Everybody's Golf 2
The first Everybody's Golf was a launch game for PSP and it's only been pushed out of regular play on our PSPs by its sequel. From a game reviewer's point of view, sure, it's virtually identical to the previous game. But from a gamer's viewpoint, this is cartoon golf heaven.
We love the way you can customise your super-deformed golfer with a gothy haircut, cute hat or ridiculously colourful trousers. We love the way you get rewarded for character loyalty with new special moves, like the flaming backspin pole shot or spiral pin finish. In any other serious sport, adding cutesiness and special moves would usually be a recipe for certain disaster, yet here they make the game infinitely superior to the dull-as-its-mascot Tiger Woods PGA Tour series.
Above: Nice shot? Why thank you very much, PSP
When your golf game praises you for perfect hits and gives you confetti and screen warps when you nail an Eagle, you remember why you chose to play a videogame version of golf in the first place. This is better than the real thing.
Formula One 06
You might wonder why we've picked an aging, forgotten racer as one of our favourite games on PSP. You might be even more baffled when we tell you it infuriated us immensely with a plethora of bugs that often spoiled half an hour of careful race preparation. But while the imperfections are many, the core racing experience is phenomenally exciting.
Above: The replays are passable, but the on-board cam is where it's at
The driving model is laps ahead of the other Formula One game on PSP. You can really drive a proper racing line and the control sits nicely on the D-pad or the analog nub. The track design is ace because these are the real tracks of the Formula One Grand Prix calendar. The third quarter of Interlagos is about as exhilarating as a racing game can get and the feeling of grip on the bumpy surface is sublime. Making a pass after laps of careful catch-up is petrolhead heaven. We just hope a new, glitch-free F1 game appears soon.
Star Ocean First Departure
So, yeah, this hasn't exactly set the world of games alight with blazing review scores, but this remake of a notable piece of Super Famicom J-RPG history has absolutely charmed the pants off us. We can't remember the last time we got so excited about fighting endless battles just so we could stock up on enough exp points to improve our cooking skills. Honestly. The first time we knocked together a plate of sole in white wine sauce was a very special moment.
Above: The art style is beautiful. We want to live in this house
And yes there's lots of backtracking and plodding about, but it's done at such a sedate and leisurely pace that we've found it impossible to not be sweetly soothed by its gentle ambling nature. We even love the battles - one aspect that most reviewers concurred to be a bit pants - finding some methodical satisfaction and subtle art to the button mashing. Sure, it's not perfect, but you'd be hard pushed to find another RPG for the PSP that's as cheerful, friendly and as pleasantly undemanding as Star Ocean.
Ridge Racer 2
Another sequel that does little over its predecessor is Ridge Racer 2. Don't get it confused with PSone's Ridge Racer Revolution – the number means nothing, really. What you get here is a slicker version of PSP's essential launch title, with more cars, more challenges and more tracks, including the best circuits from our favourite game in the PSone series, Ridge Racer Type 4.
If you're looking at a racing game to play on a handheld, there's very little else Ridge Racer 2 could offer you. There's wifi multiplayer, solid and pretty 3D running at a super-slick 60 frames per second, and the kind of presentation that only Namco has really mastered, making you really feel like the next generation of handheld gaming is here every time you start it up.
Above: The drift system is incredibly unrealistic, but that's why it's so fun
We're right at the end of the game, going through the last couple of extreme challenges and it's still giving. We're long past learning how to drift and we've been boost refilling our nitrous for more laps than we can remember (on top of completing the first PSP version, we might add). But the fact that the game is still offering challenge and reward even after we've mastered its primary gameplay makes this a firm favourite after all this time.
