Release date:

September 7th 2010

Price:

between $25-30

Story

This was my first ever Kingdom Hearts game, for the uninitiated, this is sort of a mix between Final Fantasy and Disney, and although that sounds like a strange combination that would be too childish, it’s really not, and the story does become serious at points, but is usually lightened a bit with Mickey walking into the room. You play as three characters through three campaigns all playing the same story, but from different perspectives. These three characters are called Terra, Ventus and Aqua, (and the canon is in that order too). The three of you are keyblade wielders, essentially the Kingdom Hearts equivalent to Jedi, and you’re tasked to find the imbalance in the light (force anyone?).

Master Xehanort Played by Leonard Nimoy

You travel from world to world trying to find this imbalance, and they take you to many different Disney worlds, like you can help Cinderella make her dress with her mouse friend Jaq while her evil step sisters try to foul everything up, or you can protect the Lost Boys of Peter Pan from Captain Hook and his first mate Smee. As you go through each character’s story you piece together the Disney stories as well. It does sound a little confusing but it works, and the fact that mostly everyone has seen these films helps you feel at home.

The overarching story is actually well conceived and I did enjoy all the characters that were presented, especially Master Xehanort, played spectacularly by Leonard Nimoy, (Spock from Star Trek)  Master Eraqus, played by Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker from Star Wars) and Hades from the Hercules world, played by James Woods, just like in the movie. Overall the voice acting is great in this title, and having all the original voice actors from the Disney films doesn’t help either, although I’m sure some of them are replaced from the originals, because Snow White was originally released in 1937, they still sound the same though.

Overall the story in this game is great, and well worth playing through, there was one problem though, at the end, if you play the game on standard mode, be prepared to do some backtracking to get the “Final Episode”. After already playing 34 hours or so, I was left with no resolution to the story, and had to search over the other campaigns to find arbitrary letters before I could play to the finale. This soured my experience with the story somewhat because it really cuts the narrative to ribbons, especially considering these letters don’t even help your characters solve anything to get to the finale. It’s like at the end of a movie them saying, I’m not going to show you the last 15 minutes until you go back over the rest of the movie and count the exact amount of squirrels you see, if you don’t have the same number as me you’ll have to do it again. Thank God for Gamefaqs in this regard, and shame on Square Enix for pulling such a moronic stunt with a great story.

Aqua Terra and Ventus

Gameplay

This is probably the best aspect of the game, as you play through the three campaigns you get exposed to three different types of combat, a strength style for Terra, a speed style for Ventus and a spell style for Aqua. Now this Keyblade gameplay is a brawler type with spell combinations, and through the first campaign I found it a little difficult (because I was destroyed by some early bosses) but as I continued to play I realized that the combat is incredibly deep and varied, and once I figured out I could even go to the Mirage Arena ( a special training world in the game) to level up my character against challenges, I found myself doing that just for the fun of it. It is probably the best brawler action you can find on the PSP second to the God of War franchise, (although this game has no blood).

There are tons of great mini-games to play as well, like racing games rhythm games, scavenger games etc. They help break up the gameplay a bit and give some great variety, there’s an online component as well, that includes many of these video games, and challenges you can do in the Mirage Arena, with multiple friends to add to the fun.

The gameplay in this one is great, and didn’t get boring, even while playing through the three campaigns. The controls were great, although the camera was a little wonky, it doesn’t feel like there was anything that broke the flow of combat, and when you get the hang of it, it’s a great game to sink your teeth into gameplay wise.

Graphics

Now this is another stand out aspect to the game, the animations of all the characters are spectacular, and the Disney characters especially look just as you’d expect them to, PSP or not. It’s hard to explain but I was blown away by how good the character models are in comparison to some other PSP games out there. The combat looks great too and it flows really well. You can also go into the options menu and tweek how the PSP runs the game, I ran it in the highest settings, (which takes up a bit more battery life) but it was worth it, everything was smooth, and the colours were vibrant and

The cinematics are all top notch, with the great voice acting and great music this game is a looker. Once again only the God Of War franchise really wowed me more on the platform, but this one will still amaze you, and it really draws you into the experience.

Is it Worth it?

Certainly I would recommend this game to anyone who has a PSP, although sadly not everyone will be able to play it. Square Enix for some foolish reason decided they wouldn’t release this game Digitally, now there has been no official reason as to why this is but that means that anyone out there with a PSPgo will be left out of the party.  This is a terrible shame because this game overall is some of the most fun I’ve had on the platform despite a few hiccups like the story getting a little cut up at the end and the long load times (even after installing the 600+ megs of game data on your memory stick it is still slow…). If you have the chance pick this one up, it will get you interested in the Kingdom Hearts Series and because it’s a prequel you won’t be left out of the loop story wise. Over the 40 hours of gameplay I was thoroughly entertained, and will be interested in future iterations of this franchise.

8.9/10

Price: $19.99-39.99

Release Date: July 6th 2010

Persona 3 Portable is one of the highest rated PSP games of all time. I needed to see if it lives up to it’s hype, so when Atlus had it’s half off sale over 3 months ago, I snapped this one up for 50% off. If you’re lucky there will be a sale coming up in the Spring Fever.

Story

Persona 3 Portable as one would assume is a port of the Playstation 2 original Persona 3. It follows the members of a high school in Japan, where your character is a new transfer student. When you arrive at the dorm, you see that there is something strange about that night, there are no people on the streets, only coffins standing upright. You arrive at the dorm and it’s under attack by, “Shadows” of some sort, and you help the people living there to defeat them with this new power, a “Persona” that you can summon by firing an “evoker” at your head (which looks very much like a gun). After defeating the shadows they explain to you that this is the Dark Hour, that  exists between 12 pm, and 12:01, and that your character has to help defeat the shadows and save the world.

It’s a little hard to explain, but the story does get more and more interesting and wacky, but it really hooks you. The fellow persona users that you get to know are truly interesting, and this game rewards you by making you more powerful with every new relationship you have, and the stronger the relationships, the stronger your “personas” get.

I don’t want to spoil anything about this game, but really it has one of the best storylines I’ve experienced in years. Truly worth the time spent, and you really get attached to the characters, at the end I didn’t want it to end.

Gameplay

This is a bit of a standard RPG fare. In combat you have turn based battle in the Dark Hour against the shadows, and you fight with either physical attacks, with your character’s weapons, or by using the personas. The interesting thing about the personas is that they are similar to pokemon in some strange way. They all can level up, and do so more the more you use them. They can learn new spells, and they can be combined with other Personas to make new ones.

Needless to say it’s very complicated, but it is opened up to you slowly as you play, as to never overwhelm, and it’s easy to know what to do to defeat bosses. The interesting part is how you make your Personas more powerful. By making friends with people at school or in town, attributes open up. For instance one character at school, an athlete improves your strength attribute, so when you combine Personas to make a strength persona he’ll be more poweful than before. The most interesting part is that making friends with all these people is really interesting, and is one of the best parts of the game, to the point where I even want to play it over again just to see all the stories that I missed the endings to.

I didn’t even feel the need to grind my characters, but I did it just for fun, and it didn’t feel like work either, because of all the great new stats I was collecting along the way.

For making the standard RPG fare new and fresh again Persona 3 Portable gets top marks.

Graphics

Graphics in this title are two sided, because there are two worlds of gameplay. One, where you’re in the world during the normal 24 hours of the day, and the other when you’re dungeon crawling in the Dark Hour.

During the day, it’s an anime style point and click. The drawings are really pleasant, and the characters faces are quite expressive. This is especially a treat when you’re learning more and more about the characters in the game, (and even having romantic relationships with them). They really did an excellent job with the voice work in this game as well that really makes the story and the characters seem all the more real. The world is colourful and interesting as well, the art style was quite excellent in this regard.

During the Dark Hour, the style of the game changes completely, 3D rendered versions of the characters are used, and it become dark and brooding. All the great voices are there, you just get to see them used by rendered characters. During battle there are some great  effects as well, like when everyone piles into the battle a smoke cloud plumes and it looks almost like a Bugs Bunny cartoon. But is all fits together seamlessly.

The game might not be the best looker on the PSP, but it’s art style makes up for any shortcomings, and the graphics aide in the story telling.

Is Persona 3 Portable worth the money?

Well here’s the real bottom line, I loved every minute of this game, and the gameplay did not disappoint, time played during one playthrough was a massive 72 hours.  I have not spent that much time on a game in years, probably since my horrid MMO days, but I loved every minute of it, and there was plenty of storyline to keep me playing throughout the whole experience. But that’s not all, I played through with the male main character, you can also play through as a female, which might not sound like it matters, but considering you can make relationships with characters in this game, playing with the other gender opens up a massive amount of new content that you can’t see in any other version of the game (because this female perspective is exclusive to this version).

I can’t recommend this game enough, it’s 39.99 right now, and if Atlus is smart, they’ll bring the price down again soon. But at any price Persona 3 Portable is an excellent experience, and a must have for any RPG fan, or any PSP owner.

10/10

This is the second God of War game to be released this year, after the stellat God of War 3 that was released for the PS3 early in the year. Can the PSP release of Ghost of Sparta live up to it’s big brother? And fill the shoes of the Franchise?

Story

As always, you play as angry man du jour, Kratos. Who spends his time getting more and more angry as new games are released. He’s the biggest badass in gaming, and he has lots to get upset about in this one. This takes place right between God of War and God of War 2. Kratos is searching for his long lost brother Deimos and it will take him to many varied locations, and you actually find out a lot of backstory about everyone’s favorite psychotic Greek. Of course I don’t want to give too much away, but if you’ve played the other God Of War games in the series, you know what to expect, but it’s not a throw away story at all, but if you’ve played through the other games you know what’s going to happen, which kind of ruins it a bit. If you’re new to the franchise it’s a decent starting point, but I would suggest you go back and play through them ALL.

Gameplay

Once again here, Kratos hasn’t changed too much, the classic gameplay of the franchise is in tact, and it translates really well to the PSP. I played it though on Hard mode, and it did give me a run for my money at times but it was seldomly frustrating and always satifying to rip off the head of your opponent. There are a few new weapons for Kratos to yield, the Arms of Sparta, a classic Spartan spear and sheild very remenicient of 300 there are some interesting magic spells as well, which at some points are necessary for survival (at least on the difficult modes). Finding the right combination of magic and weapons for every particular enemy can be a bit of a challenge but once you figure it out it’s great fun as always.

There are some great boss fights in there as well, some that you need to think through, but all of them are epic in scale and imaginative. Puzzles are few and far between in this particular outing for Kratos, which is a bit of a let down. But most people would say that you’re not playing God of War to get your brain teased, you’re playing it to let off steam. I agree for the most part, but at least one brain twister would have been appreciated.

Presentation

Here is where the game has no other equal on the platform, the visuals are by far the best on the PSP and they need to be seen to be believed. It’s amazing what Ready at Dawn Studios has managed to do on the platform, the graphics are spectacular, but there is no load times in gameplay, it runs extremely smooth, and the textures and animations are just incredibly impressive. The camera work on the game is very well taken care of as always, because you have no control over the camera, you’re at the mercy of the developers. In this case you’re in good hands, you always have a good view of who you should be killing, and the cinematography during the platforming sequences and boss fights are very immersive.

The voice work like all the other games in the series is top notch as well, with all the series actors reprising their roles, which makes it easy to jump into for fans, and for new comers you’ll be surprised on how well every line is delivered. Having professional actors do the voices really hammers home the story. Even if you’ve heard Kratos be angry for about 5 games at this point. The music is great as well, great orchestral score, that gets you excited for the combat and the chase sequences.

In all, presentation wise, other developers should hold their head in shame into how much of an improvement this is to the average title on the platform. The only other game I’ve seen come close is Metal Gear Solid Peacewalker.

Is it Worth Your Time?

If you don’t have a PSP, it’s time to go out and grab one, this is a game that shouldn’t be missed, especially for fans of the franchise. I simply forgot I was playing on a handheld while venturing through Ghost of Sparta. It took me about 8 hours all told to play through this one but it felt short because it was so well paced.  The story is solid, the gameplay is great and the presentation is spectacular. It will blow your mind that the PSP could deliver such a big game. There is alot of replay value as well as there are numerous challenge modes and great incentives to get you to play through the game another time. I know I will.

Worth the money, a great game that shouldn’t be missed.

9.5/10

Story

This entry into the Metal Gear series takes place 10 years after Metal Gear Solid 3, in 1974. This game’s protagonist (Naked Snake instead of Solid snake from MGS1, 2 and 4) has started his own private military called “Militaires Sans Frontiers” or “Soldiers without Borders”. They’re asked by two people speaking on behalf of the Costa Rican government (one of the only governments in the world without a military) to save their country from a force that has seemed to move in. Snake accepts the request on hearing that his mentor from MGS3 is alive in a recording.

The Metal Gear series really does have the most complex story in gaming, and it’s really impossible to sum it all up, luckily I don’t have spoilers in my reviews so I don’t have to! For the most part though the Metal Gear saga always makes you feel like you’re part of something epic, and Peacewalker is no exception. For those familiar with the series a lot of questions will be answered, and you’re always given a clear motivation to do what you’re doing, and it feels genuine in the way that most other games can’t match. The series does seem to lean a little heavy on cutscenes for some people but in this iteration the cutscenes are not nearly as long, and are also interactive and to the point. Perhaps the limitations of the UMD prevented more exposition, but there is a lot more story you can find if that’s what you want. Including hours of interviews with all the major characters in the game, talking about themselves or giving advice to you about Costa Rica’s terrain, specific locations, or how to defeat enemies. These make for great characters that are well personified and just intersting to talk to. More than once I found myself spending time when I should have been sleeping listening to these interviews.

Gameplay

Metal Gear’s Tactical Espionage Action mantra holds up well here, it’s not only easy to sneak around and flank your enemies, it’s entertaining. There are a few different play styles to choose from, I played with the “MGS4″ configuration, where the face buttons act as a second analog stick. At times it can be a little tough to aim with that set up, but once you get used to it, and the auto aim function, it becomes a non issue, and usually taking a little extra care for your set up and take down goes a long way in this title.

The boss battles in this game are huge and epic, and as many people say, the first time through they are exceptionally difficult (especially because theres are no difficulty settings). But once you realize when to use stealth it becomes that much easier. There are two different types of boss battles in this game, ones with tanks and Amored vehicles, where your best bet is to take out all the escorts, then take the vehicle down, and the massive battles with numerous Metal Gears, AI controlled robotic killing machines that love to fire missles at you. The two take quite the contrast as the Metal Gear battles are head on confrontations needing all the firepower you have, and the smaller tank battles needing stealth to take out the escort. It’s a great contrast and both are really fun to play. The game gets easier the more you play as well because your weapons become upgraded, making those formerly impossible boss fights exceptionally easy when you revisit them again (as you can do with any mission in this game).

In addition to the main story missions there are many “extra ops” missions you can undertake as well, these usually aren’t as glamourous as the main missions, but they’re fun and help you improve your skills. One major gameplay element is the Mother Base mechanic, while out of missions you can recruit new soldiers to Militaires Sans Frontiers, and put them to work in your base, making you new weapons, items, recovery items and even your own Metal Gear. There are so many different play styles in this game, but none of them feel rushed and they’re all a ton of fun. I haven’t been able to play any missions co-op, but you can play the whole game through with a friend, and any extra ops you can play with up to 4 players.

Graphics

For a PSP game I’m incredibly impressed with how this game looks. It runs smooth, the textures are great, the character animation is specular and this really gets you immersed, even though it’s on the handheld. The music is spot on, and it sounds excellent with headphones. In the ingame cutscenes you can even see the eyelashes on snake as he stares at the Metal Gear he’s about to destroy. As of now it’s the best looking PSP game to date, bar none. Kojima and his team at Konami always are masters at getting the most out of a console and this is no exception.

The story cutscenes are beautifully animated as well in a comic style that is a pleasure to watch. Some of these are even interactive as well, which is a great way on keeping you involved with the story, as any moment you might need to aim at an enemy, or press a button prompt to continue. The fact that they aren’t as long as MGS4′s cutscenes to make it a little easier to get through on the handheld as well. The longest cutscene might run 10 minutes which is way less than the almost 45 minute ones in the last entry in the series.

The voice acting is back as well, and it’s the best in the industry. All the characters that you know and love from the series are here, and for fans of the series these characters and their corresponding voice actors are as familiar and they don’t dissapoint. Music is top notch with great orchestral themes that ramp up the tension in a large battle, but also the sound effects like the sounds of birds when you’re sneaking through the Costa Rican jungle show that a lot of care has gone into this title. Most likely the best sound design on the PSP.

Is it worth your time?

A resounding yes, buy Peacewalker, it’s a great ride, the gameplay is solid, the story is interesting and well crafted, the characters provide great motivation, and the presentation is excellent. Not only that but the value of this game is significant, playing through the story the first time (all the story missions plus some extra missions) took 23 hours. I was glued to my console for that time and after that was finished, another chapter, full of even more extra missions opened up. I have friends who have logged 100 hours or more into this title, and they still love it. Replayability is also through the roof, as you can go back to any old mission and replay them to get more people or resources for your Mother Base. This is an excellent title, and anyone who has a PSP should check it out.

9.5/10

PSoneClassics.com

Part of a new Sony push to get PSP games a little more affordable, they have released a multitude of older games for 9.99. This happens to be one of those games that I picked up, and reviewed for your entertainment.

Price: $9.99

Original Release date: September 13th, 2005

Story

How could I possibly boil down the story of Burnout? The story of a retired stunt driver who ends up saving not only his world but the profession of stunt driving for the CG revolution. Or not! There is no story in this game and for this one I’m damn happy about it. You’re here for the glee inducing gameplay.

Gameplay

This game is probably the most fun I’ve ever had in a driving game. If you’ve never tried a Burnout game it’s a little hard to describe the feeling when you shunt a competitor into a brick wall with the slow motion video showing tires fly and sports cars crunch. It feels almost like they’ve combined great arcade racing with the “take downs” that feel like really excellent Mortal Kombat fatalities. Luckily the opponents are fun to play against and once and a while can take you out at a crutial part of the race, magically though it never gets frustrating, more like a good challenge.

The racing controls are excellent and the cars handle well. You can feel differences between the different classes, but they don’t have as many cars as lets say Gran Turismo PSP, (or even any licensed cars). But the cars look great, and are most of all fun to drive.

There are a multitude of game play variations as well, there are races, where you are competing against three computer opponents, eliminator where at each lap the driver in last place is eliminated, there’s a road rage challenge where you have to destroy as many competitors as you can through takedowns before taking too much damage youself, etc, etc. But probably the most intersting mode that doesn’t actually include any racing is the Crash challenges, where you’re given a track of road and a traffic situation and you need to figure out how to create as much mayhem as you can and score the most points. It’s like a puzzle game with explosions and nitros oxide.

I had played a Burnout game before years ago and I was wondering for a while how it would translate to the PSP, luckily it does magnificently.

Graphics

This game really is a looker on the PSP, but what impresses me most is the sense of speed that they manage to get out of the handheld, while it isn’t as pretty as Gran Turismo, you won’t notice it because you’ll be slamming your race mates into barriers and seeing their cars flatened like pancakes. The real time damage in the road rage events is actually quite amazing, and something it’s taken the Gran Turismo series an agonizingly long time to implement. There are some things in the game that could use a little polish, a few textures aren’t up to par, but this game was released 5 years at time of writing, and you don’t usually notice any of it because you’re driving by at 200 miles an hour at average.

The music in the game is a mix of punk rock and alternative, and it does a descent job of matching the mayhem on the road. There are a few stand out tracks, like one by Canadian punk rock band Billy Talent, that gets stuck in my head every time I hear it. But the music does well, and impresses.

Is it worth your time?

Well, Burnout had me totally hooked like I had never stopped playing the series. The gameplay is straightforward and entertaining and the game ends up being incredibly addictive, especially the better you do in races and events you receive more cars to race with and more events unlock. I’ve played for 10 hours + and I’m barely at 50% completion (but I completed all the race events) bar none this is the most fun racing game on the PSP for me at least. For 9.99 it’s a great price for a lot of fun that doesn’t gets old. There are also a multitude of mutiplayer options for you to use, buy this game, you won’t be dissapointed.

9/10

PSOneClassics.com

Last month was the month of Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia coming to a theatre near you. Throughout the month as well on PSN, they discounted many of the POP games to get people hyped up for the release, I bought the PSP port of the third game in the series, The

Two Thrones (renamed Rival Swords), and saw the film on opening weekend. I’ve decided to pit the two against each other to see whether they’re worth your time.

Release date: April 3rd, 2007

Price:14.99 (bought it at 50% off PSN – $7.49)

Story

The prince is coming back from the temple of time with a very important priestess, taking her back to his home, Babylon. When he arrives we see that what he did at the temple of time was mess around with the timeline, and Doom his kingdom. The Priestess is killed, unleashing the power to the Vizier (the villain in the first game the sands of time, who was not killed do to a timeline mess up). You also receive a bit of this power and you develop dual personality disorder where you can turn into a homicidal maniac once and a while who only survives by killing enemies and taking their “sand”.

Now at this point having never played a POP game before, (or at least not in a LONG time) I was a little lost as how the story went, but after time it started to make sense, and really I didn’t feel like I was missing much. The voice work actually was great, and I even started to like the Prince and the cast of characters, even his evil alter ego. At the end of the game it was satisfying and there were a few cool twists to keep you guessing, the story was a highlight for sure.

Gameplay

Now if you’ve ever played a POP game before you know it’s a parkour platformer, with a cool mechanic to turn back time after you go splat on the ground a hundred feet below. Learning all the moves for the Prince took a while and you keep learning them hours and hours into the game. This has a huge payoff, because when you see a room you need to get through, you feel a real sense of accomplishment when you make it to the other side.

When you switch into Alter Ego mode, you’re almost on a clock where you have to keep devouring sands (by killing enemies) and you have a God of War like chain you swing to kill enemies and use in platforming. Once again the platforming feels spot on, and the controls while taking a bit of time to get used to once you have them, you’ll be ready for anything.

The combat is nicely combined with the platforming so it does feel fluid, and you’re not pressing a button to go into tank mode whenever an enemy shows up. There are also stealth kills which feel satisfying, but are difficult at first (luckily the rewind time mechanic works so well), and the Boss fights are great as well, and they make you take your time (because a lot of them are dealt with by quick time events). Still though, you don’t feel like the control is taken away from you 100% but it is annoying when you press the attack button too soon and have to start the sequence over again, or use your rewind time move which in most boss fights you can’t recharge.

Graphics

Now the graphics in this game are pretty good for a handheld, but mostly because of the Art Direction. The textures are blurry, and really even though it’s a handheld game, that’s no reason why. The Prince’s face can emote but his hair looks like 15 or so pixels that rarely move. I also downloaded this from PSN, so perhaps some of the loading was off, but there were a bunch of glitches that I noticed, like voice not syncing perfectly at parts (possibly because of the faster load speed instead of it being on a UMD). But there are other problems like getting stuck in walls, or

continuously falling that were frustrating, especially when I had to go back to my last save, which are luckily pretty generous.

The full motion video is excellent though, and are worth the effort to get to, especially with the great voice acting and art direction driving it all.

The Bottom Line

This game has greatness within it, but a few glitches hold back the excellent story. I still felt satisfaction when the game ended though, and I was playing this until the wee hours of the morning. The story is what really drives it, and the constant bickering between characters is light and entertaining. The controls are satisfying as well, even though there are some sound glitches that should have been ironed out before its release. Took around 15 hours to complete if I factor in failure time, for the price I paid it was a bargain.

8.2/10

Now for the film,

Prince of Persia The Sands of Time

Released: May 28th, 2010

Price: A movie ticket (variable)

Story

The Prince and his brothers invade a kingdom that has  a secret it holds, the Dagger of Time. There is a princess that acts as The Prince’s love interest who is sworn to protect the dagger, and when the Prince is framed for the murder of a high up official (no spoilers!) he flees with the princess and the dagger to clear his name.

Action & Special effects

The movie plays pretty close attention to the games in this aspect, there are lots of cool parkour stunts that are exhilarating, the combat is well interspersed as well, just like the games, bringing that familiar run jump climb swordplay to the big screen, it looks great.

Special effects in the movie also look great, and almost look like the wraith version of the prince from the Rival Swords game interestingly enough. It was familiar to me having just played through the game, and still interesting for those who haven’t played anything in the series. Some of the set pieces like when the Prince and his men storm a city are quite exciting,

Is it worth it?

Really, you should check out this movie if you have any interest in the series, despite a few flaws it’s fun, exciting, and a great summer movie, just this week it will pass the $300 million mark, which might mean that a few sequels are on the way.

8/10