 story tower, a fight on every floor! With the variety of options in this game, you be entertained for a while.

TRY OR BUY?

I recommend buying it, it was 15 bucks last I saw it, but if not then you should definitely try it.

YOU’LL LOVE

-A large cast of characters, all of them different monsters

-Very nice music and backgrounds

-Tons of unlockable content

YOU’LL HATE

-Endings are pretty short

-Playing through arcade can be repetitive

-Pictures are tough to get in tower mode

FINAL REVIEW SCORE: 9/10

“The Mog”s review on Gamefaqs:http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/psp/review/R104436.html