Category: Games

Review: Star Wars Battlefront II (PSP)

Anticipation : 7
Expectation : 7
Initial Reaction : 7
Overall : 7
Genre : Third-Person Shooter

Star Wars is a franchise near and dear to my heart, having grown up the the original three. (Let’s not delve into the recent three) Battlefront gives you the ability to immerse yourself in that universe and wage war using the weapons and vehicles seen in the movies.

 

The PSP version of this game is merely a port of the PS2 version with a few extras thrown in. Unfortunately, the controls seem to be a little lacking. They definitely tried to get creative, using the S/C/T/X buttons as camera controls. But, overall, the controls seem a little lacking. Or maybe I just haven’t played enough to find the right combination. Without fine camera control, hitting some of the enemies is a little tough, even with the auto-aim feature enabled.

 

The graphics are basically the same as the PS2 version, just on a smaller scale. The actions is intense and fast paced. Overall, it’s a great game and lots of fun to play. I recommend it to any Star Wars fan, or any fan of shooters in general.

 

Review: Daxter (PSP)

Anticipation : 9
Expectation : 9
Initial Reaction : 10
Overall : 10
Genre : Third-Person Action/Adventure

 

To say I was expecting a lot from Daxter would be an understatement. I wasn’t aware of Daxter as a title initially, but I became aware of it when the Big Boss at Ready At Dawn spoke out against other PSP Devs. Bold words, so I had to check out the game..

 

The premise is pretty simple. Daxter is in town, not working with Jak at the moment. He boasts a bunch at a bar and an elderly exterminator hires him to kill bugs. Ok, it sounds kinda corny, but it’s actually a pretty decent game. I’m not too far into the story, but it’s pretty decent so far.

 

The gameplay is top notch. Your primary weapon, at least to start, is a glorified bug swatter, electrified of course. Then comes the canister of bug spray, and then.. well, you’ll see. So far most of the game is on foot, but there are some vehicle sequences. There are some dream sequences too, but I’ll leave those up to you to find. They are interesting though.. :P

 

You have the choice of using the D-Pad or the analog stick to move Daxter, and the left and right shoulder buttons to spin the camera. Very effective, and nothing new. I’ve seen it used in other games, so I don’t think there’s anything new there. It works though, and very effectively on the PSP.

 

The RaD boss was right. Just because it’s a handheld, or only has one analog stick, doesn’t mean it can’t have good games. Daxter is excellent and I highly recommend it.

Review : SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo (PSP)

Anticipation : 7
Expectation : 6
Initial Reaction : 9
Overall : 9
Genre : First/Third-Person Tactical Shooter

 

About a year ago or so I tried out SOCOM for the PS2. The game was simply incredible. But, I never purchased it for PS2. Basically, I just don’t have time to play my consoles.. :( Flash forward to today! PSP.. Best thing ever. I get to play games now! :)

 

Anyways, back to the review. I wasn’t really looking to get this title. It was on my wish list, but only as an interest. Not really a “must have” title. I received it for Christmas and it’s been sitting around since then, waiting for me to open it. (Lots of GTA:LCS play lately) … Well, I took the plunge the other day and I must say, I’m quite impressed. First person shooters on consoles aren’t really my thing. I prefer a mouse and a keyboard. Quick reflexes, ability to spin quickly, etc. But, with a tactical shooter, it’s a little different. It’s definitely a slower pace, so the need to spin around isn’t as prevalent. I wish the reticle in sniper mode moved a little faster, but I can live with it the way it is..

 

Overall I’m pretty happy with the game. The graphics are excellent, the gameplay is smooth, and online play is actually a lot of fun.

 

Speaking of online play. THANK YOU ZIPPER! WPA support. *phew* I didn’t think WPA support was something that was that difficult, and it bothers me greatly that it’s not included in Madden ’06.

Look, I’m a programmer, and as a programmer, I tend to look at things a little differently. I understand the technical challenges that game developers have to overcome, and I understand why some features work the way they do. But, for the life of me, I cannot figure out why Madden does not support WPA. Let’s look at this from an API/framework view. I’m Sony, and I have an API for my PSP. My API has basic features, and an entire network featureset. I include some hooks to make it easier to deal with the network stuff. For instance, I may have a “startnetwork()” routine. I probably have a “senddata()” routine, and so on. In version 1.0, I have support for wireless, and just WEP at the moment. Of course, I’m all about future upgrades, so when 2.0 comes out and I support WPA, I build that into the existing commands, letting all the existing software take advantage of it. Right? Well, maybe. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to the PSP’s API, but it makes sense. So why doesn’t Madden support WPA? Good question.. :(

 

But, SOCOM does. So that’s at least one game I can play at home on my WPA protected network. Madden, no. (Not that it matters, EA has my copy of Madden at the moment. Hopefully they send me a “fixed” version soon)

 

Overall I think SOCOM is pretty decent and I’d definitely recommend it. I’m pretty impressed so far, and I’m definitely willing to continue playing it!

Review – Grand Theft Auto : Liberty City Stories (PSP)

Anticipation : 10
Expectation : 8
Initial Reaction : 9
Overall : 9
Genre : Third-Person Action/Adventure

 

Grand Theft Auto. One of my favorite PS2 games… I’ve been looking forward to this game since it was announced! I initally harbored some reservations about the controls for the game, but it seems that Rockstar did their homework. The controls are excellent and you can *almost* forget that there’s no second analog stick.

 

My first impression of this game was extremely positive. The game loaded just like the PS2 versions do. Cut scenes are excellent. The voices are a little tinny, but not too bad. The graphics are amazing and easily match Grand Theft Auto III. From what I’ve played thus far, it looks like the entire city is virtually identical to Liberty City from GTA3. Rockstar did an incredible job on this game.

 

So, gameplay. So far I’m pretty impressed. There are a few glitches with the camera, but that’s almost to be expected with a “free” camera that follows the character. Camera issues aside, the game is smooth and fun. The first few missions are pretty simple, but engaging. Jacking cars, crashing them all over the place, etc. is as fun as ever. The game seems to flow naturally and keeps the player engaged.

 

Overall, I’m incredibly impressed with this game. And Rockstar has since announced another GTA title headed for the PSP. They claim it’s a new property, so perhaps we’re looking at a completely new city and storyline?

 

I highly recommend this game to all fans of the series.

Review – Ghost in the Shell : Stand Alone Complex (PSP)

Anticipation : 7
Expectation : 6
Initial Reaction : 7
Overall : 6
Genre : First-Person Shooter

 

I’m a big fan of the first Ghost in the Shell movie. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. So, it stands to reason that I would be interested in a game related to the movie.

 

I received GS:SAC as a Christmas present and eagerly started the game. My first impression of the game was pretty positive. It starts out with some story elements and then moves on to the mission map and character selection screens. Character selection is interesting. You can choose from 4 major characters in the movie. Motoko, Batou, Togusa, or Saito. In addition, you can choose one of 4 different Tachikoma to assist you. Think of the Tachikoma as a big robotic spider with 4 legs. You can customize the characters with 3 weapons, and the Tachikoma with up to 5.

 

This is the first FPS I’ve played on the PSP and the controls are quite good once you get used to them. The analog stick is used for moving forward and back, and sliding left and right. The square and circle buttons are used to turn left and right. The right trigger button is used to fire. The D-Pad is used to change weapons, reload, and some other stuff. Overall, I think these controls work out very well despite bad reviews from other sources. I think those bad reviews come from being used to using 2 analog sticks to control the action on the PS2…

 

I’ve played through a few missions thus far and I’m still pretty impressed. The missions, so far, have been pretty short and to the point, but fun nonetheless. I wouldn’t put this in the same category as something like Half-Life or Doom 3, but still pretty fun.

Game Reviews

I’ve often disagreed with game reviews posted on sites such as GameSpot, IGN, etc. So, since I have my own blog now, I figured I’d write some reviews myself. My intention is to rate the games on a few “at a glance” categories, rather than the entire game in one shot. Later on, I’ll add another entry to update my initial review. I think this will allow me to provide a different perspective on the game and maybe give some idea of how a person may enjoy each game over time.

 

The initial reaction categories will be scored on a scale of 1-10, 1 being the lowest, 10 being the highest. The cartegories are :

 

Anticipation – How much was I looking forward to this game?

Expectation – How “good” did I expect the game to be?

Initial Reaction – My initial reaction to the game (and any gameplay) after the first 15 minutes

Overall – My overall rating of the game *after* I played it the first time. Initial playtime is usually 1-2 hours.

 

I’ll also include the game genre. I’m not going in-depth with details, but more of my feelings about the game, some basic details, and my reactions. Hopefully this will give you a good idea of what to expect. :)

 

I haven’t decided how to do the follow-up reviews yet. Nor have I thought about the final categories I want to rate. When I’m ready to post a final review, I’ll first post how they’ll work.

 

And now, on to reviewing!