All PSP Reviews

N+ (Review)

Aug 27, 2008

You’re looking at a screenshot of N+ right now, and thinking “simple” right? Well you’d be correct, but don’t be fool enough to say it’s easy, because it’s not something you’ll finish quickly. What N+ does fantastically is boil down everything we all love about platform gaming - wall jumps, collecting crap and enemy avoidance - then flings it at you in perfectly sized chunks. ...

Napoleon Dynamite: The Game (Review)

Feb 27, 2008

What can you do with an oddball collection of sometimes frustrating, sometimes tedious, rarely compelling, and almost always dreary mini-games? Not do justice to a quirky film like Napoleon Dynamite, that’s for sure. Yet that’s exactly what Napoleon Dynamite: The Game attempts to do with its compilation of almost 30 short and half-baked mini-games.You’ll find all your typical mini-game genres in here: from the rhythm games to ...

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes (Review)

Aug 29, 2007

Aug 29, 2007 Youll be forgiven if you feel like youve played this orange-clad ninja beatdown before: its a stripped-down port of the PS2 brawler Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2, which was itself only slightly tweaked from the first Ultimate Ninja which came out just last year. So yes: if youve played one of these “3D characters in 2D worlds” bash-a-thons – or the Smash Brothers games theyre clearly styled after – you should be right at home. Which is good, because then you ...

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 ...

NASCAR (Review)

Oct 9, 2006

The latest game featuring the fine art of turning left isn't remarkably different from its improvements-packed predecessor, though it does have a few small additions. Most of the modes and features from NASCAR 06: Total Team Control return in NASCAR 07: online racing, Fight to the Top mode, team controls, voice command recognition, rivals, car swapping with teammates and driver attributes that affect overall performance. The minigames have been replaced with challenges based on real racing ...

NBA '07 Featuring The Life: Vol. 2 (Review)

Oct 5, 2006

It's been a long, rough basketball road for the folks at Sony Computer Entertainment. Critics be damned, they keep cranking out NBA titles every year for the PSP, hoping that this time, they'll get it right. Another season brings a new release - and though it's the best one they've put together, it still falls a couple of seconds short of a buzzer-beater. For starters, NBA 07 has gotten better looking with age. The shiny courts and rotating advertisements aren't half bad, and the players ...

NBA 08 (Review)

Oct 1, 2007

Oct 1, 2007 Remember John Starks? He toiled away in basketball's minor leagues for years, working on his game until he was plucked out of purgatory by Pat Riley. A couple of seasons later, he was an All-Star point guard for the NBA Finals-bound New York Knicks. Sure, he had a few flaws - no Knickerbocker fan can ever forget his brutal performance in Game 7 of the Finals - but in the right situation he turned into a star. NBA 08 for the PSP reminds us a lot of Mr. Starks. It's taken a few ...

NBA Ballers: Rebound (Review)

May 31, 2006

NBA Ballers: Rebound represents things we love and hate about the PSP catalogue. On one hand, it's a thin repackaging of the original PS2 NBA Ballers title, with little more than updated rosters to distinguish it. On the other hand, it's a super-playable port. These short 1-on-1 roundball competitions are almost more suited for a portable system. If the PSP hardware didn't lead to fewer control options, Rebound would be a slam ...

NBA Live 07 (Review)

Sep 27, 2006

Handheld hoopsters have a reason to celebrate, as EA's newest hardwood title for the PSP connects from downtown in just about every way possible. Unlike last year's competent (if uninspired) debut, this year's NBA Live feels less like a scaled-down port than a full-fledged title on its own, thanks to rock-solid gameplay, the addition of tons of content, and some snazzy exclusive mini-games that happen to be pretty darned fun to play. In fact, we're so jazzed by it that we're here to say it's ...

NBA Live 08 (Review)

Oct 10, 2007

Oct 9, 2007 EA's small-screen roundball series has been jazzing up our PSPs for three years now, tweaking the formula each go-round. Last year, Freestyle controls worked great but tended to relegate non-superstars to the virtual bench. This season, NBA Live 08 invites all comers to the party, from Rajon Rondo to Kobe Bryant and everybody in between. It's a streamlined version of their hoops hit, and it works again just like a charm. Don't get us wrong - Brian Scalabrine won't light up Tim ...

NCAA Football 07 (Review)

Jul 24, 2006

If you're going to strap on virtual shoulder pads and get mobile, NCAA Football 07 for PSP is the best option. This portable simulator mimics the PS2 version so accurately that, if you squint just right, you might think you are playing at home. But don't sell that plasma television just yet. The PSP controls are no match for the spin moves you can perform with an analog stick. And, jerky player animations look like pigeons on crutches, especially when the game starts to chug from too much ...

NCAA Football 09 (Review)

Jul 22, 2008

Like that slacker college roommate of yours who took a few semesters off to “find himself”, NCAA football has taken a bit of a break the last two years on the PSP. It returns this season none the worse for wear, sporting a slightly different attitude but a remarkably similar look and feel to the collegiate gridiron games you’ve been playing for years now. ...

Need for Speed Carbon (Review)

Nov 9, 2006

As the steadfastly popular Need for Speed series rolls on each year, EA's modus operandi is simple - keep enough of the stuff that folks love, then add in some new wrinkles that'll excite the fan base. One thing's for sure, though - if nothing else, the PSP sports about a kajillion racing titles, and some of them are actually good. So what's the big deal this time? Good thing you asked. The new mechanic in Carbon: Own the City is the Wingman - insane teammates who'll gladly sacrifice their ...

Need for Speed ProStreet (Review)

Feb 21, 2008

Whatever took it so long to pull into the PSP’s garage seems to have worked. As with just about anything on Sony’s portable, everything works better with the D-pad. But analog steering is still here if you want it, and the shoulder buttons function adeptly as your nitrous and ...

NFL Street 3 (Review)

Nov 29, 2006

If 'roids, rules, refs and paychecks weren't an issue, professional football matches might look a little something like NFL Street 3. The latest game in the franchise once again lets you play as beefed-up cartoon versions of pro footballers knocking heads in 7-on-7 helmet-less matches set in the back streets, lots, alleys and hangars across the US. It looks and plays a bit too much like the roughly two year-old NFL Street 2, but it still hits ...