Over the course of a single month and two separate remakes on the PlayStation Portable, Mega Man has gone from extreme to extremely adorable. Whereas Maverick Hunter X, released last month, was a remake of the original Mega Man X for the SNES using updated 3D visuals and some revamped cutscenes and character designs, Mega Man Powered Up goes back even further into the Mega Man lore--all the way back to the beginning, in fact. Powered Up is a remake of the very first Mega Man for the NES, using a similar method of upgrading. But where Maverick Hunter X was mostly content to just redo the original game with an additional playable character and some shuffled power-up locations, Powered Up goes the extra mile, making all of its various bosses unlockable, playable characters, revamping many of the core level designs, and adding a whole mess of crazy challenge minigames, as well as a full-fledged level editor. Beneath all the gloss though, this is still the original Mega Man you might have played nearly 20 years ago. But through it all, the gameplay still holds up, even in this day and age.
The God Eater world has become infected with a microscopic organism which can assimilate all known matter. If enough of these cells pool together, they form constructs known as "Aragami" which are hell-bent on destroying humanity.
As such, civilisation has been brought to its knees by an army of nightmare creatures. In a last ditch attempt to avoid extinction, an organisation called Fenrir is set up to fight the Aragami menace.
Still looking for a good PSP RPG? We’ve been waiting patiently too, and finally a few new titles have entered the fray. The latest, Hitmaker’s Blade Dancer: Lineage of Light, offers surprisingly twinkle-toed gameplay for a genre steeped in the slow waltz of menus and turn-based tedium. But alas, all the interesting footwork in the world can’t make up for the game's complete lack of personality.
Lance, the spunky hero, is fresh from the RPG main character mold, sans pointy ears. His high-pitched, campy antics begin under the somewhat refreshing premise of traveling to a remote island nation in search of adventure, which at least beats waking up on the beach with no memory. This, of course, is all thrown out the window of humdrum villainy when he's eventually charged with saving the world from the Dark Lord and his Dread Knight with the help of a ragtag group of adventurers. Bleh.
You'd think that a game starring the plucky young son of the grim reaper himself would make for a creatively macabre affair. Such a character would warrant a dark, Tim Burton-esque universe, perhaps some off-kilter but subtly funny gameplay mechanics, or even just a mere modicum of personality. Sadly, Konami and Backbone's Death Jr. has just about none of these things. Death Jr. starts off showing a measure of promise but quickly degenerates into a frustrating and dull hybrid of a third-person shooter and a platformer that manages to do neither concept well. What's especially unfortunate is that you'll find sprinklings of a great game concept all throughout Death Jr.'s relatively short storyline. It just never successfully delivers.
SNK Playmore's Metal Slug franchise has been blowing up arcades and sticking it to consoles for years now. The frenetic, run-and-gun, side-scrolling gameplay along with the tongue-in-cheek humor and brilliant 2-D graphics have made this series a fan favorite. While this makes for a great Quarter-eater, it's not a formula that appeals to everyone on consoles (portable or otherwise); these titles sport little depth, feature grueling difficulty, and can be played through in about an hour. Such is the case with Metal Slug XX (pronounced: Metal Slug Double X). The game has all of the conventions and trademarks fans of the series crave, but it isn't a memorable game anyone outside of the core will have more than a passing interest in.
The game takes place in the same universe as the film, although chronologically after the movie has ended. That small piece of information is important, as, if you have seen the film, the first thing you notice is that the two worlds don’t blend together at all. While a carefully crafted CGI intro would have been a nice touch, fans are treated to still images set to voices as they are lead in to their first mission. The rendition of Metro City is extremely poor, with sub par graphics, screen-tearing and choppy camera angles throughout the adventure.
TRON: Evolution is an immersive 3rd person action-adventure game that pulls the player into the unique digital world of TRON. Gamers explore TRON's cities using the free running phenomenon Parkour, navigate among unique rebel factions, and fight an epic battle against a dictator's seemingly unstoppable army in the prequel story to the blockbuster film, TRON: Legacy.
