PSP: 12 Games of Christmas
Sleigh with me.
Silent Hill Origins
- Out now!
- Review
About time Silent Hill popped its freaky little face up on PSP, and to fill us in on how the story all began nonetheless. Its chilling score and haunting atmosphere have made the spooky place legendary to us, as we creep in our minds through disturbingly warped hospitals, walls splattered with blood and ill intention, unlocking doors hiding chilling secrets to just what in the name of Santa Claus is going on. So iconic is the mysterious town on the hill it prompted a rather badly received film, although Uwe Boll had nothing to do with it. All of which points towards an incredibly successful formula and one developer Climax was keen to stick to for its first Silent Hill effort.
Turn away here if you are looking for monstrous strides forward in a much cherished series, then, but look again if a trip down memory lane sounds enticing to you, or if a jaunt into spooky land is just what you are after at 7am on your commute to work. It is the most accomplished survival-horror game on the PSP, and that in itself is a feat not likely to come around very often.
Oh yes, yep, of course, right, uh huh: despite the misleading title, hills cannot speak.
Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice
- Release date: 30th November
- Review
The world loves car chases so much that camera crews decided to follow police chasing villains through fields so we could watch it on telly. Masterful. Criminals use cars to getaway from justice, so we need justice to keep up. This is where Pursuit Force comes in; a squad of super cops who thunder after the perpetrators before leaping onto their moving vehicles, shooting crime in the face and impounding the guilty vehicle. A wonderful idea, and one improved vastly from the sketchy first-time PSP effort.
Extreme Justice handles better, has more vehicles, introduces a cast of supporting characters, looks better and has more engaging boss battles. In a way it is the game the first should have been, heaping variety and whisking us off to a 1990s SEGA-like world of arcade magic. However, it is not without its niggles and fails to really live up to its early potential. But what potential it has; so much you cannot help but enjoy what could be the start of something very special.
Ouch: extreme justice involves one of these, this, and a pot of Vaseline.
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness
- Release date: 7th December
- Gamepage
Afternoon of Darkness mirrors Final Fantasy Tactics in lots of ways. It's a remake of an old strategical role-playing game for starters, in this case the much hugged and fawned over Disgaea: Hour of Darkness on PS2. It also has new features to bring it line with a 2007 release; there's ad-hoc multiplayer as well as a new storyline revolving around what would happen if Etna had killed Laharl in the opening cut-scene. Disgaea does rather sound like diarrhoea too, which would account for those 60 minutes of anguish you would much rather forget. Somewhat unrelated, that one.
However, the most dramatic similarity is the attention to detail and determination to faithfully recreate a classic. The visuals are sharp and fit perfectly in your palm, while the short and sweet battles are a natural fit for sporadic pockets of gaming time. Without wanting to give too much away from our review, it is safe to say this is a title you will want to buy. Expect big things from a small package, a phrase not used for the first time here.
Sunshine go away today: eclipses are impossible on Mecury and Venus, but not in my heart.
Crush
- Out now!
- Review!
Yes I know it was released earlier this year but I felt you needed to be reminded about it. Crush is a puzzle platform game where to get through levels you will need to swap between three dimensions and two. So far so Super Paper Mario, or Psychonauts if you count the inside brain-world premise. But where Crush starts to realise the untapped potential of dimension swapping is in its ability to actually change the layout of the level by crushing it from a different angle. Squash it from the side and distant platforms get squished in close, or sandwich it from above and high peaks hit the deck.
It is incredibly clever and so refreshing to see developers like Zoe Mode tackle - no not just because they are Brighton based, promise. On a handheld not famed for innovation it is well worth picking up, and only short of true greatness because it perhaps shoots its load a little early by throwing complications in as you struggle to grasp the initial concept. Under the smooth exterior is real thought and attention to detail, proof if proof be needs be that it can be done.
Masterful: yesterday I crushed three bluebottles the size of messerschmitts by first batting them out of the sky then confirming their heads into the floor. Ask Chris if you don't believe me.