Tag: fps

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 – 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.