Nov 26, 2007
Turn-based tactical strategy titles are surprisingly well represented on the PSP; in fact, this year's excellent Jeanne d' Arc and Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness - not to mention a certain Final Fantasy Tactics remake - may still have your brain cramping with cerebrally satisfying gaming. Despite these strong strategic offerings, gamers without a love for medieval magic, quirky Japanese story-telling or bizarre anime-inspired characters, may feel left out. Thankfully, Warhammer
Warhammer has finally gone portable. The Games Workshop phenomenon has now hit the PSP with Warhammer: Battle for Atluma. But it's not quite what you might think. Unlike the other Warhammer games to hit the PC and PS2 the past couple of years, this little number is based on Sabertooth Games' collectible-card game War Cry, not the miniatures wargame that geeks know and love. In any case, this is a letdown whether you're a Warhammer fan or not, as the gameplay is overly simplistic and lacking in
Like the Chocolate Strawberry Creams in a box ofQuality Street, Nintendo leaves you with a bitter aftertaste, but you can't help but keep coming back.
If we had any resolve whatsoever, we'd stubbornly and righteously boycott Wario Ware: Twisted! for Nintendo lazily bringing it to these shores 15 months - 15 months! - after Japan.
But, of course, it's such a brilliantly barmy barnstormer of a game that we're already in love with The Big N all over again. Grrr!
The opening screen warns you to
Are you an extremely forgiving PSP gamer who's desperately in need of a dungeon-crawling fix? Like, really, really desperate? If so, you're one of the few who might find something to like about Warriors of the Lost Empire, the US port of an obscure Japanese Action RPG.
Lost Empire drops you right into the middle of a plot that's utterly generic and barely comprehensible at the same time, thanks to pages and pages of text that read like they were translated by a lolcat. It has something to do
What Did I Do 2 isn’t so much a sequel as a second crack of the whip. The clever original’s core is unchanged – you strategically dig a dungeon to maintain its monstrous ecosystem and make mulch of would-be raiding parties – but various tweaks have been made...
On the surface, the glitzy anime style and catchy music of Wild Arms XF scream "come play with me, I'm shiny." But underneath that, the hardcore strategy-RPG gameplay and complex battle system warn "noobs need not apply." Some familiar trappings of the Wild Arms series are there to sweeten the deal - an engrossing story, ARMs combat, etc. - but the desperado cowboy lore of old gets ditched in favor of a greener, more medieval fantasy
Dec 4, 2007 By now it must be more difficult to bugger up a WipEout game than to get one right. PSP launch title WipEout Pure perfected the anti-gravity ship racing to such an extent that Pulse can only evolve the series with more tracks, ships, weapons and extras. If its a revolution you want, then were afraid youre looking in the wrong place. So whats new?
PSP and Wipeout Pure go beautifully together. Both are modern, polished and a gleaming example of how lucky we are to be gamers in the 21st century. From the stylish intro movie to the minimalist, modernistic menus to the game itself, everything feels fresh, contemporary and appropriate for the year 2005.
"Surely not?!" we hear you squawk. "Isn't it just a cynical and needless port of a PSone game from eleven thousand years ago?" Well, no, because, contrary to popular belief, Wipeout Pure is
Within the first few seconds of World Championship Poker 2 Featuring Howard Lederer, you know you're in well-worn territory. The strains of digitized lounge jazz confirm that, hey, daddy-o, this here's a swingin' gambling game for hep cats with rolls of dough, dig? What, can't poker exist outside the shadow of Las Vegas and its cliches?
For that matter, WCP2 doesn't even break out of the shadow of console gaming. The length of loading times is only exceeded by the slow rate of play itself, and
Doing thousands of dollars of damage to cars we'd never have a chance to drive in real life sounds like great fun, but there's one big problem: the rest of World Racing 2 isn't actually enjoyable.
Some pretty cool damage modeling is the game's main appeal. Car bodies get scuffed, bent, muddied, then pieces start flapping in the wind and eventually break off completely. But the unpredictable physics that supposedly produce damage vary, from unforgiving steering that spins out front-wheel drive
