The big, gorgeous, and expansive nature of the Assassin’s Creed games doesn’t quite fit in the palm of your hand. While the PSP version—Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines—isn’t awful, it’s certainly not great. However, enough of the essential fun in Assassin’s Creed does come through to make the PSP version a worthwhile addition to the saga.

A direct continuation of the first game, Bloodlines tells the story of Altair’s quest to end the Templar presence on the island of Cyprus. Though starting off shakily, the story progresses well because Altair’s character is surprisingly developed. While the game gives Maria, the female Templar, a significant role, not enough time is spent on developing their relationship. When combined with very thin mission set-ups, this omission contributes to the feel of a downsized game.

Graphically, Bloodlines is impressive.

Story aside, the meat of an Assassin’s Creed game is running, climbing, and killing. Bloodlines gets the killing part right, but the few locations in the game are too small to truly show off the series’ signature free-running gameplay. Buildings are rarely more than a few stories tall, and even eagle viewpoints are  downsized. Furthermore, the fidgety camera makes running and long jumps an iffy prospect.

Such problems are compounded by the often-sticky controls. Unfortunately, this seems to be a direct holdover from the console versions. Altair gets frequently blocked while climbing and running by invisible obstacles.  By the time you’ve struggled to adjust his direction away from some mysterious block, his running has lost all momentum.

Air assassination's are still thrilling, even on the subway.

In addition, the locations are remarkably sparse when compared to the consoles. Aside from the lack of elevation, there just isn’t enough to do. Each map has barely a handful of side missions, with the focus clearly on the main storyline.

These missions, or the lack thereof, is where Bloodlines misses the boat. On a portable system, Altair’s exploits would have been a perfect fit for a wide array of bite-sized missions set at a rapid pace. Instead, players are left with precious little to do beyond move the story along.

Bloodlines’ presentation is remarkably well done. Although the island of Cyprus is rather bland, with simple stone structures, the character models and animation are very well done. Deserving of special notice, Altair’s voice acting is much improved. This time, Altair sounds like a local, giving him more personality. Even the music, sound effects, and other voices are worth noticing.

Happily, Assassin’s Creed’s combat actually translated perfectly. As before, combat is a waiting game, where Altair guards, and then counter attacks. The violence is still viscerally satisfying and Altair feels every bit the killer badass he was on the PS3.

Blast Factor: There were a lot of compromises made in bringing Assassin’s Creed to the PSP and not all of them were necessary. The visual downgrade and lessened scope are understandable, but the scarcity of missions is not. Despite an opportunity to improve them, the sketchy controls and camera are still issues. On the plus side, Bloodlines does a decent job expanding on Altair’s character in a meaningful way. Combat is engaging, and while the game is far from perfect, it is still worth a look for fans of cloaked assassins.

Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines is available exclusively on the Playstation Portable, and retails for $39.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for review.

Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble is a new PSP game which comes straight from Japan. The premise alone is enough to get someone hooked. You’re a bancho (head badass) in a prefecture in Kyuoto and you rule with an iron fist. During a school trip, numerous schools from around the country converge in one location for one week. This one week is all the time you get to go around asserting your dominance by finding and beating the banchos from other prefectures. Do you think you have what it takes to be the number one bancho in all of Japan?

The premise had me sold from the start. I set off on a quest to find and beat all the banchos in the region. Instead of just walking up to the banchos and beating them, you are required to find them through itinerary sheets held by the banchos’ henchmen. You find the henchmen, start trash talking and then you beat them to a pulp before getting their information.

From the premise alone, you’d assume that this is just a straight up brawler. However, this is where it gets interesting: the gameplay is very weird. As you go around, you travel by bus, train or taxi. When you want to start a fight, you need to shoot someone in the face with a laser that you shoot out of your eyes like Superman. You then start trading predetermined insults with your opponent in order to improve your "badass" rating. Then you start fighting. You choose what type of attack you want to use and then use an attack which falls under that category. As you beat more and more banchos, you learn their signature moves, which you can then streamline into your fighting arsenal. This makes the fighting system slow and inefficient and makes the battles seem more machine like that I would have hoped. Instead of more fluid movements, I was left feeling as if the battle system was a bit underdeveloped.

Aside from fighting, you get to travel the city and create a life for your bancho. You can dress him up as you please. Surprisingly, these changes show up in cutaway scenes, which I thought was pretty cool since some games don’t let you do that (I’m looking at you GTA: San Andreas). You can also interact with other characters from your school which allows your Bancho’s personality to shine through as he shows soft spots for certain classmates and romances several girls in the process.

The weirdest part of the game is travelling within the game. When you move around there is no sound. No background music to entertain you. So this is a game which requires you to make your own soundtrack with your iPod. I felt this was a very unorthodox decision and made me wonder if the game was broken, but the lack of music was intentional. As disappointing as it was to travel around, the plot and customization kept me addicted to the games. Plus corny insults can be therapeutic sometimes!

Now let’s talk graphics. This game is nothing very special graphics wise. It’s mediocre at best when compared to other video games which have come from Japan. While I liked the cartoon nature of the game made me imagine that this was like Yu Yu Yakusho when Kuwabara and Yusuke were solidifying their power pre-supernatural days. It’s a shame the graphics aren’t sleeker.

Blast Factor: This game has quite a few weaknesses which detract from how enjoyable it is, but the free roaming and customization serve the plot well. My overall view is that the game feels unpolished and, if updated would be fantastic. A more streamlined fighting system and music would help with the tone of the game, while improved graphics would make it a stronger title. The plot is solid and it can be a fun game if you add your own soundtracks. There’s no real tutorial so you’re going to have to learn everything on the fly, but that’s part of the fun.

Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble is available exclusively on the Playstation Portable, and retails for $39.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

I haven’t had much experience with tower defense games outside of the Final Fantasy VII Fort Condor minigame. Having not played a tower defense game since, I went into Creature Defense with an open mind. The plot is simple: you defend your fort from an enemy onslaught in order to keep them from destroying it. You use magic cards to summon creatures which will defend your fort and the game is smooth sailing from there.

Visually, this game isn’t that impressive compared to what has been released for the PSP. The cartoony feel preserves the overall tone of the game, but it doesn’t really have that "wow" factor to prevent it from becoming an eyesore. When looking at the defensive magic cards, they are presented in an anime style manner which, while appealing to anime fans, leaves much to be desired.

Now, granted that the visuals aren’t that impressive, the game itself is very enjoyable. The key to it is patience. This game requires that you wait a bit and strategize your summons so that you can take out your opponents and survive the round. As you defeat enemies, you get to collect them as cards which effectively means that the more enemies you defeat, the more summons you have available to use in the next round. Each monster has its own special ability but the abilities really don’t come into play that much to matter.

Blast Factor: The game is a fun but unspectacular tower defense game which doesn’t really leave a lasting impact. It’s great for long car rides and trips and has good replay value, but the underwhelming nature of the game makes you feel like it should have been left as a minigame in a larger game. However, if you are a fan of tower defense games and have a few extra dollars and space on your PSP memory stick, it probably wouldn’t be a mistake to pick up a copy of this game.

Creature Defense is available exclusively on the Playstation Portable for $7.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

In a move that surprised many, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars came exclusively to the Nintendo DS earlier this year. All these months later though, PSP owners finally have the chance to get their hands on one of handheld gaming’s most critically acclaimed titles. The PSP edition of the game features the same core title, with some new bells and whistles on the graphical side, as well as some new missions. There are other new additions, and not all of those work as well as we would like, but this is still a fantastic game and a necessary addition to any PSP owner’s library.

You play as Huang Lee, a member of the Triads whose father has just been killed in Hong Kong. He’s in Liberty City to deliver a sword–Yu Jian–to his Uncle Kenny, who is vying to become the new leader of the Triads. Huang is ambushed by unknown assailants along the way, and is thought to be dead. You are tasked with finding out where the sword has gone and who killed your father, and like in any Grand Theft Auto game, you will meet a cast of characters with missions for you to carry out on your way to reaching these goals.

While the story is good enough, it’s certainly one of the weaker parts of the title, especially when compared to other recent GTA games. “Weaker” is a relative term though, as almost everything else works incredibly, and there is so much to do outside of the story that you would be forgiven for ignoring your Uncle Kenny’s wishes for hours at a time. The characters you meet are also entertaining, so it’s not like this is a blight on the game or anything–there have just been better GTA yarns to spin in the past.

Despite what screens have led you to believe, this game is fully 3D, and seen from an aerial perspective. The camera rotates at 360 degrees, showing off the 3D models and interactive environment. The little things, like mail boxes, street signs and lamp posts all use realistic physics to react to your crashing and bumping into them. You will crash into a car, and that car will flip through the air just like it would on a home console–this is the moment where you realize just how powerful Chinatown Wars is graphically. It was impressive on the DS, but on the PSP, with a wider screen and higher resolution, the game’s graphics and physics stand out even more. Rockstar Leeds also went back and added some lighting effects, which are especially noticeable at night or when you’re driving around the city.

Chinatown Wars uses a semi cel-shaded style that works very well on the system, and cutscenes, though told through text and character portraits, have that trademark GTA art style down, and they work effectively. The PSP version cut down on the thick black lines that some of the DS characters had around them, and also presents the cutscenes in a much higher resolution that makes the images much, much cleaner. My one issue on the graphical side of things is that occasionally it feels like the game can’t load the road in front of you fast enough when you’re speeding–the entire road just sort of appears in front of you out of a mass of black nothingness. It doesn’t happen a lot, but it does happen, and it resulted in a few crashes into cop cars I couldn’t see until I was literally on top of them. This wasn’t an issue with the DS version, so this may just be a UMD issue.

Though characters and cars may appear small at first, you shouldn’t lost track of what’s going on, and you can tell what is happening on screen. Driving, for example, is easier than you think it would be given you are using a single analog stick; your car can auto-align to center itself, and you can use the shoulder buttons as brakes to make turns more effectively. You can also set your GPS routes to appear on the city roads themselves, which is useful while learning your way around the city–I know I’m always overwhelmed the first few times I boot up a GTA game and have to find my way around.

Rockstar promised this would be the most action-intensive GTA we have seen, and they were not lying. Everything happens very fast, with more arcade influence than some of the game’s console cousins; there are tons of explosions, bullets, police officers, gang members, fires–if it’s dangerous, there’s a lot of it around Liberty City. Ridiculous weapons like the flamethrower and chainsaws are back, and they are a blast to use, especially when you start to get cornered by gang members jumping out of speedy cars. Missions will see you accomplishing a variety of tasks, but there is an emphasis on taking down entire groups of gang members before they can get you, as well as high speed car chases where guns are fired and Molotov Cocktails are tossed out windows to slow your pursuers. If it’s action you are looking for, I’m happy to report that Chinatown Wars delivers in spades. Even better, you can now replay any mission you have completed by checking out the white board in your apartment; you are able to improve your times and scores on these missions from here, which can then be uploaded, along with the rest of your stats, to the Rockstar Social Club, where Rockstar will hold contests for prizes. Those who participate in the Rockstar Social Club will also have access to some exclusive missions down the line, a nice bonus and incentive to keep playing.

What really ups the action in Chinatown Wars though is the new police evasion system. Rather than simply outrun the cops when you cause trouble, you must now actively engage them to impede their chase. When you get a single star (or are back down to one star) you can utilize the old system of laying low, but you will find yourself in far more trouble than that given the level of action in this game. In those cases, you will need to “disable” the cop cars by ramming into them, causing them to crash into buildings, walls, other cars, or just smashing them around with your vehicle while at high speeds. This kind of turns things around, making you more of the hunter than you are used to. Remember, the goal is not to blow up or destroy the cars, so don’t think you will be off the hook by tossing hand grenades out the window at oncoming cruisers. Instead, you just need to get rid of those who are chasing you by taking out their vehicles–they can’t very well catch up with you if they are on foot and you are in a sports car.

MotorStorm and PSP fans rejoice! The PSP’s version of MotorStorm: Arctic Edge is wonderful. Spectacular. Amazing! There aren’t enough adjectives to describe my love for this racing game. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty damn close.

Visually, this game is very impressive. The crisp details are shockingly clear. I haven’t played a racing video game on the PSP with such sleek and impressive graphics. The courses designed for the game are beautifully done and crafted to be exciting and with a varied experience. The visuals are on par with those of PS3/PS2 games which is very impressive. The visual experience definitely helps keep players addicted to the game and leaves an impression. When you see your vehicle crash, it will leave a mark. Especially if you get it to explode (props!).

The game itself is easy to understand. You’re playing as a racer in the MotorStorm Festival which is being held in the Arctic. You race around using one of 8 types of vehicles and fight to win each race. This sounds like there isn’t alot of variety, but the fact is, there is so many modes to go through, the replay value is immense! The main modes you’ll play through are Festival Mode, Time Attack and Free-Play Mode. Time Attack and Free-Play mode are like most standard racing modes. Festival Mode is the basic career mode. You race against opponents, and earn Badges as you win. The more badges you win, the more features you unlock which allows for more control over customization of your vehicles. People who love customizing their rides will love this aspect of the game.

The best way to play this game is online. When you go head to head with other players, it feels amazing. Once you’ve played through Festival Mode, Online mode is where you test your skills. If you think you can hold your own, you may be right. Or you may be dead wrong and have your ass handed to you by your opponents. This brings us to difficulty. The difficulty levels are like a standard videogame. You start out on a relatively easy level and the A.I. lets you get the hang of what’s happening. Once you’ve one a few races, the difficulty ramps up a lot. By the time you’re finishing up Festival mode, you’ll be cursing how hard the A.I. is going against you. With over 100 levels and such a difficulty range, the game doesn’t get boring anytime soon.

The levels provided are very dynamic. There are numerous routes around the track and the terrain varies quite a bit at times. The ramps and turns on each level will effectively teach you how to race with each vehicle type at your disposal. Now the eight vehicles are: Bikes, Snowmobiles, ATVs, Buggys, Rally Cars, Snowpluggers, Big Rigs and Snowplows. Each type is especially designed to tackle a certain type of terrain. When you play, you need to be ready to execute moves perfectly with your vehicle or else you’ll end up losing badly.

Two other noteworthy aspects of the game are its soundtrack and Photo Mode. Photo Mode allows you to take pictures while you drive, so that you can save it and send it out to your friends. This is a very cool feature which allows for showboating when you take down your opponents! And there’s no better way to take down your opponents than by doing it to a kick ass soundtrack. The game’s soundtrack helps get the blood flowing as you drive frantically around the track. It can wear on you a bit after 30 or so races, but Arctic Edge anticipated this: The game allows you to import your own soundtrack into the game when you need it, so if it gets annoying just rotate it out and race to your own soundtrack.

Now while this game doesn’t break new ground, it does everything right. There are a few technical problems which are apparent during races, but they are minor and do not ruin the overall experience. When racing against more than six players, the game can lag a tiny bit but it’s not a big deal. This is counteracted by the smooth visuals of open track and the tiny effects which make the game all the more impressive. So if you see a cool visual effect, be sure to have the Photo Mode ready!

Blast Factor: This game is beautifully done. It’s entertaining, it has everything you could possibly want from a racing game – cool cars, great visuals, and dynamic tracks. The replay value is fantastic but the online mode is one of the best ways to truly test your racing prowess. The game deserves to be recognized as one of the best games available on PSP today. If you’re a racing aficionado or a casual gamer looking for a road trip game, this is one you should definitely consider.

Motorstorm: Arctic Edge is available exclusively on the PSP, and retails for $39.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for review purposes.

RockStar games teamed up with Timbaland on a very special project for prospective DJs and musicians called Beaterator. While it’s for the PSP and comes with a UMD, Beaterator is not a game. Many may recall that RockStar had initially hosted a Music Mixing application on their website a while back. They were developing it into a potential PSP application when Timbaland jumped aboard and gave them a slew of beats and loops to work with. The celebrity endorsement gives the mixer serious backing, but my real question starting the game was whether or not it is any good.

Right off the bat you’re treated to a tutorial of how to use Beaterator properly. An animated Timbaland gives you a play by play on how to make music and the options available: Live Play or Studio. Live Play is an animated mixing session where you use 8 different looping tools to play during your songs. The loops and beats initially available are the preprogrammed settings on the game, but when you get better you can make your own loops and beats to replace them. You can record the songs you’re making and gradually make changes so that the song transitions itself naturally to the next one. Once you finish your song you can edit it bit by bit to tweek any problems you encounter. Live play is for easy on the freestyle song making.

The in depth song making comes with the Studio option. In the Studio option, you are presented with hundreds of loops and beats to choose from and must sample them one by one to see if it’s a loop you want to use. The loops themselves range from “inspired” to “half-assed” and can annoy someone who is casually exploring the game. You can create songs from these beats or upload your own sounds and music from your computer in order to expand the type of songs you can create. The Studio is definitely for a musician with a basic knowledge of Synthesizers and willing to put a lot of time into carefully molding songs.

The app itself is a very good tool which musicians will love. But there are numerous problems which will keep it from being embraced by the general public. While Live Play is easy and quick to use, Studio is complex, and not as well explained in the tutorial. Using the Song Crafter part of the application is difficult, since you need to change numerous things in order to get a song just right, and the PSP’s controls can be a very big hindrance. The beats and loops are for the most part great, but you can tell that too much was put into the application. Sampling beats can take a while to load, even for clips which are a few seconds long. This can be problematic to say the least, and the lag indicates just how much data is on the UMD.

Blast Factor: This is a music mixer which will take a lot of people time to fully access. The studio mode is very comprehensive but can be a little bit of a turn off because of how complex it seems. The beats and loops available are very impressive for the most part, and can be expanded upon with sounds from your computer. The tutorial doesn’t go in depth, so the mixer is not as simple to use as the casual user would like. The undertaking was ambition, and the end result is effective but not terribly efficient. It feels as if a touch screen based media player/system would be better suited for the creation of music, so I’ll probably end up checking out Beaterator on the iTouch. For the price it’s being sold at though, it’s a very affordable solution for artists who can’t afford to buy the PC software.

Beaterator is available for $39.99 on the Playstation Store and all major retailers. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for review purposes.

It’s been a long time coming, but finally Sony’s driving opus, Gran Turismo, fits in your hands. While it’s certainly appropriate to level complaints at the PS3 version for not pushing the series forward to compete with newer semi-simulations like Grid and Need for Speed Shift, fans of GT will discover a comfortably familiar racing groove on the PSP with impressive specs and beautiful graphics. Launching with the PSPGo (though fully compatible with the regular PSP), this downloadable racer shows off the power of the under-rated system remarkably well–though not without some caveats.

Fans of the console versions of Gran Turismo will love how you can just jump right into the action here. First and foremost, the controls, the physics, and the feel of the handling are done amazingly right. Even on the PSP, Gran Turismo still feels like a racing simulator. The sensation of speed mixed with great graphics further assures a true GT experience.

Beyond that, there are the cars and tracks. 35 tracks full of variety and challenge around the world make sure that you’ll have plenty of road to conquer. And you’ll need to learn them well to make enough money to buy even a fraction of the 800+ cars in the game. Like all Gran Turismo titles, every car is a real, licensed vehicle, ranging from familiar Toyotas and Mazdas, amazing and challenging supercars, and a huge variety of gorgeous exotic dream machines. The dealerships in the game offer a limited amount at a time, rotating models and styles at random, so there’s almost always something new to offer.

All the cars and tracks are modeled with remarkable accuracy as well, and GT is certainly one of the best looking racers (if not the best) on the PSP. Still, there’s regular, if slight texture tearing on the tracks, but the framerate is rock solid and there’s little else to complain about. The audio is pretty good as well. Certainly not as powerful as the console versions, the car engines and race sounds are still modeled with an ear for detail and realism.

If there’s a real problem with the portable GT, it’s in the lack of a true career mode. You can instead jump right into a single race with whatever cars and tracks you have access to at any time. Choose the number of laps, the car, the track and go. The only options are to race against a measly three other cars, or race yourself in a time trial or drift event. The latter is an interesting feature for diehard racers, as drifting in GT requires a good deal more skill than in more arcade-styled racers.

The closest thing the game has to a career mode is the challenge mode, which starts as a training ground for drivers. In this mode, you complete an wide array of driving tasks to build your track skills. There’s little actual bonus rewards for the challenges though, and while these events add some needed variety to the racing, a full-on career mode is still sorely lacking.

The other big problem with the game, especially as a Triple-A launch title for the PSPGo is the lack of online multiplayer. For a game meant to show off an entirely internet-centric gaming system, only having local wireless play is awfully anticlimactic. The multiplayer action is certainly rock solid, but this would have been a golden opportunity to evolve GT into an online community with leaderboards and tournaments much like the competition on the big consoles. On the upside however, you’ll actually be able to boost your garage in the upcoming PS3 version with the cars you unlock now.

Blast Factor: Gran Turismo has made an overall successful leap to the portable realm. The driving and variety of cars is still amazing, the graphics are excellent, and for lovers of serious racing, GT is still king. It’s a great racing game in need of evolution, but those are mostly complaints that are easier to level on the PS3 version. As far as portable racers go, GT is still the king.

Gran Turismo is available exclusively on the PSP and PSP Go, and retails for $39.99

Dissidia is the culmination of the first ten Final Fantasy main series games. Rather than in a straight up RPG, like the Tales series has done with its universe-blending titles, Square Enix united its main characters and villains from the Final Fantasy series in one RPG/fighting game. Cosmos, goddess of harmony, and Chaos, god of discord, are waging a war for control of the universe. The balance tips in Chaos’s favor when he summons villains from throughout the Final Fantasy universes to aid him in his quest to defeat Cosmos. In retaliation, Cosmos summons the heroes to defend her and help her vanquish Chaos. As many heroes are killed, the warriors are brought to the brink and Chaos his final assault. ‚ It’s up to the heroes to band together and defeat Chaos.

Story mode focuses on the ten heroes fighting for Cosmos. Each player has their own unique storyline which plays out as you progress through the game. Each character’s arc is a piece of the larger story, so the game requires you to play through the battles with each character. It can get a bit tedious, but the antagonist section “Shadow Impulse” definitely makes the Story mode worth playing. These chapters let the story of the war between Chaos and Cosmos unfold naturally, without cramming too much into a few cut scenes. ‚ Story mode not your thing? That’s fine. If you’re just looking for a quick fight, the Arcade and Quick Battle modes allow for quick one on one battles with the computer. Communications mode allows you to fight friends using the PSP’s Ad Hoc wireless system. Additional levels can be unlocked for an expanded game play experience.

The fighting system of the game is fantastically designed. The 3D arena allows fighters to go head to head while using the arena itself to enhance the experience. During the fights, timing is everything. You need to be able to block and evade the attacks while launching counter attacks as quickly as possible to get the upper hand. During the battle, you rely on your HP and Bravery Points. Using Bravery attacks allows you to steal your opponent’s Bravery and then use a Limit Break to launch an attack that will decimate your opponent using the accumulated Bravery Points. This brings a level of balance to the fight which is reminiscent of the fighting systems of the original games. The coolest aspect? When you fight, you can glide across walls and fly across the arena in order clash against your opponent with very cool special effects.

Which brings us to graphics. Graphics wise, Dissidia is on par with Crisis Core and in some ways exceeds it. The special attacks are presented in a fantastically colorful and creative manner. When your character slides across mako energy streams, the graphics sleekly show the character glide through the air as if it was natural. Sometimes when executing special moves, the graphics can lag a little, but this isn’t a major detractor from the game. When the graphics are coupled with the RPG element, you are given a truly fantastic experience.

One of the best aspects of the game is customization options. Armor, weapons and accessories help customize the characters and boost your fighting stats. One of the highlights for me was being able to unlock Squall’s Cadet uniform and Cloud’s Advent Children costume. The customization is optimized by Dissidia’s character play styles. Each character has their own fighting style which makes playing each fighter a unique experience. Each fighter is forced to face off against their nemesis in a final epic showdown which will help guide their story arc. While most fans will recognize that the pairings make sense, some will obviously point out the Jecht wasn’t Tidus’ main villain (but then again Tidus was about as real as the spoon in the Matrix, so we can disregard that small issue).

As a Final Fantasy fanboy, this game delivers on all fronts. As a fighting game fanatic, this game holds up to some of my toughest criticisms. The game is an experience, with a lot of unlockable content and beautiful graphics. The story comes together in a good way that can satisfy the diehard fans but could leaves something more to be desired. There is a secondary card battle system which players may want to explore for additional fun, but multiplayer is definitely where the game shines. Points accumulated throughout the game (fighting and card game) allow you to unlock the numerous bonus features (including two hidden characters that fans will be happy to unlock). When you go head to head with your friends, it’s a fun way to see who is better at coordinating themselves within the arena. My advice is to train on the highest difficulty level in order to train your reflexes during the harsh battles. Playing on difficult is incredibly brutal, but rewarding when you fight on normal and can easily block and counter your opponent’s moves.

While this game is fantastic, there are some points where it disappoints. Like most Japanese to English games, sometimes it is very apparent where the lip moves are not in sync with the voice track. This is no big deal, but it’s a little issue that can take away from the experience. While the roster is strong, the new story doesn’t give the characters the depth their original games did. In this respect, new comers may not appreciate the full scope of the characters and think that they are not as fully developed. The scheduling system for the game could be a bit of a turn off from casual players, but it isn’t a major feature if you’re just looking to fight.

Blast Factor: This game helps unite all the Final Fantasy games in one spectacular game.‚  The pinnacle is definitely the head to head fighting between each game’s hero and villain. Those battles alone are the realization of the final battles from each and every Final Fantasy game and beautifully remind diehards why they fell in love with the games in the first place (and continuously email Square Enix to remake certain chapters for the new consoles – *cough* Final Fantasy VII *cough*). This is a fantastic game and definitely one PSP owners should have. For a compelling story and an excellent fighting experience, check out Final Fantasy Dissidia. You’ll spend hours exploring this game fully and won’t want it to end. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go play some more.

Fate/Unlimited Codes is a fighting game which was initially released for arcades and the PS2. Capcom has developed a PSP version for fans of the original game and anime. Based on the visual novel Fate/stay night, Fate/Unlimited Codes collects these characters (divided into Masters and Servants) and has them fight each other in what is known as a Grail War. The winner gets to fulfill their hearts desire thanks to the Holy Grail. The game’s visuals match those of most anime and are consistent throughout the game.

In the vein of fighters such as Tekken, Fate/Unlimited Codes is a basic fighting game where you go head to head with other characters while trying to execute combo moves to beat the other player. The game starts with 14 characters, with all the main Fate/Stay characters from the anime present along with some original characters. You can also unlock three other characters as you fight through the Arcade mode. There are three initial fighting modes as well as an unlockable Survival Mode which adds to the amount of fun you can have. When you begin the Arcade Mode, the character you selected follows their own storyline in order to obtain what they want when they win the Grail War. This gives each of the characters a certain amount of depth and also rewards repeat game play since each character’s story unfolds as you fight through the Arcade mode.

When you begin the Arcade Mode, you start with a small cinematic introduction where the two fighters tough talk each other (a la most anime). The arena stages are instantly striking and visually impressive, but you’re only given as much room as in a regular fighting game. The soundtrack creates a tense mood which helps to get players into the fighting spirit. As fights progress, players can utilize special combo moves which can also trigger cinematic sequences which are seamlessly integrated into the fight. With each battle, more and more information and bonuses are unlocked. Once the Arcade mode is completed, you can also undergo numerous missions to unlock various other things. Mission Mode is where players are forced to show their fighting abilities.

Now, while these positive aspects exist in the game, the game is rather two dimensional. Fights can easily be won by pressing various buttons, even on the highest difficulty level. The A.I. controlling the opposing fighter is not very impressive and can’t really put up an entertaining fight. This reduces the experience of the Arcade mode to a series of button mashing sessions and robs players of the ability to truly display any level of skill against their opponent. Fighting, the main focus of the game, is where the game is lacking. The combos are easy to use but barely essential and the character graphics are lacking, especially considering the level of graphics available which have been utilized among other fighting games.

Another large detractor from the game is the fact that it is mainly in Japanese. While most of the pre-fight sequences are subbed in English for background, the cinematic preludes to the fights are not. It can be a little distracting to have to read while the characters speak in Japanese, and it can get downright annoying when coupled with the lousy fight put up by the A.I.

However, the game has an Ad Hoc multiplayer which completely removes the computer’s limited A.I. In the multiplayer, you and a friend can go head to head against one another in order to showcase your skills and see who is the better fighter. The gameplay on the Ad Hoc network gives the game a much needed boost in fun and is one of the highlights of the game.

Blast Factor: All in all, this game is acceptable. The lame‚  A.I., subpar graphics, lack of English voicework and limitations of the arena definitely bring down what could be an awesome fighting experience. Multiplayer is where the game shines, and the survival mode presents more of a challenge than the Arcade mode can at “Hard.” If you’re a fan of the visual novel or anime fighting games in general, then this game was made for you. If you’re just looking for a fighting game for long road trips, this game is entertaining enough with its plot to keep you interested.

Fate/unlimited codes is available on the Playstation Network for download at the cost of $29.99

Square-Enix has become a repackaging machine of late, as the “old generation” (like in their 20s and early 30s) that grew up on the origins of the modern console age yearn to play the classics once again.‚  We’ve seen various re-makings and re-packagings of Final Fantasy and well as other classics (hello Chrono Trigger) re-branded on the handheld market to various levels of success.

With one of the more hyped (at least for RPG lovers) games of 2009 being the new Star Ocean game, the good folks at Squeenix have given the faithful a chance to play the first two versions once again on the PSP.‚ ‚  While Star Ocean: The Last Hope will be an Xbox 360 exclusive, these remakes have been strangely given to the underutilized PSP platform.‚  Bad marketing, fanboy service or something in-between?‚  Who cares?‚  These are classics that deserve another play.

The re-release of Star Ocean: First Departure was of more interest originally, as it was originally only available for Nintendo’s Super Famicom, (Japanese Super Nintendo) and never got a stateside release.‚  Unfortunately, while the game was new to most, it did not especially age well.‚  For most older, hardcore RPG players, Star Ocean: Second Evolution on the PS1 was the first exposure to the Star Ocean universe, but finding a copy these days involved either a fantastic old collection, or an ebay account and a hefty amount of disposable income to acquire the rarity. ‚ ‚ Now it’s back, with some improvements (although some are questionable), portable, and affordable.

So: Second Departure follows your basic RPG clichƒ©s on a story level.‚  Boy suddenly finds himself in strange new world, boy meets girl, boy is seen of some sort of prophetic hero, and adventures and childish romance ensue.‚  This is the way things work in old-school games, but luckily when playing the game, you’re looking at one of the road maps for this base storyline, and it’s very well done and consistently compelling.‚  In addition, the game provides a unique twist that gives the game nearly unparalleled replayability, as you can begin the game as either the male or female protagonist, which significant differences in storyline, experience and even additional party members in each play-through. ‚ ‚ Adding even more game play, most characters have their own mini side stories which provide additional insight to their personal story, and it would be nearly impossible to see everything the first time though the game, while the second time can be a completely unique experience.

One slight complaint about the setting, however.‚  In Star Ocean: Till The End of Time (or Star Ocean 3, depending on how you look at it) on the Playstation 2, one got a full realized sci-fi world with you know … space, and gleaming spaceships and the kind of things one expects from the genre.‚  In these early games, developer Tri-Ace never fully committed to the genre, so while you are told it is space, and you are on another planet, it’s still mostly swords, magic, and castles and towns with shops that sell weapons, armor and potions, giving the game more of a re-skinned feel than a futuristic one.

It is within the story where Square-Enix made two significant upgrades (although one is debatable) to the game.‚  The first is in the voice-over work.‚  The initial Playstation release had some of the most laughably bad voice over work in RPG history.‚  We’re talking laughably bad, but that was in some ways part of its charm.‚  With a new script comes new voice-over work, and it falls flat of the mark.‚  For the most part, it just sounds like actors reading lines without having any context in the where the story is at the moment, so they often seem a little too excited or sad for the situation and it just doesn’t ever really gel, while also being a bit too wordy at times when the player has a full understanding of what is going on and where to go to next, but the game insists and adding about five more minutes of chatty dialogue to explain it again.‚  That is balanced by the frequent (but never unwelcome) anime-style cut scenes, which are absolutely glorious on both a sound and visual level and by far the best single addition to this new version; almost worth the price of admission themselves.

In recent years, the‚ Need For Speed series has been going through what you could call an identity crisis. The last few titles have been a mix of track style and open world gameplay, incredibly cheesy cut scenes and action sequences that would even make the‚ Die Hard movies blush.‚ Need for Speed Undercover plays as if someone took all of these ingredients and smashed them together into one game. What results is a fun and entertaining title that get’s it fair share right, but strangely manages to fail–miserably even– at the fundamentals.

Undercover offers players the freedom to cruise around the game’s world–the fictional city of Palm Harbor freely. In theory, the sandbox style gameplay should be a welcome change from the tried and true, point A to point B track race formula, but the developers seem to have missed the point entirely.

Other than driving from mission to mission, there doesn’t seem to be much of incentive to explore the city. There are no hidden missions, no way to hunt down opponents–everything happens in a linear fashion in‚ Undercover. A number of the missions almost scrap the open gameplay by sectioning off an area of the map you’re allowed to go. The true allure of these open world games is to explore, and it seems like‚ Undercover is more interested in a leisurely drive. Palm harbor is an immersive setting, it’s just a shame that the developers at Blackbox didn’t go the extra mile and take advantage of the setting — especially when Burnout Paradise did just that in amazing fashion earlier this year.

That’s not to say that Palm Harbor is void of all life. Yes, the cops are back in‚ Undercover — and yes they’re pissed. While the AI starts off easy going and fun, that quickly changes, and it becomes aggressive and frustrating. In fact, about halfway through, the AI becomes so obnoxiously aggressive that players, especially those new to the series may be tempted to put down the controller.

It’s not like the game is hard either. Apart from the enemy AI, it’s a safe bet to assume that this‚ Need For Speedtitle was aimed at the casual market. It’s not unusual to beat a slew of high performance cars, with a much lower rated car. It’s understandable that with the success of movies like the‚ Fast and The Furious and the incredibly hot street racing scene, the developers would want to open their game up to a wider audience, but the uneven difficulty levels distract from the overall experience.

It would be nice to say that using the game’s new RPG like leveling system helps deal with the horrid AI and uneven gameplay, but in reality, it manages to do the exact opposite.‚  This new system, which borrows heavily from games like‚ World of Warcraft, rewards players for completing missions and races with stat points which can in turn be used to better your driving skills. These stats are also used almost as a rep system; the higher your stats, the more cars and missions are available to you.

While upgrading your “driver level” seems like a logical way to get on an even field with your opponents, the game’s AI seems to ramp as your stats do the same. This tactic of games adapting to the level of players has been done successfully in games like‚ Zelda: The WindWaker,‚ Resident Evil 4 and even this year’s Madden;‚ Undercover’s system comes off as unfair and frustrating.

The Star Ocean series began in 1996 with a Super Famicon release in Japan. Americans got to experience the sequel, Star Ocean: The Second Story, on PlayStation in 1999, but really this has been a back seat RPG series for Americans on focused on the other RPG series from Square Enix.

With a title now on the PlayStation Portable in Star Ocean: First Departure, we get to see a alternative battle-based adventure with some very good animation, voice acting, and cutscenes.

The game takes you to the planet Roak, where a group of friends — Roddick Farrence, Millie Chliette, and Dorne Murtough –are in the small town of Kratus. Bandits descend on the town, and you have to fight them off. Pretty simple stuff so far, but after the first few hours of gameplay, you get to board a space ship. The fun really starts there.

This is a very basic RPG with a few twists. As your character levels up, you get to spend skill points as you please to raise your strengths. Instead of getting lost in a half-hour battle every few minutes, the fights take place in real time and go by really quickly.

Old school Golden Sun and Shining Force fans will defintiely appreciate the look and feel of First Departure. With the popularity of the DS and the PSP, we get to relive the old school-looking RPG games, but don’t underestimate how good the graphics and sound are on this game.

After all, it is a Square RPG.

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word “addicted” as “to devote or surrender (oneself) to something habitually or obsessively.”

Here is a word of warning: you will become addicted to Atari’s N+.

You control a ninja, N, who travels through increasingly more difficult levels to gain as much gold as he can before he reaches the next level all the while managing to not be killed by enemies or heights in Atari’s newest platformer puzzle game.

Based on the Xbox arcade game (“N+”) which was based on the classic flash game (“N”), Atari has truly created something special and unique out of something that was similarly as great before.

With over 300 different levels, beating N+ sounds like it should be a daunting task, but watching your stick figure body splat across the screen of your Nintendo DS or PSP is surprisingly more gratifying than frustrating.

The control over your ninja was the most enticing part of the game because, for a stick figure, the little guy is agile. While you start out doing the simple run and jump to traverse around each level, soon it becomes apparent that those techniques won’t be enough. That’s when you start discovering the wall jumps, slope glides, climbing up walls, and most importantly, just how far you have to fall to not become multiple pieces of ninja.

Oh, and you have the option of adding blood to the gore that shoots out everywhere after you die. That is way more fun than it should be.

N+’s biggest attribute is that, for once, it is a game that doesn’t make you chuck your handheld system out the window when you die. Dying adds more to coming up with strategies than irritation, because as the levels get harder, the strategies for getting as much gold as possible before obtaining the next level.

Newer, harder levels are unlocked as you progress through the game. In addition, different colors for your ninja can be obtained the more levels that are unlocked.

N+’s level creator allows hours more fun, and with the DS’s and PSP’s wireless capabilities, players can compete against their friends to see who is the most skilled ninja.

Atari has created a gem of a game: N+ is flawless in its simplicity, and is a game all gamers will gain enjoyment from.

N+ was released Tuesday.

Sony put out a pretty good product in MLB 08 The Show, but that’s the problem.

Great visuals, good player models and “little thing” movements like head nods and celebrations. Pitching is superb, with the catcher calling out which pitch he wants and where he wants it. Fielding feels natural. There’s a deep career mode that goes form spring training, to the minors, to hopefully a big career in the pros.

But every video game baseball title has built on that since the 90s. They’ve all captured faces, swings, and pitch styles. They’ve all done pitching well (though The Show does stick out in this realm).

I want more than this.

MLB 08 The Show is really enjoyable, addictive, realistic and detailed, but I’ll sum up my complaints like this:

There’s a deep minor league system, where your player starts out at the bottom of the barrel and has to work his way up by training in drills and performing well in games. But the game doesn’t include any actual minor league stadiums, just generics. You also can’t “do” anything to make your player better. The “drills” and “practice sessions” are really just big point screens where you spend reward points that you earn based on game performance. There’s no skill. Play a game, spend points. Play a game, spend points.

I want to start out as a young draft pick, maybe go through the Cape Cod league, throw some bullpen sessions with a veteran coach in Rookie League. Warm up in the bullpen during a Single-A game. Throw warm-up pitches at the start of the inning and perform better or worse based on my warm-ups. You can’t do any of that in this game.

There’s also no coaching in the game. Your only interactions with the unseen team manager come from emails he sends you or virtual conversations you have where you can complain about playing time or ask to be traded – but you never actually “do” any of this. It’s all simulated and displayed as text.

I know what it means to be asking for so much more – but at least the AAA stadiums would be a nice touch. And put the coaches in the game for Christ’s sake. Playing the career mode is amazingly repetitive as it stands. I don’t feel like I’m really part of the experience, just along for the ride.

Exhibition mode is a good bet – there’s a great arcade feel to the gameplay. Batting can be a bitch though. Just learn how to time it correctly.

Overall, MLB 08 is a visually appealing high-def title with just enough holes to keep consumers buying it year after year. 

Patapon takes a real-time strategy game, but instead of using a menu to select the actions of your characters, you tell them what to do by beating out a drum pattern.

There are different patterns to tell your “Patapons” to do different actions. Square Square Square Circle is the command to move forward, whereas Circle Circle Square Circle is the command to attack.

It sounds much easier than it is. There is a background beat going on in the game, and you need to keep the pace. You must hit the drums to that beat, and then allow the Patapon’s to repeat the command to you as they do the action. If you just hit lots of buttons than it’s not recognized as a command. Hitting them to fast or two slow so they are off beat will make your Patapon stumble, and you have to start over.

If you do 10 commands right in a row you go into Fever mode. In fever mode your Patapon all get stronger. This unlocks special bonuses called “miracles.” You need to stay in fever mode sometimes or else your Patapon will die when a miracle ends.

Patapon takes the story of a race of creatures that are in a small isolated area surrounded by enemies and almost surely going to die soon.

There is a legend of a great deity that once led them to power and “IT” at Earthend. You become the deity leading the Patapons through your drumming on different keys on your PSP.

The game is very precise on the beats and it’s very easy to miss a command, and lose the combo by just missing the beat by a little amount. Issuing the wrong command can sometimes be deadly.

Luckily most of the time if your Patapon die then they drop a helmet that you can pick up and then restore them to life when you get back to town.

Some enemies will eat your Patapons, helmet and all. If you fail to grab it in time, the Patapon is gone forever. With as few Pataon as you have in the game you don’t want to lose any of them. You can create more Patapon by hunting for meat and special items, and money known as K-Ching. All three of these are needed to create a new Patapon.

When you create a Patapon the types of material used will influence the abilities of the Patapon. If you use better materials the Patapon will be stronger, or faster, or have a higher defense. You’ll need to collect all kinds of materials though to create the different types of Patapon you want. There is also a certain amount of strategy to creating your army. When you go into battle you can only use three types, and certain types are better for different things. Some are strong for hunting, but weak in a battle, others are strong at battle, but weak at hunting.

Hunting can be annoying, as you need meat and K-Ching to create new Patapons. The hunting levels are pretty much the same, you walk across the screen trying to kill as many birds or boars as you can before they run away. This can get monotonous, as you’ll need a lot of K-Ching for creating some Patapon, and you need the meat to create them. So every so often you just have to go on a bunch of hunting missions to then go back to the regular game.

The graphics in the game are fairly simple, but they fit the style and make it amusing.

The Patapon are basically huge eye’s with legs and arms. The eye is also important because it will change as a status symbol. The eyes look towards the drumming beat as you drum, and they will turn angry when they are within attacking range of an enemy. The music in the game is a lot of fun, but definitely detracts from the portable nature of the game. You need to play with the beat meaning that outside influences can mess you up, and even kill you. If something distracts you, or you can’t hear the music for a second you will likely lose your concentration and the beat of the game. Also if something moves you, or bumps you or such you might hit too early or too late. This game seems to be better for sitting at home, or with headphones waiting somewhere. I wouldn’t recommend for playing while your walking around, or even on bus or train could be hard.

Overall, the game is a lot of fun, and for the cost of the game well worth it.

Quick hits:

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
Developer: Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform: PSP
Genre: Strategy
Players: Single player
Launch Date: February 26, 2008

Playability: 4 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Sound: 5 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 4 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Were you a fan of M. C. Escher’s work? Ever wondered what it would be like to be in a world where the physics of Escher’s worlds actually work?

Echo Chrome looks at a world like ours but as if what we see from the 2D view affects the three dimensional world. Objects fall straight down or jump straight up the screen regardless of what direction that is in the actual world. If you can’t see a hole, it doesn’t exist. If two objects look like they’re connected, they are.

The player can’t directly control the character, only pause their movement. The only control in the game is to change the view of the world, moving so that two platforms appear connected to allow the character to walk from one to the other. If you move a hole behind another object the character will walk over the hole as if it doesn’t exist. If your character walks off a hole, it will fall straight down, just like an Escher painting. Sometimes the character will actually fall upwards if you can make a higher up level object appear below it.

The game has very simple graphics, just simple blocks rectangles in different sizes.  There is also the starting point for the character, and up to five waypoints — known as “Echos” — to follow to the finish. The object is to finish through all the waypoints in the shortest time possible.

There are also holes and jump pads. These are just circles on the top of rectangles. If the circle is black it’s a hole. If it’s white, it’s a jump pad. The game is very simple in it’s rules but some of the levels get very complex. Once you finish the standard levels included in the game, you can start playing the player added levels.

The game includes an editor. Since the physics of the game and the graphics are very simple, it’s easy to add your own levels. Simply move blocks around to make your platforms, and then add objects like Echos, jump pads and holes. Once your level is complete, the game asks you to play through it to show that ti’s completable. Then you save it and share it. The game’s developers pick the best user content and promote it periodically.

I highly recommend the game. It’s easy to learn but difficult to master. It’s subtle, casual and addictive. Maybe brush up on your geometry?

Quick hits:

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
Developer: JapanStudio
Platform: PlayStation 3
Genre: Puzzle
Players: Single player
Launch Date: May 1, 2008

Playability: 5 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Sound: 3 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 3 out of 5 stars
Overall: 5 out of 5 stars Editor’s choice

The latest trend going through the game industry sees developers playing the nostalgia card. Rather than merely cashing in on the latest Hollywood blockbusters, gamers have seen their favorite movies from year’s past given the digital treatment.

The possibilities seem endless — swim the ocean in search of unaware swimmers in Jaws, carry out mob rule as the newest member of The Corleone Family in The Godfather Game, feed ham to Tina in Napoleon Dynamite.

Wait — What?

Yes, there is a Napoleon Dynamite game and yes, it’s weird. The game supposedly takes place after the events of the movie, but is essentially a rehash of the source material with a bit of extra thrown in to expand gameplay. You play Napoleon as he wanders through town interacting with characters from the movie through a series of minigames that range from fun and quirky to head-scathingly frustrating and everything in between.

You’ve already played Napoleon Dynamite: The Game even if you’ve never even touched the cartridge. Most of the mini-games (especially those at the beginning of the game) are mere rehashes of other games. Most of them can also be found on lesser platforms like cell-phones and online flash properties.

Many of the games feel like they aren’t very well planned out — especially those which require you to control multiple characters at the same time, essentially leaving your fate in the game’s seemingly absent artificial intelligence. The AI isn’t good — take for example the mini-game "Uncle Rico’s Football Toss." Your only goal, as the name suggests, is to throw the football further than your Uncle Rico. On a few of my attempts, the ball landed nearly 400 yards away — pretty decent right? Yeah, until the computer controlled Uncle Rico managed to bounce the ball off of every bundle of firecrackers and trampoline (which send the ball even farther). Lame.

That’s not to say that there’s nothing fun here. In fact, some of the mini-games are quite addictive and fun. Try not to crack a smile as you control Napoleon Dynamite as he rides a unicorn through space. After each game, you are scored and given a rating, like most games part of the fun is trying to beat the records your — or anyone else on the system has set.

The developers must be commended on their bold and refreshing visual style choice. Abandoning the realism from the movie, the folks over at 7 Studios chose to take more of a scrapbook style, making the characters look like cutouts with big heads tacked onto the backgrounds complete with pushpins. This novel style evokes the same style seen in the posters and oddly enough, it better conveys the quirkiness in the film.

Napoleon Dynamite isn’t meant to be a game-of-the-year candidate. It’s merely meant to be a fun and quirky distraction, which it succeeds at. As a licensed game, Napoleon Dynamite is a cut above the rest, but as a game itself, it’s nothing special.

Quick hits:

Publisher: Crave Entertainment
Developer: 7 Studios Entertainment
Platform: DS/PSP
Genre: Mini-game collection
Players: 1 (DS) 1-2 (PSP)
Launch Date: October 23, 2007

Playability: 3 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 2 out of 5 stars
Sound: 1 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 3 out of 5 stars
Overall: 2 out of 5 stars

The story of Jeanne D’Arc, based loosely on Joan of Arc, starts with the background information that five magical armlets were created in the past to defeat a horde of demons. In the Hundred Year War between France and England, one of the original five enabled a demon to possess the king of England to help the monarch conquer the world. One of the other armlets attaches itself to Jeanne and tells her to defeat the English, to take up a sword against them. Unfortunately, Jeanne is too late to stop the English from destroying her home village, and with the help of two of her childhood friends she sets out on a journey to drive the English out and save France.

The armlet has some powers to transform the wearer into a knight with extra powers. In the case of Jeanne it allows her to move again if she kills an enemy. If she can kill the enemies in one strike, she can cross the board and kill all the enemies in one round.

The game plays like the old shining force games, with animated storylines and characters that move and talk. Text bubbles also pop up from time to time in the battles when significant events happen, such as killing a certain enemy. The battles are shown on grids overlaying different lands, with different sections of the grid affecting the battle. High land, for instance, gives archers more range. Roads allow the characters to move faster. And some areas aren’t crossable. Each character in the game can move a certain amount of spaces in a turn, and only a set number of turns are allowed to complete the battle. This limits how long a player can take to finish the fight.

Before playing, each player can check the movement of every character on the board to develop a strategy of where to place his or her piece. All characters start at full health at the beginning of a battle, even if they died in a previous battle. This means gamers can sacrifice a player to finish the battle. The game recommends saving often. Once the battle has begun, the only saving possible is quick save, which is deleted after loading. This is so it isn’t used as a way to reset half way though the battle if a particular fight ends badly.)

During attacks, players are told the expected damage to opponents, and the odds of success, as well as the expected damage from the opponent and odds for the counterattack.

The odds of hitting the opponent are affected by each character’s stats, the landscape, and other characters near by. Players on higher ground have an advantage, and are likely to do more damage and take less. If there are other characters near one of them when defending, the other characters will help defend, and the odds of connecting go down.

On top of normal fighting, the battles include magic and special abilities. Each character can have special abilities added, which use magic that is regenerated as the turns pass, starting at zero. The items can be used once to heal, cause damage to an enemy, or change the stats on a character.

While the storyline is a bit lacking, Jeanne D’Arc will be a hit with any fan of adventure games.

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.
Developer: Level-5 Inc.
Platform: PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) handheld entertainment system
Genre: Strategy Role-Playing Game (RPG)
Players: Single-player
Launch Date: August 2007
Rating: T – Teen

Tomb Raider is one of those titles that spawned its own universe in the gaming world over the past decade. It’s sold over 28 million games, two feature films, merchandise and over $1.5 billion in gross revenue from all that.

It has a legacy up there with Doom and Warcraft, and it’s where Duke Nukem could have been if its corporate developers had any brains. Tomb Raider has also come to epitomize Playstation games–Gran Turismo, Metal Gear Solid, Tomb Raider.

This summer, we have a new game in the series, Tomb Raider Anniversary, and we’re finally seeing a popular gaming franchise stick to its roots. “Anniversary” is an epic adventure game that’s engaging and fun to play.

The game retraces Lara Croft’s original steps from the original 1996 release as she searches for the Scion of Atlantis and battles Jacqueline Natlas and company. You’ll traverse tombs from Egypt to Greece battling your way through supernatural creatures. The double pistol action is back as Lara leaps around enemies and pumps lead into them in a classic hail of never ending bullets.

The game works off an improved version of the Tomb Raider Legend engine and is out there now for PS2, PSP and PC-DVD. It feels like the original, and that’s important.

I’m stuck in a depressing gaming mood lately, playing game after game and coming up disappointed more often that I’d like. Game makers have forgotten their roots and tried to do too much with visuals and pointless “do it because we can” technologies. Tomb Raider Anniversary impresses me where other games fail. See something, shoot something, jump around and solve a puzzle or two. Make it two guns instead of one; make it just a little scary; make it with tits and ass that they had to get Angelina Jolie to portray. God damn that’s a game.

Sudoku for the PSP, Play Sudoku anywhere.

With over one million different Sudoku puzzles, this game will keep anyone busy for a while. The game has skill levels from novice to expert. Giving all a challenge without making it to hard to be impossible for some. Carol gives lots of information about Sudoku, from it’s history to how to beat them better.

The game includes tutorials led by Carol Vorderman for all levels. The tutorials are video’s of Vorderman, where she shows tips and tricks to beat Sudoku games. These tutorials spread out over skill levels, so that anyone whether a beginner or a master can still learn something from it. She has a board behind her that she can point to, showing where the moves are, and why they are there. Why one piece can only be a certain number or a different number.

The Game Also includes multi player options. This allows the player to play head to head against another PSP, or hot seat on the same psp. The game plays as a timed match to see who can beat the puzzle faster. In the hot seat version, the game plays in sections of a predetermined length. Each person tries to place as many numbers as possible before the time runs out. The first person to finish the puzzle wins. The Head to Head game is for shows the same puzzle to both people and the person to complete it first wins. The Quick fire game is similar to the Hot Seat game except instead of competing to complete the puzzle, it’s until half of the puzzle is solved.

The Single Player game is split between Classic, Arcade, and Competition. The classic is just a random game of a given skill level. Where it’s just playing until it’s complete with a timer to keep track of how long it takes. If the player has any trouble Carol can give you advice and hints on how to play.

The Arcade games are timed games where time is added or subtracted based on rules. These games encourage speed and accuracy. The Beat the clock is a simple competition to finish the game in a set amount of time. The Extra Time game starts with a little time, and then you get more time as the game is solved. The object is to complete the puzzle without running out of time.

The Perfection and three strikes are both games based on not making any mistakes. Perfection loses times for each mistake making the game harder to complete. The three strikes version only allows you three wrong answers before you lose.

Overall I give this game an 8 out of 10. It’s a good adaptation of Sudoku for the PSP. Leveraging the Power and multimedia abilities of the PSP to show video’s of Carol. The game has many ways to change the game to make it more than the simple game in the paper.

The multi player aspects are a nice addition making the normally solo game more group friendly. I’d say it’s a fun game to pickup for the PSP if you like Sudoku games. If you have never played Sudoku before, get it and learn what your missing.

Ratchet and Clank works great for a modern day platformer.

While on vacation, a little girl who wanted to get some pictures of you gets kidnapped. You must now go save her. The story doesn’t have the blood and gore that some people may want, but fighting off robots will make it more acceptable for a younger audience while still entertaining older gamers.

The game has many weapons and tools that can be bought or picked up along the way. Plus the game starts out with the ability to glide or fly around the screen for short distances. The variety of tools makes the game not just a shooter like some plat formers, but also a puzzle sometimes, figuring out which tools are appropriate for the situation. The game is fairly single dimensioned following the path from start to finish with little options to explore the map.

You turn bolts on the ground to open doors, fly over ravines. Shoot weapons from simple gun style to balls of acid that eat any metal creatures that come in contact with it.

If you liked any of the other Ratchet and Clank games, you will like this one. It holds up to the style and fun of the others. With the game play the same as the PS2, with full video cut scene’s and voices and music in the game. The graphics look great for a portable, just like they do on the PS2. Since this is a new story and not just a port of the PS2 version, if you’ve played the PS2 version you won’t be bored playing the same story again. The PSP is a new story line, to go with the others.

Overall I give it a 9 out of 10. The game is fun to play. Great plat former, fighting your way through each level, and solving puzzles with the gadgets that you pick up or buy along the way. The gadgets are fun, the graphics are great. The story line is full of lots of humor.

If you’re a fan of flight sims on other platforms, you’ll love the fact that now you can take it all with you.

Mach has two modes of play. You either can race other planes like in other similar racing games. Unfortunately the racing levels are so small that you really don’t do much up and down, just turning around corners, avoiding obstacles.

The game really shines in the combat levels. You fly around with up to eight other planes dogfighting, shooting with guns or missles and trying to avoid being shot down. There are tons of plans on each level, and this makes it difficult to avoid getting shot sometimes. When you’re shooting at a target, someone else is trying to shoot at you.

This does make the game interesting though. If you miss your target, there are more in the area. When you get shot down, it restarts you with full health.

As you beat the levels, you get points towards buying bigger or faster planes. The game is designed to work well with multiple players. With multiple PSP’s, the other opponents are your friends, and you can shoot them out of the sky. You can also slug it out against AI in the Single player levels.

For a flight simulator on a hand held, this does very good. The graphics are great. You move around boulders and go through caves. This game really makes the PSP shine. It is something that previously was only available for regular consoles. The only weak spot is the racing mode, which feels more like hovercraft than planes. The racing would be better if they used the fact that their worlds are three dimensional more.

I give the game a 9 out of 10. I think the dog fighting is great, but the racing was kinda lame. The dog fighting was great though. I definitely recommend checking this out if you like fighter simulators or just want to shoot something out of the sky.

This hot third person shoot’em up game is fully loaded; not just with great game play and military grade weaponry, but with many different modes of playing. Play alone in Arcade and/or Story Modes, or multiply the potential with friends wirelessly in Fiesta Mode.

After the assassination of Ramiro Cruz’s father, this action packed strategic combat game sets the stage in a Mexican ganja field to seek revenge. Knock down the drug cartel while challenging players with combat missions.

The stop time animation a.k.a. “Shootdodge” feature adds an element of creativity, allowing Ramiro to build strategic battle attacks. Meanwhile, taking this advantage up walls and over bundles of ‘Joe’s Sinsemilla’ is intriguing and fun at first, hooking the player while making the game more enjoyable.

Bringing back memories to the days of Zelda for NES, the loot gained from slaying the gringos disappears if not reached in time. This helps to add more opportunity for creative strategies in battle. Maneuvers can be stacked for combo attacks.

Taking elements from many games before its time, this game packs a good punch. Fiesta Mode allows wireless multiplayer game play for unlimited excitement.

Graphics:

Slick, stop time animations make the game much more fun to play. The bright 3D world adds a stunning backdrop to the great game play.

Audio:

PSP audio…nothing to gloat about here.

Publisher: Eidos Interactive
Developer: Deadline Games
Genre: Third-Person Shooter, Strategy
ESRB Rating: M (Mature)