PSP Reviews

We can't remember the last time a game truly gave us goosebumps and messed with our heads quite like Corpse Party did. Can you say, "mind f**k?" It'll test your psyche (and stomach) with characters that puke blood, cruelly die right before your eyes, and, oh yes, you can expect to see their brains and bones splattered across the environments. It's a demented journey with haunting scenes around every corner... and yet, like a car crash it's impossible to look away. While there may have been several scenes we wish we didn't see, it's an experience we're glad we didn't miss. It's rare to find the type of scares that Corpse Party embraces, and even rarer for an overall experience that's quite this engrossing...

If you have played any of the other LEGO games you already know what to expect with LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7. Set in the LEGOfied wizarding world, the newest iteration never delivers on moving the series beyond what has already been done, but it does provide solid gameplay, plenty of fan service, and the charm the LEGO games have become known for...

Much like record companies in the late-’80s, game publishers have realized that they can mine their back catalogs by sprucing up a couple classics and putting them out in a single package. While some of these are obvious cash grabs, even those are often worth it for people who missed the included games the first time around. Such is the case with the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, which pairs 2001’s Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, 2004’s Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and last year’s Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. For anyone who’s already played all three games repeatedly, HD Collection isn’t worth your hard-earned ducats. Sure, seeing these games in hi-def is cool – as with the God of War: Origins Collection, Bluepoint has done an impressive job upgrading these games’ visuals – but since they just have better looking versions of the original graphics, not new HD graphics, it’s hard to justify the double-dip...

If your idea of enjoying the outdoors this summer primarily involves locating the shadiest spot to plop down and bust out your PSP, it's understandable that you might be feeling the itch for a few new distractions to fill the hours – especially since the system's retail release schedule is quite empty (at least in the States) until Madden drops at the end of August. Perhaps sensing the opportunity to fill in the grim void during these warm months, Frima Studio collected its five existing Minis titles for a massively discounted Awesome Summer Minis Bundle, which recently hit the PlayStation Store for just $4.99...

Above: 360/PS3 screenshot

Half the fun of the LEGO games is seeing how they’ll render new movie universes. While combining a film series based on a ride with a videogame series based on toys might sound like a recipe for the biggest sellout this side of a Gaga concert, the LEGO series wards off cynicism by the boatful. That is, unless you're hoping for a LEGO game you haven't already played...

Fellow gamers: We're getting old. Super Mario turned 25 last year, as did The Legend of Zelda earlier this year, and now, Final Fantasy IV is turning 20. To commemorate the occasion, Square Enix has released Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection. The compilation includes the original FFIV, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years (a sequel for Japanese mobile phones ported to WiiWare in 2009), and the new Final Fantasy IV – Interlude - which bridges the narrative gap between those two titles...

If you're one of the many who are frustrated with the stubborn reluctance of Japanese role-playing games to let go of their needlessly convoluted combat systems. If you’re embarrassed by their cheesy, melodramatic stories and disheartened by their clichéd and often creepy character design, The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky will take you back to a simpler time of RPGs and remind you that the genre you once loved has not left you behind...

Do you know what Patapon is? Have you played the first two Patapon games to completion? If you answered "no" to one of those questions, Patapon 3 is not for you. At its core, Patapon 3 is a unique, addicting rhythm game, but reaching that core takes hours and hours of micromanagement and patient trial and error. Newcomers beware...

When you sprinkle the words “Final Fantasy” into the title of your videogame, there are certain expectations: epic fantasy, cutting-edge RPG mechanics, spiky-haired heroes of ambiguous gender. When you attach words like “dissidia” or “duodecim” to the front of the Final Fantasy brand, though, expectations can often mutate into confusion, which is appropriate: DDFF is a rather confusing game...