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Super Stardust Portable – PSP review
By admin on January 2nd, 2009 | 2 Comments
I was going to get the Super Stardust HD for the PlayStation 3 on PSN but I didn’t because I had so many games to play and so little time at that moment. A month ago, PSN released the PSP version called Super Stardust Portable and I finally gave in. In my opinion this game is better than another shooter called Everyday Shooter where the object destruction is turned into part of the background music. Don’t get me wrong, Everyday Shooter is one great and innovative game but I just prefer Super Stardust Portable’s style of play.

Game play
The concept is pretty much the same as any other classic arcade shooter but Super Stardust Portable pushes a few notches up with extremely fast paced game and amazing graphics (I apologize for not having any of my own images because the game is just too fast paced I can’t take anything worth looking, you can check out the ones at IGN).

Your objective for this game is simple, shoot everything in your sight. Mostly asteroids but there are also others like green worm looking enemies and red bombs that will chase you until they or you are destroyed. You are given three types of main weapons which you can gradually power up and cause even more destruction. The three main weapons are – Ice Splitter, Rock Crusher and Gold Melter. You can also spread out the shots by tapping the button but I hardly use it.

Since this is a classic arcade shooter, it cannot be “classic” without the special bombs. These bombs will blow up everything surrounding you. Finally you also get to use the Impact Boost which is pretty much acts like a shield that will boost towards one direction and destroy anything in the way. The boost can be recharged in time and you should always have it ready because there will be a lot of times where there are just too many asteroids and other things on the screen you will have no time to shoot them all. The boost allows you to rush your way out of the mess while cleaning some of that mess. Occasionally you will also get to replenish your bombs as well as having a shield to protect you from one hit, if you have a shield already the shield item will act like a bomb, clearing the space surrounding you.

The three weapons have their own advantages but you can pretty much clear every levels with using just one of them. The Ice Splitter is more powerful (at least that’s what I think) but its more concentrated while the Rock Crusher is slightly less powerful but more spread out. Finally the Gold Melter is basically a line of fire and if you press all 4 buttons it will create a circle of fire and you are pretty much protected from anything, well most of the time. I should also mention the 4 buttons correspond to each direction, so for example the triangle is shooting up and the triangle + square will shoot at the north west direction. I took me a while to get used to this shooting style though.

This game is very fast paced, each level or “phase” as the game calls it, takes an average of two minutes to complete. There are 5 planets for your shooting needs, each planet has 4 phases plus a boss phase. I personally enjoy the non boss phases because they are much more engaging, there is really no time to rest. My right thumb was basically in pain after completing the first planet, it was a lot of work!

Graphics and audio
Graphics are again, nothing short of amazing, specially for the PSP. I can only imagine how much better the graphics will be for the PS3′s HD version. All the special effects, mainly the explosions for the astroids and how they break into smaller pieces is simply stunning. The audi department did a great job too though you will mostly likely be too busy shooting and blowing things up you will not pay too much attention to it.

Final verdict
Overall I highly recommend this game for anyone that likes classic arcade shooters, this is one addictive game with great game play and graphics. I also suggest getting the PSP version, if you have one, over the PS3 version because this is a perfect game to play on the subway or on a bus while communting to/from work.

9/10

Image source: PlayStation.blog

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Musou Orochi: Maou Sairin (Warriors Orochi 2) – PSP review
By admin on November 26th, 2008 | No Comments
If you have heard of or played Dynasty Warrior, Samurai Warriors or the more recent Warriors Orochi for the PlayStation 2 and PSP, Musou Orochi: Maou Sairin (Warriors Orochi 2) is the newest edition to the Dynasty Warriors cross Samurai Warriors series. Developed by Koei, you are again going to cut your way through literally hundreds of enemies that just seem to stand there like the previous series. The Japanese / Europe version has been released, but no words for American release yet but I’m sure it will get here sooner than you think.

Gameplay
One major difference for Musou Orochi: Maou Sairin though is the fact that you are now in control of a team of three, chosen from a wide selection of familiar characters like Cao Cao and Lu Bei as well as some characters from the Samurai Warriors series.



I found this particular team with Dong Zhuo, a sexy looking lady (not sure her English name) and what looks like Lu Bu but with a longer name which also has a Lu in it, I could be wrong though. Even if that’s not really him, let me tell ya this dude is just as powerful as Lu Bu! I switched Dong Zhuo out and replaced with some cool demon looking character (probably from Samurai Warriors? I didn’t play that series unfortunately) after I unlocked him from progress through the story.

I stopped playing the series until now so I am not sure if the options to forge weapons and combining them have been in the previous series or not. You can basically create a stronger weapon by combining multiple weapons (2 at a time) or create from scratch using items and ingredients. Each weapon can also have special attributes like water, fire, lightning elements and many other ones. The number of special attributes that a weapon can hold can be modified as well. Weapon manipulations are done with the use of special items, ingredients and exp that you will find and earn during battle. You can also equip up to 7 special equipments that will boost your attributes such as more exp or more powerful special attacks.



Leveling is a breeze, just hack and slash your way through countless number of enemies. You can gain levels while in battle as well as before or after each mission where you can distribute your exp earned from previous missions to different characters. I like this feature because this allows you to level grind one character and still be able to level up your other characters. You can also choose a different team before each mission so you are not always stuck with the same one until you finish the game. Different team also has different characters for substitutions, there are TONS of characters to choose from!

Gameplay is basically the same old hack’n slash and countless number of hours of level grinding, but I think the leveling part is much easier consider, as mentioned before, you can gain exp during battle as well as distributing exp points to your characters before/after each mission. You also have the option to pick from four difficulties for each mission – Easy, Normal, Hard and EXTREMELY Hard.

Aside from Story Mode, there is the familiar Free Mode where you pick a map that you have finished from Story Mode and play through it, nothing new there. Dramatic Mode where you choose a map, again need to unlock through Story Mode, play through it and instead of picking your own team, you will have to play using the preset team and without the option to save. There is also Survival Mode, basically you pick a team of three and fight other team, Soul Calibur style, not exactly the same but you get my idea. Each member on your team has a life bar, you will have to alternative among them because as soon as any one of their life bar runs out you lose, doesn’t matter if the other two members have full life bars. Overall its pretty easy to pass the earlier stages until you get knocked out of the arena and you lose immediately in the higher levels!



Graphics and Audio
Graphics are slightly better than the previous series, if not the same. You can’t really expect too much from a PSP game to be honest. Graphics alone don’t determine if the game is good or bad anyway. I love the drawings of each character when you are on the character selection screen though. The CG cut scenes are also amazing and once unlocked you can view them again in the Gallery.

I apologize again for not being able to provide more during-battle images. But you can find them on IGN.

And as for audio, nothing new really.



Final Verdict
So is it worth buying this game? Yes and no I would say. Hardcore fans should not and will probably not miss this one. People that haven’t played the series for a while, like me, should give this a try. For those not into level grinding this might not be for you because this game is pretty much about that as well as obtaining all the special items, ingredients for weapons and skills and unlocking characters. As for me, I can foresee that sooner or later, the hack’n slash will be boring, but I shall enjoy it while it lasts.

7.5/10

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Gundam vs Gundam – PSP review
By admin on November 20th, 2008 | 9 Comments
Previous Gundam related games like Gundam Seed: Rengou vs. Z.A.F.T. Portable, Gundam Battle Royale and Gundam Battle Tactics were all great games, specially Gundam Seed: Rengou vs. Z.A.F.T. Portable that had, at the time, the latest mobile suits from the Gundam Seed series. Now, Gundam vs Gundam, the newest Gundam game has released for the PlayStation Portable in Japan (no date for North American release yet). Is this one worth buying at all? Read on…..

For those that haven’t played the games or even heard of Gundams before, they are basically transformers but only look 100x better. The games mentioned above basically put you in one of the mobile suits, not necessary Gundams because there are different robots in the series. You will be controlling and fighting against one of the other sides, usually two sides each with different mobile suits and mobile armor (these are not necessary robots but can be fighter planes etc). Its really a third person shooter, just replace human/monsters with robots.



If I remember correctly, this game was originally from the arcade and it was ported over to the PlayStation 2, then to the PSP. Gundam Seed: Rengou vs. Z.A.F.T. Portable was a great game that offered hours of play time and great replay value because you can upgrade many of your mobile suits’ stats such as how fast the weapon can fire, more ammo, more fire power as well as more health, jump higher and more booster power etc. This is pretty much level grinding though, which I think was necessary in order to pass some of the harder levels.

Game play
Gundam vs Gundam is really just the arcade version ported over to the PSP. At first I thought there was a story mode just like Gundam Seed: Rengou vs. Z.A.F.T. Portable. I should have figured that out from the name of the game, stupid me. The controls are basically the same or really similar to the other games though – jump, boost, shoot, melee, shoot 2, special shot, special melee and special. The three specials are hard to execute because you have to hold triangle, plus either the shoot or melee. The special move is slightly easier and its executed by pressing triangle, square and cross (might as well press your right thumb onto all four buttons)
I have yet to even execute any of them. How did I even figure out how to execute these hard to do moves? They are actually mentioned in one of the game options. I will update once I figure out how to execute them. I have never had such frustration over special moves from previous Gundam games.

[Update: I have finally managed to execute the special attack (only when your special gauge is full) by pressing.....L and R together twice]



Aside from the standards, now you can assign orders to your computer teammate, commands like attack, dodge and surprise attack. You can also call in support where an additional mobile suit for a second and throw in a few more shots at your current target, as usual, the calls for support can be recharged with time just like recharging your gun’s ammo. I find the support useful because, if I remember correctly it was able to take the hits for me as well as acting as a decoy for a short time.

Enough with the controls, the game has three game modes – “normal” mode (I call it the normal mode, was going to say story mode but its not a story) where you fight through 8 stages with the last stage as boss stage, quick play and multiplayer that supports 2 on 2 battles. I think the 2 on 2 is the selling point here, just like the arcade version, the fun is from shooting and slashing other human piloted mobile suits. Once you have selected a mobile suit from the list with 20+ of them and more can be unlocked by completing the “normal” mode. They range from the oldest 0079 series all the way to the newest ones from the Gundam 00 series. The objective of any of these game mode is the same, you and your enemies both have a life bar, you will lose if your side’s life bar reaches 0. When you and/or your teammate dies (same goes for enemies), the amount of life your team loses is based on the mobile suit you picked. The stronger the mobile suit, the higher points its worth, which means when it blows up, your team loses a bigger amount of life. So that means its not always better to pick the strongest from the list. I picked my favorite Freedom Gundam and its worth 3000GP, I lost one of the games once by dying only twice!



In “normal” mode, you will fight in random locations and you will have a random computer mobile suit to fight along side with you. There are a total of 8 stages with the last one being the boss stage. The boss is huge, relative to your mobile suit and it took me 2 tries to beat it, I was one hit away from losing the game for the second time! I guess I just need to practice more with the controls, a training mode would be a perfect game mode for this game.

Quick play is no brainer, you pick your mobile suit and pick up to 3 other computer to fight with or against you. You can modify options like how long the match lasts for, how fast your special gauge fills up or different stages/music.

Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to try out the multiplayer.



So as you can see, there isn’t any level grinding here. Although you can still unlock more mobile suits, intro movies, endings and images for the multimedia galleries.

Graphics and audio
Graphics are again, PSP quality, the mobile suits are nicely detailed, environments are plain but the game is so fast paced you won’t have time to appreciate or pay attention to, not that there is anything to appreciate here. Music is actually real sound tracks from the Gundam series, so based on which Gundam series’ stage you are fighting in, you will be listening to that series’ soundtrack. The soundtracks bring back a lot of memories by the way.

Final verdict
Overall I think this game is OK. I still prefer Gundam Seed: Rengou vs. Z.A.F.T. Portable because it has a story mode and level grinding although you can still unlock more mobile suits, maybe its just me. For those that are looking for fast paced arcade style game play, Gundam vs Gundam should suit your needs. Skills really matter in this game since there’s no level grinding where you can easily overpower your enemies by powering up your mobile suits and weapons. If you have lots of Gundam loving friends with PSP, I suggest convincing them to get a copy so up to 4 of you and your friends can fight each other anytime without going to the arcade.

7.0/10

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