Game Freaks 365's PSP Review Guide
By Kyle W. Bell
Smashwords Edition 3, September 2011
(Originally Published May 2010)
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Copyright © Kyle Bell 2010
License Notes:
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Cover design by Angel Cortes cortesangel@live.com
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Table of Contents
Reviews (Alphabetically Ordered)
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Introduction
You earn a check that only gets you by enough to pay your bills. Maybe you struggle to make a car payment. You really want to play the latest video game, perhaps Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars or Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, but your budget does not allow you to buy both. What should you get?
Picking good games can be hard. Avoiding duds can be even more difficult. That's why smart consumers turn to experts on the subject. Game Freaks 365 was founded to help people choose games that are worth their hard earned dollar and bypass games that are better suited for the trash can. Writing about video games is our passion. This guide aims to help the smart consumer pick the best games that the PSP has to offer.
Nearly 70 reviews from some of the finest games on the PSP are included in Game Freaks 365's PSP Review Guide, including popular titles like Burnout Legends, Coded Arms, Death Jr., FIFA Soccer, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, LocoRoco, Metal Gear Acid, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Ridge Racer, Wipeout Pure, and many more!
So what are you waiting for? Get reading!
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Please Note: Reviews for multi-platform games may be from other platforms, unless major differences between the versions are present.
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Publisher: Agetec
Release Date: December 13, 2005
Available On: PSP
The Armored Core series has had a rusty life the last few years. Despite a cult following, the mech customization video game has lost its touch time and time again. With the PSP version, Armored Core: Formula Front, this trend continues. Formula Front isn't as bad as the recent PS2 outing, Nine Breaker (reviewed and scored a 5.3 by our very own Matt Evangelista), but arguably so. I wouldn't consider this an action game as much as I'd consider it a big game of chess, where the pawns and bishops are replaced with guns and different body parts of each robot.
In Armored Core: Formula Front, you are the engineer and leader of a team in the mech league known as the FFA. You customize and alter five of your very own mechs, each of which you try to differentiate in order to formulate strategic game plans and strategies. Through winning matches, you progress the ranks of FFA and eventually become the top AC team. Throughout the experience, you'll be informed of all the latest FFA and team rules, you'll be challenged by beaten opponents, and more. This stuff kept me into the experience more than I expected.
Customizing your mechs is the name of the game here, and you could spend hours on each of your hulking robots. Each of the dozens and dozens of parts have different parameters that alter the performance of your AC. You can equip your mech with the strongest weaponry around, but those big guns will bog you down and overheat your mech faster than you'd ever believe. Of course, smaller guns make way for better agility and terrain movement as well as decreased energy use and better cooling.
Equipping parts isn't the only thing you'll do. In fact, you'll tune those parts, replace them, set the AC's personal artificial intelligence, and more. It's all about your personal preferences, and of course the competition ahead. If you're about to go up against a defensively weak but speedy AC, you will want to plan accordingly and try to counter the AC with a speedy but powerful mech. If you're about to face a beefy pile of steel, you'll want to slow down the pace and have enough power to outlast your opponent, perhaps from long range. If you're into this kind of customization, you're going to absolutely love Formula Front. It's like a slower, virtual game of chess that involves robots and guns. If you don't, to put it bluntly, you're going to hate this game.
In the Japanese version of this game, you couldn't actually PLAY as your mechs--you could make them, coordinate their AI, and watch them fight. In the American version, you can actually control your ACs on the battlefield but the controls are so broken and the computer AI is so good that playing the game is a worthless effort. I eventually gave up and decided to watch the mechs fight instead. Fortunately the graphics are very attractive, and the mech action is fast-paced and exciting to watch. After playing a few matches I decided to stick to watching my mechs after tuning the AI, and I had a much better time. I'm very upset, though, that it's not as fun to play Formula Front.
As I said, the visuals are top-notch. This is a very attractive PSP game. You'll scope out individual parts and intricate details on your mechs. Explosion effects and particles look fantastic. Overall Formula Front looks like a second- or third-year PlayStation 2 game. The music isn't bad, either--and when paired with the explosive sound effects, realistic warning sounds, and gunfire, this title is a nicely-presented game. Of course, it doesn't have an excuse to be anything otherwise. If a game's actual gameplay is intended to be observed rather than played, the game in mind should look and sound fantastic. This is Forumla Front's saving grace, and if you're one of the people I said would love the game earlier, these factors will only improve the experience to you.
I regret to report the rest of the PSP crowd that Armored Core: Formula Front isn't the action game you're looking for. Armored Core fans might enjoy it for its customization and impressive superficial qualities, but almost anyone else will immediately regret a purchase because there isn't much gameplay involved. From Software, I know you're capable of making an Armored Core that is more fun to play than watch. Please do it next time.
Graphics: 9
Sound: 8
Gameplay: 3
Creativity: 6
Replay Value/Game Length: 5
Final: 5.9 out of 10
Written by Cliff
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ATV Offroad Fury Pro
Developer: Climax Studios
Publisher: SCEA
Release Date: October 26, 2006
Available On: PSP
I've always been a fan of racing games. I suppose that started back in the SNES days with games like Super Mario Kart, which led to watercraft racing with the release of Wave Race 64, Mario Kart 64 and Cruisin' USA. More recently I have been most impressed with the Burnout and Need for Speed franchises, as well as a brief stint with Midnight Club 2 and some Dreamcast racers like Metropolis Street Racing and Sega Rally. For whatever reason, I've never got around to playing Sony's ATV franchise. The whole idea of mixing tricks and racing never much appealed to me. Now that I've played ATV Offroad Fury Pro for the PSP, I wish I had given the franchise a chance earlier.
First thing's first: this is not a port of the PS2 version of the game. People are so used to playing the same game on the two systems that they've just decided to ignore the PSP altogether. I wouldn't blame them, except for the fact that ATV Offroad Fury Pro has exclusive tracks, new race modes and mini-games such as Rings of Fire (drive through a series of rings), Pool (use your ATV as a cue ball) and Card Battle. There are also new event types including Endurocross, Rallycross, Circuit, Snowcross and Rally.
One of the first things that you need to do in order to avoid frustration is enter the training. This will teach you all of the basics, such as how to perform the different aerial stunts that will help you accumulate points. This game can be unforgiving if you get careless on the track. You're going to lose a lot of time against your opponents if you wander off the track, crash and fly off of your bike, etc. Make sure that you get down your landing technique, braking and turning.
Most of the single events are locked and will require you to place well in order to unlock them. In the Championship mode you are going to need to choose a sponsor. They'll give you bonuses and whatnot depending on your performance, with each sponsor having different requirements. Some sponsors are tailored for specific event types, so choose a sponsor that will fit you best. By competing in events, you will earn yourself cash and unlock parts for your vehicle. For a handheld game, ATV Offroad Fury Pro is pretty deep.
Sony takes full advantage of the PlayStation Portable's Infrastructure online multi-player capabilities by taking ATV Offroad Fury Pro to the Internet. You can compete with other people in single races or championships, as well as the mini-games that I talked about earlier in this review. You don't have to play online though, as Ad-Hoc multi-player is also an option. No matter which one you choose, you'll have up to three other racers jumping the hills with you.
The graphics in ATV Offroad Fury Pro really show off the power of the PlayStation Portable. This is definitely not something that you would find on a Nintendo DS. You have a large variety of courses, all well-designed and vehicles that are easy to see for performing stunts. The frame rate is also never a problem. Fury Pro certainly is not as pretty as ATV Offroad 4 for the PlayStation 2, but it's not bad on the eye at all. It's also not bad on the ear, depending on what kind of music you like. They have some recognizable names like Alkaline Trio, although I can't say I really care for the music.
If there is one racing game that you should have on PSP this fall, it's ATV Offroad Fury Pro. Whatever problems I read about with the first game that coincided with the system's launch have been fixed. You have nice handling, superb graphics for a portable game, a bevy of game modes and the option to play multi-player both Ad-Hoc and Infrastructure. There's really no way you can go wrong if you're a fan of ATV by buying Offroad Fury Pro.
Graphics: 9
Sound: 7
Gameplay: 8
Creativity: 8
Replay Value/Game Length: 8.5
Final: 8.1 out of 10
Written by Kyle
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Babel: The King of Blocks
Developer: StormBasic Games
Publisher: StormBasic Games
Release Date: June 15, 2011
Available On: PSP & PS3
Babel: The King of Blocks is an obvious budget title just by its appearance. In fact, this is something that you would almost expect from a flash game. Despite the lack of pizazz, Babel is a decent puzzle game set in Egypt that tasks you with balancing the pieces used to construct objects in the game.
There are three different game modes to choose from: Balance, Construction, and Tower. In Balance, you play by dropping pieces from a bridge onto a swiveling level. You have to try to distribute the weight evenly or else it will all fall off.
This sounds pretty simple, but the pieces that you deal with are irregularly shaped. Some of them are triangles, others are squares and they even throw in round objects for good measure (yes, they roll). The game lets you know what the upcoming pieces will be, so there is some strategy involved in placement.
The idea of the Construction mode is to build a structure that does not collapse under its own weight. I did not care for it as much as the Balance mode. Tower basically has you build as high as you can without having it fall completely over.
The graphics are the weakest part of Babel: The King of Blocks. Very simple characters and animations were attempted. The backgrounds are uninteresting as well. I found the sound to be annoying, too, so basically the whole presentation is bad.
Overall, Babel: King of Blocks is a decent budget puzzle game. As a PlayStation Mini, Babel is a competent game, yet graphically unimpressive. There is a multi-player component, although I do not recommend it. You either take turns in the Balance mode or end up sabotaging each other in the Tower mode. If you have PlayStation Plus, you can download this for free, otherwise, skip it.
Graphics: 5
Sound: 5
Gameplay: 7
Creativity: 7
Replay Value/Game Length: 7
Final: 6.2 out of 10
Written by Kyle
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BattleZone
Developer: Paradigm Entertainment
Publisher: Atari
Release Date: October 31, 2006
Available On: PSP
It was only a matter of time before BattleZone resurfaced in some form or another. The classic 1980s arcade shooter is being updated to the modern age on Sony's PlayStation Portable. Atari has brought vehicular military combat to a handheld system, hoping to create a game that would perhaps borrow a little bit of arena shooting action, though in third person, from their popular Unreal Championship on Xbox. The only question is: was it worth bringing the franchise back?
Let's get this clear from the start: if you don't have a friend that owns a PSP to play with, you might as well look elsewhere. BattleZone was a game built for multi-player, and since it does not have Infrastructure Mode (for whatever crazy reason), you can only play offline. That's a clear downside that Atari should have addressed before releasing the game. Nearly two years out from the PSP's launch now, there simply isn't an excuse for not having online multi-player. The limited online functionality that is offered includes a map editor, leader boards and downloadable skins.
I guess Atari's big selling point for BattleZone is the customizable tank options. If you're expecting Need for Speed customization of your tank with customized plates, turrets and treads, you're going to be disappointed. These custom parts all have to do with performance, not making it more flashy. There is a rather limited number of choices for you to choose from. You select a country, a weight class and two weapons. You can also add three power-ups to improve your performance even more. Most everything is locked until you play through single-player.
Now imagine in your head an arena, not much different from Unreal or Quake where a bunch of little hovercraft tanks float around shooting at each other. These arenas are spread throughout the world in abandoned Russian cities, Chinese jungles, desert canyons, Antarctica and the Canary Islands. Don't get too excited though, there's not much to them. You have a lot of slopes to climb and deep crevasses to explore, but it's your fairly standard battle arena. You do have lifts that will bounce your tank into the air and away from opponents and things like that.
As far as game modes go, there is a decent offering provided. Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Team Deathmatch, Hotzone, Knockout and Fox and Hound are all available for play. Nothing fancy or overly creative, but this is what we've come to expect from most shooters. All of them play well enough, despite a somewhat boneheaded computer A.I. that may frustrate you more than once in games involving team cooperation. This seems to balance out by the fact that your opposing team isn't too bright either.
BattleZone is a game with a lot of potential that wasn't fully fleshed out. The single-player campaign isn't very long, further showing that the game was designed to be played with actual human beings. Unless you have friends with PSPs or you're Richie Rich with complimentary PSPs for your friends, you probably won't get much out of this game. Had the developers took the time to enable online multi-player, this could have possibly been the PSP's answer to Unreal. Due to this fact, unless you have access to multiple PSPs, I can't recommend this game until you see it in the bargain bin.
Graphics: 8
Sound: 6
Gameplay: 6
Creativity: 6
Replay Value/Game Length: 5
Final: 6.2 out of 10
Written by Kyle
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Beaterator
Developer: Rockstar Games
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Release Date: September 29, 2009
Available On: PSP
Beaterator is not a game. There is not a princess waiting for you at a castle, there is no invincibility code and there are no one shot kills. Beaterator is a serious application for mixing and remixing beats. If you have ever dabbled with Garageband in iLife for Mac, this is similar, albeit on a smaller screen, with funky controls, and a limited scope or highly focused scope, take your pick. Are you feeling crafty and creative today? Are you into beats? Do you like projects? Maybe Beaterator is for you.
Beaterator is a serious application. It does not fall into the category of game as there is no story to follow or story based objectives. There are no clans, factions, races, or enemies. There are just beats. As soon as you fire up your UMD, a computer animated Timbaland brings you up to speed on what Beaterator is and a general explanation of how it works. There are more in-depth movie tutorials throughout the “game” and these are all colorful and effective. Soon after the opening movie you come to a selection screen with two options: Live Play and Studio.
Live Play stars animated Timbaland as the DJ and you select the beats he will mix. You select from 8 instruments: drums, bass, key, synth, bongos, drums 2, trumpet, and vocals. Each instrument has 4 loops mapped to the X, triangle, circle, and square buttons which start or stop the loop. You can mix loops here instantly by starting and stopping loops and by switching between instruments on the fly. You can also replace any loop with any of the numerous audio recordings found in the UMD. In Live Play you can record and replay your mixes, save your songs or load songs included in the disk. You can also switch immediately to the Studio mode.
In Studio mode, things get significantly more complicated. You are immediately presented with a mixing board of sorts and you will be asked if you would like to see a help video, which you can opt out of. Studio is comprised of two sub modes, Studio Session and Song Crafter. Studio Session offers the user a granular level of control over sounds and loops. This is the mode you will be using to create sounds for your grand composition. You can create your own sounds using a melody editor or a drum editor to simulate real instruments. You can load an existing loop and edit that if you like. For the most creative, you can record your own sounds with a microphone. If you have a PSP 3000 or a PSP Go, you can finally make use of that built in microphone but you 1000 and 2000 model owners will have to get an add-on microphone.
Once you have created a loop you can bring it into the Song Crafter to further refine your sound and piece weave it into a song. Song Crafter presents you with system of tracks wherein you lay down loops in any sequence you like to create beats. You add tracks in order to add other loops and create more beats. Within this mode you can enter the Sound Edit screen and edit fade-outs, fade-ins, stretch the audio, reverse the audio, cut sections out, and several other edits. Additionally, you can add effects such as reverb, delay, and distortion in the Effects Editor screen. Finally, once you have completed your masterful symphony, you can export your song to an MIDI file or a WAV file. The WAV file, a very large file, will play natively through the PSP’s XMB and can be transferred to a computer or an MP3 player of whatever flavor.
Exporting your first Beaterator masterpiece will be a long journey fraught with many trials and tribulations. The first trial you will face is becoming comfortable with the inner workings of Beaterator. The game does feature numerous video tutorials available to you when you stumble upon the many features in Beaterator and they explain said features in great depth. You can later access these tutorials through the menu available through the R button. Beaterator also includes a reference guide and glossary. Additionally, every option and button is accompanied by a brief description of its function under the main screen. Unfortunately, there isn’t a step by step tutorial to guide you through creating your first loop or your first song. Once you’re done watching the tutorials, you are on your own.
Beaterator is very much like full music creation applications available on PCs but with a streamlined interface. I use the word streamlined loosely here as I really mean to convey that the screen is often focused on one task at hand, with the entire screen devoted to one level of control at a time. With such a small screen dedicated to such a large application, a great amount of effort is devoted to figuring out what screen will produce the results you desire. Also, there are no visual cues to indicate what effects have been applied to a loop, a track, or an entire song; to see them you must first locate the appropriate screen where these effects are applied. The small screen of a portable device is just not suited for this sort of advanced application.
Beaterator is not a game. It is a very serious, very capable, and very complex piece of software for creating music. There are some serous limitations brought about by the type of hardware it is running on. I never encountered slow down except when loading from the UMD. Of course, Beaterator is simply not about frame rates or animations. Beaterator is an application more akin to Garageband on a Mac than it is to any game on the PSP. It requires a great amount of time and dedication to produce music through it, far more than any RPG on the system. The portable screen of the PSP is far less than the ideal environment for such fine granular controls.
How much you can get out of Beaterator certainly depends on whether you can dedicate the time, patience, and creativity required to create music. The lack of an idiot’s guide to Beaterator definitely leaves you to your own devices. You may find yourself watching the tutorial videos more than once and it certainly would not hurt if you were a greatly self motivated person. You definitely will need to spend more than a train ride with Beaterator if you want to get results. In the end though, you may feel a deep sense of accomplishment for having created your very own song. Too bad PSP does not offer trophy support to show off. Of course, you can always publish your songs to the Beaterator website. If you would like to distribute your song to your friends, you will have to transfer that big WAV file to a computer and burn it onto a CD or find an application that will convert a WAV into a friendly MP3 (think iTunes).
I cannot come to a conclusion as to who could really benefit from Beaterator. There are many programs on Windows and Mac that can do this very same job with less frustration and more options. Perhaps if I were a kid this would be my gateway to the music production industry. After all, a computer with comparable software is more expensive than a PSP with Beaterator. There is a great amount of knowledge one can acquire through Beaterator and Beaterator could serve as a stepping stone before graduating to a more advance setup like a PC. Beaterator is available on UMD and on the PlayStation Store for $39.99 at the time of this writing. Beaterator will also be appearing on the iPhone and iPod Touch but the date of availability and price are not yet available.
Graphics: 6
Sound: 8
Gameplay: 5
Creativity: 8
Replay Value/Game Length: 9
Final: 7.2 out of 10
Written by Angel
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Bomberman
Developer: Hudson Soft
Publisher: Konami
Release Date: September 12, 2006
Available On: PSP
Bomberman's been around for a few decades now. He's graced platforms dating back to the NES. I remember enjoying Bomberman 64 with friends and crying from playing the N-Gage version. He's even been on the Nintendo DS (with another coming this fall). It seems appropriate that Hudson is now bringing the bombing hero to PlayStation Portable. Unfortunately, the biggest draw to a potential Bomberman on PSP is lacking online multi-player.
If you aren't familiar with Bomberman, shame on you, but I'll explain anyway. In traditional fashion, the PSP version of the game has you decimating enemies with bomb blasts, blowing up boxes to find the exits and beating the clock. Think of Bomberman as a maze set out on a square grid with obstacles, enemies, items and walls. The items that you collect can help you along the way. While Bomberman can only use one bomb at a time, a power-up item can fix that. You can also walk through walls, enlarge the area of your explosion and do other things with the items that you collect. Items can be applied through an item system, which proves to be quite inefficient during battle.
The new story mode takes place across ten different worlds for you to explore. You will also encounter a number of different boss battles and bonus areas. During boss battles, you are prohibited from using the power-ups that you collect throughout the game. Also, when Bomberman dies, you lose all of the power-ups that you applied to him up until that point in time. That also means that power-ups (unless they specify a time limit) will roll over from each level to the next until you die. However, dying does not mean game over, as you have an infinite number of lives.
Bomberman for PSP has a new 3D look for the franchise. The levels are designed nicely and will randomize each time you play them. This also means that there is the potential for bad, sometimes impossible placement of enemies. There are so many variables involved in a Bomberman game that randomization can throw you off a bit. The good thing is that everything else looks great on the PlayStation Portable's wide screen.
The multi-player is nothing too special. I'm sure everyone was hoping for online multi-player, and it would fit the PSP well, but it is not included in this game. Instead you have the option of wireless local area Ad Hoc play with up to four people using one UMD or you can battle the computer. There are a number of different mazes to choose from, game modes and customizable options such as player difficulty. I had a decent time playing the computer, but humans over WiFi is what I wanted.
Overall, Bomberman for PlayStation Portable is a run-of-the-mill Bomberman game. Without a friend with a PSP to play multi-player with, it seems to me that there is little value in even buying this. The whole Bomberman experience has always been about playing with friends. If you are a diehard fan of the franchise, you should get some quality play time out of this. For the casual gamer, there's probably no reason to buy this without the online multi-player.
Graphics: 7
Sound: 7
Gameplay: 7
Creativity: 5
Replay Value/Game Length: 8
Final: 6.8 out of 10
Written by Kyle
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Burnout Legends
Developer: Criterion
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release Date: September 26, 2005
Available On: PSP
Electronic Arts and Criterion have made the Burnout series the most successful and exciting racing video game series to date. Now a yearly franchise (or so it seems), Criterion dropped the bomb on the home consoles this September when they released Burnout Revenge (which our own Kyle Bell reviewed at 9.1). They also released a PlayStation Portable Burnout, titled Burnout Legends, which is one of the best PSP games to date. With all of the hard-hitting crashes and the same blazing speed of the console games, Burnout Legends holds true to its legacy and delivers in every way.
Burnout Legends takes bits and pieces of Burnout, Burnout 2, and Burnout 3: Takedown and optimizes the experience for the PSP. You'll instantly recognize some courses, cars, and Crash Junctions if you've played any of these three games. This means that there hasn't been much new stuff added to the mix, but what is crunched up into this UMD is impressive. There are eight gameplay modes, including Ad Hoc WiFi multiplayer, and the single player World Tour mode has over 170 events on its own as well as the usual 100 Crash Junctions. It would be safe to say that Burnout Legends will take players as long to complete as Burnout Revenge would on a home console.
After four or five years of high-speed crashes, I'm surprised that EA has managed to keep this franchise fresh and entertaining but somehow they surpass themselves every year with something new. In this year's revenge, you have the ability to ram pedestrian cars around and potentially cause crashes this way. Unfortunately, Burnout Revenge's newest feature is exempt from Legends. This means that Legends plays in almost every way like Burnout 3: Takedown, which isn't a bad thing at all, it just means that Takedown veterans won't find anything new to try.
Still, all of those events never get old. Crash Junctions are as fast, explosive, and hectic as ever. I could never tire of making 30-car pile-ups. There are rewards for players who rack up damage dollars and collect gold medals, of course, so getting all of the gold medals in this game is as addictive as before. As a side note, though, I was disappointed as I noticed it was slightly easier to get gold medals in most of the challenges.
Visually Burnout Legends ranks among the best-looking PSP games so far. The exaggerated sparks from Burnout 3 return and the explosions, filled with smoke and debris, look right at home on the PSP. The crashing not only looks great, but it sounds great as well. The sound of metal buckling and explosions going off is as sweet as candy. As far as music goes, the soundtrack is similar to most of EA's other games this year. It contains pop rock and punk rock, so take it or leave it.
I noticed a few small glitches while playing Burnout Legends, but nothing really distracts from the experience. Sometimes when I was taken down or I'd crash, my car would fly into a tree and get stuck or slide along a wall until the crashing sequence ended itself. I've always thought this, but some Crash Junctions are more luck than skill. No two attempts at the same Crash Junction will end exactly the same, so some Junctions may take one or two tries while others could take an hour or so to finally beat. I know there was one Junction that I tried about thirty times and still never managed to earn gold until I tried it one last time and blew the score away. It's inconsistent, but it's always fun.
In conclusion, Burnout Legends is one of the premium PSP games. It ranks among Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee, Metal Gear Acid, and Wipeout Pure as one of my favorite games on the console. With so much to do and so much excitement while doing it, Burnout Legends is an explosive rush quite unlike anything else on the PSP. The console is loaded with racing games (and there's still more on the way) but you'd be hard-pressed to find something better than this.
Graphics: 8
Sound: 8
Gameplay: 9
Creativity: 8
Replay Value/Game Length: 9
Final: 8.7 out of 10
Written by Cliff
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Chili Con Carnage
Developer: Deadline Games
Publisher: Eidos
Release Date: February 27, 2007
Available On: PSP
I remember receiving weekly press updates about Chili Con Carnage from Eidos and never quite knew what to make of it. The name alone is something that will draw attention. But when you open up the package and get it in your hands, the gameplay will be doing all of the attention drawing. This is a game that prides itself in its insanity in terms of its weapons, action and storyline. It took me until the introduction where the hero's father dies in a freak combine-harvester collision and where you start shooting guys in bird suits, that this game doesn't take itself too seriously. Surprisingly, that's the alluring thing with the game.
Chili Con Carnage essentially is nothing more than a third-person action shooter. You have various challenges that you can complete throughout the storyline, but the meat and potatoes is all-out action. The ways in which you can kill people is the fun part of the game. Not only do you have a number of vehicles at your disposal to run people over with (and fire at them with your weapons at the same time), but you can perform melee kills, lethal shots with a number of guns and of course, create large explosions with barrels.
The controls and targeting system are unquestionably the weakest part of Chili Con Carnage, as is the case with most PSP games these days. The lack of a second analog control stick means that you have no control over the camera. It's not horrible and the shooting system seems to work even better than some PS2 games like GTA III, but it could use some work. You jump with X, fire with square and cycle your weapons left and right on the control pad. You can climb objects simply by moving up on the analog nub and target people's heads by pressing the right trigger.
Most of the action will require you to make good use of the game's shoot dodge feature. Simply press X and any direction on the analog nub to dodge enemy fire, and return it with square. Your pistol will give you unlimited ammo without needing a reload, while others like the shotgun will require you to hunt and conserve ammo. You can also collect various power-ups, health and items, such as my favorite, the pot on the head.
White trash hillbilly shooting has never been so much fun. Yeah, the game will get stale after a few hours of repeating the same mechanics, but there's a good amount of content to tackle, as well as local area multi-player. You don't even need a friend with a PSP, as you can take turns in the Hangman mode to see who gets the highest score. Generally speaking, Chili Con Carnage is an interesting arcade-style shooter (in that you kill things endlessly) that I would recommend to PSP owners once it reaches the $20 mark.
Graphics: 8
Sound: 8
Gameplay: 7
Creativity: 7.5
Replay Value/Game Length: 7
Final: 7.4 out of 10
Written by Kyle
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Coded Arms
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Release Date: July 6, 2005
Available On: PSP
Konami's Coded Arms for the PSP has finally been released into an anticipated gaming crowd. It is the first shooter on the console, but over time Konami hyped it up to be a groundbreaking release. In the final product Konami has succeeded in making a fun, enjoyable first-person shooter. Despite a few problems, Coded Arms is easily accessible and makes a great handheld game.
It's the distant future, and an overloaded network has been infected with a program called A.I.D.A. As a hacker/soldier, your goal is to go deep into the A.I.D.A. program, destroy dangerous viral bugs and sentry robots, and recover government files. The story is basically a generic sci-fi tale, but you never have any sort of cinematic encounter once the gameplay begins.
On paper, it would be easiest to describe Coded Arms as a Doom clone with sci-fi graphics and loads of square rooms. The game is essentially a hallway-crawling, elevator-riding, room-clearing romp. At any rate, the game is still a blast to play. For a handheld shooter, Coded Arms' enemies are very different in both appearance and A.I. There are three basic classes of opponents, including humans, aliens, and robots. Each of these classes has a different weakness to one of the five weapon attributes, including normal-based, fire-based, electrical-based, viral-based, and light-based attacks. On top of all of these different attributes, there are more than 20 weapons that can be found and permanently upgraded with power-ups found in battle. If the story seems shallow, the gameplay is actually pretty deep.
The enemy A.I. is pretty generic overall, but certain enemies tend to rush and attack you while others stay far back and peg you with bullets or viral spray. In the second half of the game, some rooms are filled with as many as five to ten enemies and the action on-screen can get pretty heated. It was at this point that I didn't think about the A.I. because it was kicking my ass for the most part. This brings up one of the most prevalent issues with Coded Arms: the controls.
I'm not one to scorn a game for unique or difficult controls, and Coded Arms is one of those games. As the first PSP first-person shooter, the game fares pretty well. The analog stick is used for forward/backward movement as well as strafing. The face buttons are used for camera movement, much like a controller's right analog stick. The D-pad's directions switch weapons, reload, and toggle the on-screen map on and off. Last of all, the L and R triggers control shooting and jumping. The controls are simple to get used to after a half-hour or so, but the frantic combat near the end of the game is terribly punishing and requires a mastery of the controls. I didn't find this to be a flaw, and in fact I was impressed by how responsive the controls are.
Without a doubt the best aspect of Coded Arms is the graphic quality. Despite having randomly-generated maps, the different art designs are really impressive. Near the end of the game, some of the levels are simply beautiful. The enemies aren't very detailed, but their animation is superb. Explosions look great, and some of the sci-fi effects (like screen distortions and things like that) are really cool.
The sound shares the same quality. The sound effects tear right out of the PSP speakers. Blasting a group of enemies with an assault rifle sounds really impressive for a handheld title. The music is also pretty good, and serves a great purpose. Whenever a room contains an enemy, the music picks up. Once you've cleared the room, the music quiets down. Personally, I love this musical help in video games.
Fortunately Coded Arms is a relatively long game. I clocked in at six and a half hours before attempting the final "sector," which is a super-long bonus level known as "infinite mode." For a handheld game, six hours is a pretty nice chunk of time. This is all before multiplayer comes into play. Like most PSP games to this point, I didn't get to check out Coded Arms' wireless multiplayer. It's too bad, because Konami put a lot of time into the three gameplay modes. Deathmatch, Keep the Mark (which is basically Oddball from Halo/Halo 2), and Capture the Flag are your different options, and they're basically the same stuff you'd see in any other shooter for that matter. The only difference is that it's all on a wireless handheld. Unfortunately there is no Infrastructure compatibility, which means there is no online play. Only the Ad Hoc mode is available for people to play with nearby friends.
In conclusion, the level design is very primitive and square, the story is pretty much non-existent, and the game is essentially a dungeon-crawler. I enjoyed the game so much despite these flaws because I personally found a way to get around all of it and I had a great time. If you can adjust to a difficult control scheme and you're looking for a great shooter on-the-go, this game is a great one to drop $40 on. It will be interesting to see how this genre grows on the PSP after Coded Arms has set its mark.
Graphics: 8.5
Sound: 9
Gameplay: 7.5
Creativity: 6
Replay Value/Game Length: 7
Final: 7.5 out of 10
Written by Cliff
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Coded Arms Contagion
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Release Date: September 18, 2007
Available On: PSP
The original Coded Arms launched the first-person shooter genre on Sony's PSP in 2005. The controls were a newer concept and were difficult to adjust to, and the boxy, randomly-generated maps were boring, but the gameplay was decent, the graphics were great, and sound effects were explosive. Konami needed to create interesting maps, hone their weapons, and improve the A.I., and they did all that. Why, then, is Coded Arms: Contagion a slightly less impressive game?
The story finds Major Jacob Grant jacking back into A.I.D.A., the combat simulation system from the original Coded Arms. What is initially a training simulation again turns wrong as Grant is asked to track down Bravo Team, which was just ahead of him in the world of A.I.D.A. There are realized points where Grant interacts with others, which adds a sense of story to the game. This was completely missing from the first game, which, in thought, seems to have been a training exercise for this game.
That doesn't mean Contagion is a lot longer. In fact, the 13 missions seem to take a lot less time than Coded Arms' different sectors. The levels aren't sprawled-out collections of boxes like they were before, and they've got a fantastic layout by comparison. Don't expect anything along the lines of Halo or even old PS2 shooters like Red Faction; Coded Arms is still pretty basic. The missions aren't very complex, either. Most of the time you will be jumping around the environment, shooting boxes and collecting power-ups, shooting enemies, and hacking.
The controls make jumping, shooting, and moving pretty simple after practice. As a side note, Contagion is the first PSP game I have played in 16 months. My PSP passed away last July, and perhaps that is why I had to suffer through an adjustment phase. By default, the left stick still controls movement. The face button is used to look around and move left or right. Jumping is handled with the left trigger, shooting with the right, and reloading, switching, sniping, and locking utilize the directional pad. I found it annoying to move my thumb from nub to directional pad just to reload or lock on, especially because both are very frequently required in the game. I thought that the game would be much easier to play if Jump and Lock-On were switched around so that locking on was quick and simple, but there was no way to manually change all of the controls. The other control schemes allow for lefty controls and Goldeneye-like, single-analog movement control (move in all directions with nub, strafe and look up/down with face buttons) as well as a strange combination with the triggers.
Hacking is a new addition to the game, but it isn't very much fun at all. Grant can approach certain terminals that can be hacked into, resulting in turrets changing sides and doors unlocking. Sometimes power-ups can be found. Again, hacking is a lame process. You have to look at a line of numbers on the left side of the screen and then look to another line on the right and find a pair of numbers that appear on both sides of the screen. This can be incredibly hard, since the numbers are small and the font boxy, making it hard to see the digits. Also, if you fail to hack correctly, an enemy will appear behind you, firing at you. This is pretty unforgiving, but then again, BioShock was never really penalized for the same situation.
Upgrading your plug-ins (weapons) would have been a lot more interesting this time around if the upgrade system wasn't restricted by structured, chronological limits. At a few points in the game you'll be allowed to upgrade your weapons, grenades, and armor with upgrade points found throughout the missions, but you won't ever get to upgrade when you really want to. I feel like you should be able to max out a weapon or armor whenever you want to, not limit yourself to spending a few points at scattered moments throughout the campaign.
Contagion impresses visually and aurally just as its predecessor did in 2005. The detailed environments from the first game have been overhauled, and with the maps no longer being randomized, the levels have more of a sense of design and style. The style is still a mix of futuristic and dirty industrial tastes infused into each area. The enemies are even more detailed than they previously were, but the crab- and insect-like creatures don't fit along the more common human-like enemies, and they're annoying to aim down and shoot at. In fact, half of Coded Arms' control issues would be resolved if looking up and down to shoot short or flying enemies wasn't required and the face buttons didn't have to be recreating what should be right-analog control. As a final visual comment, the frame rate drops a lot more than it did in the original game. Look out for flashing elevator indicators and rooms full of enemies or explosions!
At the start of this review I said that Coded Arms was a more impressive game than Coded Arms: Contagion. This isn't to say that I would rather play the original than the sequel. The new one isn't a great game, but it is a good one that just doesn't overwhelm with its upgrades. Missions are still too basic, the storyline is still too static, and the weapons, enemies, and characters are still totally lacking personality. The Infrastructure multiplayer that was missing from Coded Arms makes an appearance, but the only gamers who will really find a lot to enjoy from Contagion are fans of old-school shooters that throw simple enemies and challenges at them. Konami needs to fire on all cylinders when they release the PlayStation 3 Coded Arms title, and this isn't really the best example of what can be done with Coded Arms.
Graphics: 9
Sound: 7
Gameplay: 7
Creativity: 5
Replay Value/Game Length: 6
Final: 7 out of 10
Written by Cliff
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The Con
Developer: Think and Feel
Publisher: SCEA
Release Date: October 18, 2005
Available On: PSP
The Con isn't your normal fighting game. In the genre's classics like Mortal Kombat, Tekken, and Street Fighter, the goal of every fight was to simply pound away at the enemy while trying to stay alive. In The Con, things are a little different. An interesting gameplay premise sets up for an out-of-the-ordinary experience that ends up as a decent game on the PSP.
The Con features a Story Mode that takes you through the life of a street thug looking to make money by gambling his way through street fights. It begins with a straightforward tutorial that ends with an unsuspected death that serves as a way to progress the story and throw you out into the actual game. Once you reach that point, it's all about making your way through the ranks of fighters, earning money by gambling on each match, and training or resting with the time between each fight.
The Con almost feels like the franchise modes found in modern football games. The pre-game setup can be just as important as the actual game, and that applies here. Training your fighter with different styles (like power, speed, and health training) will eventually make him or her a much better character and fights become much easier. Still, time management is needed, as too much training can lead to a fatigued fighter that won't start a fight with full health or energy. This all sounds much more difficult than it really is, and essentially the only challenge is that which you face in the brawl.
The fighting mechanics work pretty well here. Rather than play with the traditional sideways viewpoint, The Con is viewed from an over-the-shoulder angle that makes the fight feel much closer to the player, thus creating a more intense feel. The face buttons serve as high and low attacks while the directional pad and analog nub serve as dodging moves. There is no actual movement besides this, other than blocks with the R trigger and Con moves with the L trigger. These "Con moves" are what make battles interesting. As you gamble for each fight, you actually have the option to take a dive and lose a fight if it means that you'll earn more money. By holding the L button, you'll take bigger hits that will have the audience betting in your favor.
Of course, if losing isn't your thing, the fighting itself is easy and smooth. Some of the brawls I had while playing The Con were extremely exciting. The betting system allows the player to put on quite a show, whether that means they have to take a beating at the start of the match and come back or simply dominate from the first hit. If I was betting on a comeback, I'd take so many hits that I'd really risk a knockout and it made for a few hair-raising experiences. Sadly, after a few hours of the fights, the thrill starts to fade into frustration. The AI slowly goes from a pushover to a solid wall, and this ends up as a frustrating, repetitive problem that simply takes trial and error to overcome.
Unfortunately, the repetitive gameplay goes hand-in-hand with a few other factors. The Story Mode goes on and on while getting less and less interesting, the graphics and environments are repeated far too many times, and the music simply doesn't fit at some points in the game. Still, these things don't ruin the experience. The graphics are repeated a lot but that doesn't keep them from looking great. The environments are surprisingly detailed and the animation is smooth and clean.
The music might not work, but the voice-acting is a great touch and the sound effects aren't all that bad. Playing through the game and strengthening your characters is a pretty addictive element in itself, and I found myself fighting through the repetitious gameplay to make my characters into better fighters. It was actually pretty tough for me to put the game down for a while.
I don't recommend buying The Con unless you're a die-hard fighting fan, but it's still worth a try simply for the novel gambling idea or the fighting mechanics. It's no Soul Calibur, but it's an interesting game that serves as one of the better handheld fighting games out there.
Graphics: 7
Sound: 6
Gameplay: 8
Creativity: 8
Replay Value/Game Length: 7
Final: 7 out of 10
Written by Cliff
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Crush
Developer: Zoe Mode
Publisher: Sega
Release Date: May 29, 2007
Available On: PSP
Sega, like Nintendo, was once a beacon of innovation. Going back to the days of Sonic the Hedgehog on Genesis to NiGHTS on the Saturn and Seaman on the Dreamcast, Sega has published a number of titles that are both memorable and creative. The developers of Crush, who are as likely to be unknown to you as this game itself, have continued the trend of Sega creativity that has been lacking in recent years, especially on handhelds.
Crush has a wacky storyline that has something to do with the main character having the inability to sleep. He goes to a doctor for his insomnia who suggests an experimental new type of therapy that can cure him of his restless nights. This involves looking into the recesses of his brain and finding the culprit. The puzzles that you work out throughout the game all take place in the main character's mind. It really isn't anything special, nor was it really necessary to justify a puzzle game, but they did it anyway.
In terms of gameplay, Crush is a puzzle game that utilizes the same kind of innovation that Nintendo attempted with platforming in Super Paper Mario for the Wii. The whole premise of Crush is to switch between the 2D and 3D world to reach unreachable ledges and manipulate the environment to collect orbs and solve the puzzles to the best of your ability. By “crushing” the camera, players will go from a 3D view with controllable camera angles to 2D side-scrolling.
The puzzles in Crush are genuinely unique and fun to solve. Some of them take little effort, but the difficulty will ramp up quickly. By the time you are several levels into the game, you will be spending upwards of 30 to 45 minutes attempting to find a way to solve the puzzle. This can lead to frustrating moments and plenty of head scratching, but admittedly, this is a challenge game that requires plenty of patience and creative thinking.
Crush is the type of game that will want you to crush your PSP at times. There's no doubt that this is a tough game. No one likes to breeze through a game without any difficulty, but this can almost be perverse. That only means that when you beat a level, the feeling of accomplishment is even better than the punishment endured from brewing over the same puzzle for more than a half hour. The inevitable sequel should fix the muddy graphics and touchy controls. I salute Sega for publishing a puzzle game that is genuinely new to the genre.
Graphics: 7
Sound: 6
Gameplay: 8.5
Creativity: 10
Replay Value/Game Length: 9
Final: 8.1 out of 10
Written by Kyle
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Cube
Developer: Metia Interactive
Publisher: D3 Publisher
Release Date: May 1, 2007
Available On: PSP
As if the PlayStation Portable were not lacking enough puzzle games, D3 Publisher of America has decided to release a new one named Cube. It's a clever little game with some neat concepts and a relatively steep difficulty, but is hindered by bad graphics and an iffy camera (notorious in PSP games these days). What it lacks in graphics D3 tried valiantly to make up in the addition of a level editor, something we rarely see in games of any type. But with such a crowded field of games in the genre, can Cube compete with the likes of Lumines and Mercury Meltdown? Read on to find out.
The gimmick with this puzzle game is in the name. You control a cube. What is a cube anyway? A six sided solid square object with right angles for sides. If that's not a good enough hint of where they're going with this, I can't give you a better one. The whole idea behind Cube is to put you in a 3D space where you can manipulate your cube around the mazes. You can climb up and around any of the cubed blocks that make up the level. I have to give the developers credit, I really have never seen a game done like this.
The goal of each level is to reach the portal. Easy enough, right? Seems to be the point of a lot of puzzle games these days. The trouble is that there are hazards along the way such as bombs and shooters (which have a set way point), as well as AI, which can attack you. Other objects include an arrow that sticks to your cube to redirect bombs, a guider arrow which redirects bombs (but doesn't stick to your cube), push cubes which will fill gaps for you, and breakaway cubes that will disintegrate after a few seconds of touching them. If you collect all of the keys along the way, you will be able to earn a gold, but only if your time permits the distinction.
The controls are simple enough. You control your cube with the d-pad, moving in any of four directions that you are allowed to move in. The camera is controlled with the analog nub but readjusts itself when you move your cube. Since the camera angles can get chaotic, it is always good to watch the level overview before each level and map out a route to take. In many cases, keys and such are placed in a logical order that will almost guide you to the goal. If you find this trick, you should do pretty well.
There is no variety to speak of with really only nine backgrounds throughout the game. The game has three difficulty areas, and each difficulty has three zones, so one background per zone. With the objects that litter the levels, your eyes will see some difference other than the design of the mazes, but the lack of many backgrounds is disappointing indeed. As far as sound is concerned, there are some sound effects from hitting objects, explosions and whatnot, but the music is pretty plain. The sound, like the graphics, is quite uninteresting and uninspired.
I had a fun time playing this unique puzzle game. The camera will impede your progress quite a bit, and the graphics will irk you for their lack of style, but it still can be an entertaining experience. I enjoyed figuring out what I needed to do with each object (and which to avoid), clearing a path with a well-placed arrow to guide a bomb or simply pushing a push cube around a level to fill a gap in a path. There are some clever moments in Cube that will put a smile on your face, yet its shortcomings will always be there to remind you. If you are a hardcore fan of puzzle games, you shouldn't miss this one. For everyone else, I would suggest sticking with Lumines.
Graphics: 5
Sound: 6
Gameplay: 7
Creativity: 7
Replay Value/Game Length: 7
Final: 6.4 out of 10
Written by Kyle
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Dead to Rights: Reckoning
Developer: Rebellion
Publisher: Namco
Release Date: June 28, 2005
Available On: PSP
Before Dead to Rights, action games generally gave the player a magnifying glass and plenty of little helpless ants to burn. When Namco released the original Dead to Rights, I remember many situations where I would be pinned down, watching bullets and shrapnel explode around me. It wasn't the same ant-burning situation. The ants were fighting back. When I saw that Namco was publishing Dead to Rights: Reckoning for the PSP, I was excited to have all of that action contained in a portable UMD. After playing through the game, I'm slightly disappointed but I can honestly say that it was fun.
One of the first noticeable flaws with this game is its story, or the lack of one. The entire game focuses on a hostage rescue mission that Dead to Rights hero Jack Slate is sent on. Somehow the local bikers, Triad gang members, and militia get involved and want to kill you. In the end, a surprising yet humorous conclusion ends a story that was a joke in the first place. But the story isn't the key ingredient to a good action game -- the gameplay is.