All PSP Reviews

Hellboy: The Science of Evil (Review)

Jul 11, 2008

The Hellboy comics, with their cast of classic movie monsters and folkloric freaks, wear their influences proudly on their sleeves. Likewise, Hellboy: The Science of Evil doesn’t make any show at pretending it’s not a thoroughgoing God of War clone. ...

NARUTO: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2: The Phantom Fortress (Review)

Jun 25, 2008

Not even publisher Namco seems to be sure as to whether this arcade-style fighting game needs the subtitle "The Phantom Fortress" - it appears on the box art, but not the in-game splash screen, and both ways in the manual. But whatever you call it, Naruto fans will want to pick it up. The problem is that most will already have the original Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes, released less than a year ago. And we're not certain three new ...

Secret Agent Clank (Review)

Jun 20, 2008

What do you do when your best buddy gets thrown in jail? If you're like most GR editors, you visit long enough to take some cell phone shots of him in the clink, run back to your Tijuana hotel to post them on your Facebook page, then try to figure out how to get his girlfriend into the sack. Luckily, if this 3D action adventure is any indication, robots are more loyal. When his fuzzy buddy Ratchet gets framed for a jewel ...

Space Invaders Extreme (Review)

Jun 13, 2008

The original Space Invaders arcade game is the videogame version of a 78 RPM phonograph record - it's a sacred totem of nostalgia for the veteran generation, but it's so primitive and clunky to youngsters that they feel actual pity for the old guys. That's why it's so great that this reinvention, Space Invaders Extreme, blends old and new into a colorful, hyperactive, deeper than you'd guess shootathon that ...

Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 (Review)

Jun 10, 2008

If you're headed to the virtual links expecting something markedly different from the second portable extension of the long-running Hot Shots Golf series, think again – Open Tee 2 is a game of minor tweaks and extensive content, and aside from the advent of online play (missing from its predecessor), the game largely goes through the familiar motions. ...

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (Review)

Jun 4, 2008

How can a game that’s identical to the brilliant LEGO Star Wars in almost every respect not be as good? Simple - the setting. The Star Wars universe is vibrant, colourful and fantastical, while Indy’s real-world ’40s setting is more subdued. This works in the context of the films, but recreated in LEGO it has none of the outlandish flair of Lucas’ galaxy far, far away. ...

R-Type Command (Review)

May 8, 2008

Believe it or not, the fact that someone has taken a beloved, 2D arcade shoot 'em-up and turned it into a turn-based strategy game played on a hex grid is not the craziest thing about R-Type Command. No, the nuttiest thing is just how beautifully the bloody thing works. Borrowing equally from strategy RPGs and Nintendo’s Advance Wars series, this is an experiment that succeeds beautifully.

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Iron Man (Review)

May 2, 2008

Question: if Iron Man can fly, why has he stumbled into every pitfall of the superhero genre? His game is messy, confusing and, at best, about as good as Catwoman or Batman Begins. Which is not good at all.

In this game of the film of the comic, you are the titular Iron Man - disabled billionaire inventor Tony Stark - in his rocket-booted iron suit, out to thwart evildoers. At heart it’s a shoot-’em-up with a great deal of ...

Echochrome (Review)

May 1, 2008

Echochrome looks arty. Pretentious. Snooty, even, but for all its edgy minimalism, few games provide such a colorful challenge. It’s a dignified and well-measured puzzler - and PS3 certainly needs some more of those.

As you can tell from the screenshots, Echochrome uses impossible structures like those conceived by MC Escher (that well-known hip hop artist), and gives you the apparently simple task of guiding an ...

Pinball Hall of Fame - The Williams Collection (Review)

Mar 24, 2008

Pinball is like a dinosaur to most of today’s gamers, who’ve become used to parent-horrifyingly realistic graphics, epic storylines, and massively multiplayer online worlds. However, those few who still dig on this old-school action would have to look long and hard to find a better deal than this lovingly handled compilation. We’ll get the list out of the way first: You’ve got Black Knight, Pinbot, Gorgar, Space ...

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Review)

Mar 19, 2008

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is everything an FFVII fan could hope for, and everything a PSP owner needs in a portable action-RPG. From its fast-paced gameplay to the stunning graphics, even non-VII fans can get caught up in the game’s plot to the point where you can’t put it down. And even if you have no idea who this guy is, you’d have to be made of stone to not enjoy this scene: ...

Wild Arms XF (Review)

Mar 18, 2008

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 ...

Puzzle Guzzle (Review)

Mar 17, 2008

Puzzle Guzzle has the hallmarks of a great block puzzler - it's simple (like Tetris), easy to pick up yet hard to master (like Puzzle Fighter), and novel (like Lumines). Our first look impressed us with its fresh take on the genre, and left us eager to see the final product. Although fun and innovative, Puzzle Guzzle's playability suffers horribly due to drab visuals and borderline grating audio.Here's how it works: each block has a ...

Major League Baseball 2K8 (Review)

Mar 13, 2008

We may be mixing our sports metaphors, but there’s no doubt that 2K Sports has launched a full-court press on MLB-licensed games the last couple of years. Between the The Bigs, Power Pros, and its 2K(insert number here) sim, they’ve taken their third-party exclusive-license ball and run with it. With so many games and platforms, there are bound to be winners and losers across the spectrum. Unfortunately for PSP owners, MLB 2K8 is ...

MLB 08: The Show (Review)

Mar 12, 2008

Fans have come to know and love the handheld versions of Sony’s baseball games for the past couple of years now, so no one should be surprised to hear that the 2008 version is yet another gem. However, even we were surprised by how much more the developers were able to squeeze into a single UMD this time around. MLB 08 The Show is the best-looking and most complete baseball experience the PSP has ever seen. Color us impressed – and, ...

FlatOut: Head On (Review)

Mar 12, 2008

Liked the Destruction Derby games on the original PlayStation? Then you’ll get a kick out of this. Featuring smashable cars, tracks littered with physics-enabled objects and upgradeable motors, Head On is, like FlatOut on PS2, an unashamedly silly racer that mixes preposterous minigames, regular races and arena-based derbies to entertaining effect. It looks great. The framerate is super smooth and the courses are large and detailed; the ...

Blokus Portable: Steambot Championship (Review)

Mar 7, 2008

Blokus Portable: Steambot Championship proves that neat ideas don't always make neat video games. Originally a board game, the goal is to fill a grid with as many of your Tetris-style blocks as possible while forcing the other players to hold onto theirs. You do this by placing your shapes so that no edges run parallel to one another, but so there also are no whole gaps on the grid between them. The end result will usually look something like a ...

Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Review)

Feb 29, 2008

Oh, OK, so Pro Evolution Soccer on PSP has suffered slowdown in every one of its incarnations, but after the framerate debacle on PS3 we’re that bit more sensitive to the jerkiness. We’d been hoping that this would be the year that handheld PES would be lag-free, but no - every so often, predominantly on scrambles in the box following corners, the game lurches all over the place. It’s no worse than previous years, and you can ...

Chessmaster: The Art Of Learning (Review)

Feb 28, 2008

Hey, it’s chess. Well, that pretty much sums it up… just kidding. The Art of Learning doesn’t stray far from any other Chessmaster title in the past 15 years ...

God of War: Chains of Olympus (Review)

Feb 28, 2008

Long before he was the god of war, bald badass Kratos was just the Ghost of Sparta, a berserk agent of the ancient Greek gods. God of War: Chains of Olympus delves into those dark years, shedding light on Kratos' troubled past while delivering the same epic storytelling, beautiful scenery and vicious ass-stomping we've come to expect from the series. ...