'Darkstalkers: Resurrection' Lets Scary Monsters Fight It Out [REVIEW]

It had been quite some time since I last I mustered up a playthrough of any "Darkstalkers" title. I had the original arcade port downloaded from PSN, but it didn't measure up to "Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge" the I had enjoyed on my Sega Saturn as a kid. Thankfully, this game is half of the recently released "Darkstalkers: Resurrection" alongside "Darkstalkers 3."

Loading up "Resurrection," you're met with a straightforward menu full of options including the newly added tutorial modes, and online multiplayer mode. Navigating between the two games is easy enough with a simple touch of the select button. Adding a bit more variety is the awards section, which offers players vault points as rewards once players complete the tasks. Inside the vault, various bits of concept art, and movies can be unlocked with said vault points, helping to lengthen gameplay.

Accomplishments are easily tracked alongside the gameplay on the side of the screen, so players know what's left to do before each task is complete, which is a nice touch. 

As far as actual gameplay, it's exactly like I remembered. Detractors will argue that it's a simple "Street Fighter" knockoff, but they're forgetting that "Darkstalkers" made quite a few additions to that are now considered staples to the fighter genre: dashes, air blocking, reversals, enhanced special moves and more. But beyond these additions, "Darkstalkers" took itself not nearly as seriously as some of Capcom's other fighters, which allowed it to inject a fair amount of humor, helping to make it more appealing to a broader audience. Despite the seriousness of a character roster featuring vampires, mermen, werewolves, and the like, the game thought nothing of far out super moves that saw characters transformed into miniature version of themselves, encased in ice, set aflame, change their genders, and so on. Even electrocuting certain characters will result in cartoony versions of their skeletons.

The franchise was a great cross-breed of fighter and horror, fit for anyone who hung a Bela Lugosi or Lon Chaney Jr. poster next to a "Street Fighter" poster, encompassing a great many archetypes from classic horror movies, long before Hollywood turned vampires and werewolves into a tween love triangle sensation. 

My only real complaint about the game overall is that the character roster of "Darkstalkers 3" is notably absent of Pyron, Huitzil, and Donovan. Disappointing, but this was the case when the game first released, so there you go.

Overall, it's a great, solid fighter, and you're damn straight if you think it deserves a playthrough or five.