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Poor play control kills what could have been a great game

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 23 / 24
Date: October 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Darkstalkers: Chronicles Of Chaos.

INTRODUCTION:
When Capcom released Street Fighter II in the early nineties, they started a fighting game revolution. They created several follow-up titles in that series, but furthermore, they created several other series. One of the other franchises they created was the Darkstalkers series. The series featured the familiar, six-button Street Fighter fighting style, but threw in enough new elements to keep things fresh. And now, with the release of the PSP, a game in the series has been released on it! Read on for my review of Darkstalkers: Chronicles Of Chaos.

OVERVIEW:
Darkstalkers: Chronicles Of Chaos was released as one of the earliest games on the PSP. The game features traditional, two-dimensional Capcom-style fighting action. There are also a number of characters, stages, and modes to choose from.

REVIEW:
I have to say, I had very high hopes for this game. Having just gotten my PSP and being a big fan of old-school fighters from Capcom, I almost instantly rented this game. Unfortunately, no matter how many things this game did well, poor play control ruined the experience for me. Read on, and we'll take a look at everything this game does right and wrong.

-THE GOOD:

-THIS GAME FEATURES EXCELLENT GRAPHICS. Don't be expecting full three-dimensional polygonal movement, that's not what this series is about. You get the traditional, anime-style 2D graphics this series has always had, but on the PSP, they look better than ever.
-SEVERAL DIFFERENT MODES OF PLAY. The game features a variety of gameplay modes, which add to the replay value. There's the standard Arcade mode, where you play through, beating every opponent along the way, as well as the Chaos Tower mode, in which you play through a hundred-battle quest, with each fight having its own restrictions and rules to abide by. There are also a variety of options you can tweak to your liking.
-LOTS OF VARIETY. The characters in this series have always been some of the most interesting Capcom has ever served up, and all of you classic Darkstalkers favorites are here. Felicia, Anakaris, Morrigan, Lilith, Dimitri, and a variety of others are present. There are also a ton of stages where you can do your battles.
-YOU DECIDE WHICH VERSION OF THE CHARACTER YOU WANT. There have been a lot of Darkstalkers games over the years, and this game gives you the option of which version you want to play. Maybe you want to play the version of Felicia that appeared in the original Darkstalkers, or maybe you want to play the version of Morrigan that was in Darkstalkers Three. It's no problem here! When you pick a character, you just pick what version you want. It definitely helps give the game an "anthology" feel.
-UNLOCKABLE STUFF. Nothing major in the way of unlockables, but these little bonus features do add to the game's replay value.

-THE BAD:

-THE PLAY CONTROL IS ABSOLUTELY HORRID, AND IT RUINS THE GAME. Play control, in my opinion, is what makes or breaks a game. Granted, in a lot of ways this could be Sony's fault (for how they designed the D-Pad on the PSP), but regardless of who is to blame, it totally ruined the game. Special moves are pretty much IMPOSSIBLE to perform, no matter how easy a time you had performing them in arcades or on other consoles. And YES, this includes "easy to peform" special moves, like the simple classic fireball motion. Had Capcom put more thought into this aspect of the game, it's very much likely that I'd be giving the game a higher rating.
-THE TRAINING MODE IS POORLY DESIGNED IN THAT IT DOESN'T SHOW YOU HOW TO PERFORM ANY OF THE MOVES. What's the point of a training mode if it doesn't train you? Essentially, all it is is an opportunity to beat someone up who is standing still. Another aspect of the game that could have used some more work.
-NOTHING REVOLUTIONARY FOR THE SERIES. If you're looking for a new, totally revolutionary fighting game, go look someplace else. This is strictly for long-time, die-hard Darkstalkers fans who want the action on the go.

Overall, I think had potential to be a great game, but the horrible play control totally ruined it. Thank god I only RENTED the game! As much as I like Capcom's old-school two-dimensional fighting games, the play control issues leave me unable to recommend this one. Capcom gets credit for trying, but they should have tried harder.

EDITION NOTES:
This game is a fairly recent release, so it shouldn't be too tough to find in stores. It's not as readily available as some of the more popular titles out there, but it isn't exactly a rare find, either. You may have to check out a few stores, but you'll find it without a whole lot of trouble.

Could have been the best 2D fighter on a handheld....

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 14
Date: July 08, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Lets be honest here, I have been playing fighting games since Street Fighter was released in the arcades, and I am talking about the first one in the mid 1980s. Then of course the titanic Street Fighter 2 came out and changed the face of fighting games forever in around 1991. Well anyways it introduced a system of special moves that required fancy joystick movements and a series of button presses to pull off. The fighting genre was nothing but punches and kicks until SF2 came out. Well after the success of SF2 CAPCOM made Darkstalkers (Vampire Savior in Japan), which fused those special moves with over the top monsters from hollywood films like the wolfman, mummy, etc. with that special CAPCOM styling. It is an awesome series and in some ways I like it much better than SF2. But herein lies the problem with the PSP treatment, as much as I try to love this game for the rare gem it is, I can't. The control system was not tweeked enough back at CAPCOM to make it function properly with the PSP digital pad (directional pad), and thus we are left with essentially a button mashing mess. I am sure some will be unable to see past this flaw but when you are talking abut taking out the very foundation of a game series, in this case special moves, then you are left with a shell of what could have been the best 2D fighter ever released on a handheld system. It pains me to say that but it is true and I think if your honest with yourself you will appreciate that I hate it that this game didn't turn out well because of something so fundamental. CAPCOM please be wary next time!

The best 2D fighter on a handheld, ever.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: June 10, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower for the PSP a collection of all the previously released Darkstalkers games, mixed together to form the ultimate package for anyone who is a fan of the series. All the characters from all the games are now playable as well as all the different fighting modes. Say you want to use a Darkstalkers character from the third game and one from the first but with the setup from the second, it's now possible. The Chaos Tower mode is a branching path style tournament that goes up 100 stories. And to make sure things don't get boring, the game will sometimes give you a handicap. (ie, no punches, no kicks, no blocking, ect.) And for going through all of that, you're awarded Darkstalkers character art. Which is quite cool. The only real problem with the game really isn't even the games fault. The PSP D-pad isn't the best D-pad ever made for fighing games. But you can eventually get the hang of it and it's managable. (and there is an "easy" control mode for those not into memorizing all the differnt combos for a fighting game.) So needless to say, if you woant a good 2D fighter for your PSP or even a good 2D fighter that you're able to take with you everywhere, it doesn't get any better than this. NnyCW for Capcom City

best handheld fighter of all time

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

this is by far the best fighter of all time on a handheld system ever! the first great thing about darkstakers is the charaters who looks like universal monster rejects which is cool espically the dracula looking. the grahpics are the best even though there 2-D grapichs which mit lose some interests in peopole but the fighting and control mit draw people in.if you say that this is the crappest game everthats like saying that street fighter 2 is the dummest fighting game from 1991.this game is better than any mortal kombat, tekken, king of fighters,streetfighter portbal handheld system EVER and a must pick up for the PSP !

Amazing fighting game for a handheld

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: May 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

When I first put this in my PSP, I was amazed by the incredible colors and animations of the characters. The sound is great too along with fluid controls that ultimately make for a must have for fighting game fans. I agree with most people out there that yes, sometimes the moves do seem a little hard to pull off but that hasn't really hindered me from enjoying this game overall. Anyways, if you like fighters and own a PSP then this really is a must have that will keep you entertained for quite a while.

Good for a 2d fighter but not that good

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: April 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I played a very similar game on the Dreamcast and it was virtually unchanged. I thought the worst part is that the game isn't even reformatted for the PSP's widescreen format, it is simply stretched from the original 4/3 format which is UNCCACCEPTABLE for a $40 game. Though a 2d fighter can be fun but alot of the ejoyment comes from playing with friends and since your chances of running into someone with the game are slim its a no go for me and i resold it.

fun, but not worth it

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: May 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

three hours after i bought this game i had beaten every stage. i like to focus on the positive, so i will say the colors and graphics, though cartoonish, are eyecatching. other than that its not much more positive about it. i believe if it cost maybe $15 or less, i would feel better about it. i believe if you spend $40 on this, when you play it you are going to be upset. unless you have 40 bucks to throw away. nice simple fighting game, yes. worth 40 dollars, not even close.

Perfect Port of this Classic 2D Fighter

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: June 08, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Darkstalkers Chronicle is a perfect port of this underated fighter from the big boys at Capcom. With 18 characters to choose from you should have no problem finding the fighter thats just right for you. The controls are a bit sluggish making fireballs unusually difficult to perform, but once you get the hang of it you should have no problem fighting your way through this button smashing fighter. The graphics are superb and the animations is flawless. You would never believe that a game like this would be ported to a handheld with nothing lost along the way. Their are better games out there, especially if you want to see the 3D power of the system. But it's worth checking out once you've already gotten a few games. Easy to pick up when you're on the go and thats the best part of this game.

Bad compilation of some so-so games

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 4
Date: April 18, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I think I bought this purely out of some nostalgic sense of duty, as the professional review I'd read of it was unflattering. I should have listened to the pros on this one. This game presents nothing new to anyone who's played a Darkstalkers game in the past, the graphics definitely don't come close to other titles available for the PSP (which tells me the developers don't even care about this product), and some of the button combos that you are required to punch through are near impossible to accomplish. All in all, the only challenge I got from playing this game was to get the characters to do their more advanced moves, but even without them I could still win through and beat the game. Total waste of hard earned money.

Nah

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 4
Date: May 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Wow,this is the first PSP game to be a sh@#,the graphics are horrible and well,in the game arcades is better to play for one token that to play this game for 40bucks,I think the arcades have better games than this one.This may be worth 10bucks or even less,but 40bucks for this is too much to ask.Do not buy this game if you have money to buy only one game,buy Need for Speed,Rengoku,Twisted Metal or wait till June or July.In June there is Coded Arms,Gran Theft Auto and more games and in July there is Death Jr.,so dont waste your money and buy a good game.

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