Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower (PSP) Review

Whether you like it or not, the Sega Dreamcast is home to a lot of quality games, most of which are buried along with the system, but thankfully for us some have been resurrected and given a new lease on life. Capcom re-released Street Fighter III Third Strike for the PS2 and now Darkstalkers (Vampire Chronicle) for the PSP. It's basically Vampire Chronicle for the Dreamcast except with a new mode called Tower, and while this portable 2D fighter has some nagging control issues, it's a fun old school styled beat-em-up that looks amazing stretched across the system's marvelous 16:9 screen.

Darkstalkers (the series actually), has always been somewhat of a "dark horse" for the company, a twisted complement to Capcom's cheerier Street Fighter franchise. Instead of Ryu and M. Bison battling one another it's the wolf man and a mummy, and behind them are these trippy backgrounds which include a demonic train with a mouth and a giant fetus that occasionally freaks out and begins to violently shake.

The rest of the game's fighters (there are 18 total) are quite a bizarre mix. There's Bulleta, a red riding hood-looking girl with a mean streak, Sasquatch (a giant big foot creature), Q-Bee the insect lady, Phobos the robot, Felicia, the half-naked cat woman, Bishamon the undead samurai, and Anakaris the mummy, among other strange beings, and their special moves are extremely off the wall. Anakaris, for example, loves to use his bandages as weapons, tying up opponents so he can get in some cheap hits. Everything in Darkstalkers (just in case you haven't figured it out yet) is way over the top, so if you're into 2D fighters (and Halloween), this game will be quite a treat.

In addition to the standard mode (you know, where you need to beat a set amount of opponents before gaining entry to the epic boss battle), the game features Tower Mode, an addictive and never-ending tournament of sorts where you select three fighters and move up a ladder vanquishing opponents, though you can only use one character at a time and you never get health increases, so you basically just battle till you can battle no more. It's a non-stop mode that rewards you with numerous unlockable goodies including character art and other assorted gifts, so you'll continuously go back to it because you'll want to see how far you can get and to see what cool stuff you can win.

The PSP's launch lineup is comprised of mostly 3D games but Darkstalkers manages to be one of the best-looking games for the system. The 2D hand drawn characters and backgrounds look phenomenal spread out across the PSP's glorious wide screen, and the animation, while not as beautifully done as Guilty Gear's, is still very impressive. In fact, the system's screen actually comes in handy for a game of this type, as you're given a much wider view of the playfield than you'd normally have on a regular television. Sure, Darkstalkers looks incredible, but that extra space also helps you avoid getting trapped in a corner.

For some odd reason very few PSP games feature soundtracks that beg to be listened to, but in Darkstalker's case you can't help but turn the volume way up. The music isn't particularly catchy but it's extremely well done, and the assorted punch and kick effects are equally satisfying.

Sadly, not all is perfect in the land of the Darkstalkers. While the game's definitely playable (especially the two-player wireless battles), the way that Sony designed the PSP's digital buttons makes executing special attacks a real pain in the butt! Where a fireball or special move would be extremely easy to do using something like an SNES or Saturn controller, here it's at times very frustrating. It's not such a huge deal if you're a novice and just mashing buttons, but if you're more experienced or just interested in learning the intricacies of the gameplay, you'll soon discover that finishing off opponents with precision accuracy is a lot harder than it should be.

In the case of The Chaos Tower most of my expectations have been met. This is an extremely fast-paced fighting game that features no slowdown, highly-detailed characters and environments, and enough gameplay features to hold me over for quite some time. Oh, and disregard all of the negative things you may have read about the load times. While it looks bad when compared to GBA fighters, reviewers at other sites have (as usual), blown things way out of proportion. In fact, even the issues with this game's controls don't prevent me from recommending it, though if you're in love with 3D graphics and don't appreciate the joy that is 2D gaming, Darkstalkers probably won't impress you.