Chains of Olympus was probably the single biggest PSP release during the entire console’s life cycle. It was one of the first games everyone wanted for the system, and Ready at Dawn delivered a God of War experience just like the console version, with no cut corners.
The game takes place between the first two games, with Kratos continuing his journey to rid every god of Olympus and his quest to kill Zeus. He finds himself discovering more nightmares of his past, his daughter, and various new gods not seen in previous games. The story is just fine and feels just like a God of War game, but it’s very short and can be finished in less than 4 hours.
I remember starting up this game for the first time and seeing half of Kratos’ face in the main menu, just like in previous games, and pressing that new game button. The game starts with you at the Battle of Attica, fighting off a giant basilisk sent to destroy the city by the Persians. I knew the game would have an epic first boss fight and a giant city to fight in, as the previous games did as well. You also have to remember that this was released two years after God of War II, so there wasn’t much else to go off of at the time. Thankfully, this game carved its own path in the God of War series, and later games actually borrowed things from this game.
Surprisingly, the controls work out just fine with the handheld version. Pressing the shoulder buttons and moving the analog nub allow you to dodge. The combat and animations are gorgeous, and the game runs at 30FPS most of the time. Very rarely did it ever drop below that, and sometimes it even went up to 60 FPS in smaller areas. Everything about this game is so familiar yet somehow slightly evolved from GoWII. The moves are more fluid, and upgrades are a bit different as well. New magic items and a brand new weapon are introduced as well.
The Gauntlet of Zeus is a giant fist that brings slower, more powerful hits; sadly, due to its short length, only one extra weapon was introduced. Efreet is the new AOE magic attack that uses fire damage; Light of Dawn is a long-range magic attack; and Charon’s Wrath stuns enemies. Kratos also gets a shield in the game, allowing new counter-attacks and throwing back projectiles at enemies. The whole combat system as a whole feels new and enhanced enough to make this feel like a sequel rather than a spin-off.
Just like in previous games, you can upgrade your magic and health with hidden Phoenix Feather and Gorgon Eye chests, as well as using red orbs to upgrade items. Most of the hidden chests are easy to find if you explore all areas and pay attention to breakable walls and side paths. The best part about this game is the new enemies and bosses, which is what makes God of War so epic to begin with.
After beating the Basilisk, you will come across a few other bosses, but they aren’t large epic enemies like previous games; they are smaller and more challenging combat-wise, which is fine for the story that it delivers. I don’t want to spoil the game and tell you all the bosses right here, but the final boss proved quite a challenge and will test your reflexes for sure.
The environments are also amazing, as with any God of War game, with huge set pieces, massive buildings, giant statues, and various background stuff going on. Chains of Olympus was the best-looking handheld game ever released at the time and stunned everyone. It sold more PSP systems, which was good and was the main reason why most people bought a PSP. The lighting effects and textures look great and are a step up from God of War II. There is some noticeable aliasing and audio compression, but overall, the game seems impossibly good on the small system. This was also the first PSP game to use the full 333 MHz of the CPU and required an update before playing.
Overall, Chains of Olympus is a milestone and a pinnacle game in the handheld market and shows just how much of a powerhouse Sony’s handheld was back in the day. Sadly, we never got a new God of War on Vita, but this game is playable on that system as a PSP download.
The PSP is a legendary system. There were so many fantastic games on this console that it has been considered the second-best next to the GameBoy Advance. The PSP had a great start and a rough ending, but overall, hundreds of games were released, and a good quarter of them were worthy of being in a collection. Now, I have played and owned the PSP since that wonderful day on March 24, 2005, when I was a teenager and saved up my allowance on pre-order payments for 6 months. However, what ultimately killed the PSP sales-wise was piracy. The PSP was very easy to hack, and many custom firmwares were installed on the system, allowing users to download games. While this is possible on every console in existence, the PSP became a Pirate Station Portable, if you will. Emulators were made for the system, so you can carry around SNES, GBA, Genesis, and even PS1 games on this thing. It’s a very powerful and versatile system, and many things can be done with it.
While I can’t condone piracy, if you own a large collection of classic games, it’s great to have them on the go with you, and this became my main driving point for playing this system to this day. Outside of emulators, the PSP library is like no other. Racing games, action, and RPGs were among the most popular genres on the system. The PSP had one of the greatest handheld launches of all time, with Ridge Racer, Darkstalkers, Lumines, Ape Escape, and many other brands on board. The system was sleek, the most beautiful handheld system ever created, and powerful. I remember booting up Ridge Racer for the first time and being overwhelmed by the graphical fidelity, sound, and large screen. This was also the first handheld with this large of a screen. We had widescreen gaming in our hands with a huge 4.3″ LCD, and that was even bigger than phones back in the day. In 2005, you had BlackBerries with small screens and flip phones. Phone screens didn’t catch up until six years later. The PSP was way ahead of its time.
While many great games took forever to be released, it was a slow trickle, for sure. Huge games were milestones for the system, like God of War, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Gran Turismo, Tactics Ogre, and many others. These games defined the system as fantastic, and there were also many other hidden gems thrown in there. There were also many JRPG ports that were only seen in Japan that were now ported to English for the first time, and this trend continues with the Vita. The PSP was perfect for JRPGs that you could keep in your pocket. Now the PSP had many flaws, like the terrible UMD discs that nearly crippled the system. The system also had many failed services like comics, Skype, UMD movies, and the terrible internet browser. The system remains great for watching movies, listening to music, and playing games, but more so natively than through paid services. They just didn’t work on the PSP at all.
This will be my very last review of the PSP hardware line, as it was the last (outside of the E1000 unit that was in Europe only). The PSP Go is a very difficult system to find these days, as it is the least widely available. The PSP Go was released in 2009 and was discontinued barely two years later. The PSP had two previous models that greatly improved the system, with the 3000 model being the best. Surprisingly, what drove sales was how easy the hardware was to hack and downgrade. The original model was the easiest to hack, as it was mastered by the time the 2000 model came out. The 2000 model had a new motherboard, and several hurdles had to be overcome with various firmware updates. It is the least popular of the three. The 3000 system didn’t take as long as Sony was slowing down on the firmware updates, and the PSP Go was hacked in no time flat.
With that said, the actual system is even sexier than you could imagine. A slide-out PSP? No way! Many mock models were created for the PSP 2, which was said to be announced around the time of the PSP Go release. The system does have drawbacks over the original models, but there are advantages that help iron some of this out. First off, the system fits in your pocket easier. The PSP wasn’t really the best for your pocket, as it was very wide.
The Go eliminates the buttons on the side of the screen by putting the screen on top of the buttons, which is a genius idea. While the chassis is now all plastic, it’s still very sturdy. The system retains the overall shape of the PSP and has rubber feet on the bottom of the system, and the PSP ring logo is now removed. The buttons have been completely rearranged, more dramatically than the PSP 3000’s arrangement. The new PS button introduced on the 3000 is now on the top screen, being the only button there. The Bluetooth and WiFi lamps are at the top of the screen, as are the speakers flanking the screen. It’s very minimal and looks great, and this is my favorite home button so far on the system. On the top of the system are the usual L and R buttons, but they are larger than the previous systems and lay more flat as they don’t make up part of the shape of the system like before. The PSP has a volume rocker for the first time, which is on top of the system, and the screen and note buttons flank that. These are the only bad decisions as to when the screen is up. These buttons are hard to press as you have to blindly feel for them. Your most used buttons are under the screen with the analog nub between the D-pad and face buttons, which is interesting as it was under the D-pad previously. The nub is inset, so your thumb stays inside and feels more like an analog stick, and it sticks up away from the console but doesn’t tilt still. The D-pad is much improved, as it doesn’t rock like previous systems, and the face buttons are the exact same size as the Vita. You can actually see the influence of the Vita in the PSP Go.
With that said, the buttons feel great, and the body is nice. The power slider and wifi switch are very similar to the PSP 3000 on each side of the system, but the worst change of all is a new proprietary memory card called Memory Stick Micro. This was one last stab to combat piracy, but the internal flash actually helped it. The new memory cards are much more expensive than the MS Pro Duo cards that were widely available. So, if you upgraded to a PSP Go, you had to ditch your Pro Duo, which is an awful move on Sony’s part. While the internal storage is a nice 16GB for several games, a larger size would have been nice to eliminate the removable media altogether. 32 or 64GB would have been just fine, and no one would have complained. On the plus side, with this internal storage comes lightning-fast read and write speeds, so load times are greatly reduced in most games. The Go also has Bluetooth 2.0, which no other model has. This was to connect Bluetooth headsets and the DualShock 3. Oh yes, you can play games with the DualShock 3, which is a nice feature; however, there’s no easy way to play as you have to put the Go on a flat surface. USB 2.0 was also removed and now has its own cable, which means your other cables are out the window. If you lose this cable, you’re screwed; however, USB A to B was being phased out as phones were using Mini B cables, which are now standard. Hey, at least it still has a headphone jack and mic.
Most people complain that the Go has a screen that’s almost half an inch smaller than the previous models. After a while, you don’t notice, and the picture is extremely clear due to the better LCD technology inside the Go. The “looking through a screen door” issue is gone here, and the screen is crisp and bright even by today’s standards. Overall, I can consider this the Gameboy Advance Micro of the PSP. Every handheld system usually has a miniature “best of” variation, and this is it.
With that said, the PSP Go is my personal favorite system. I love the larger versions; the PSP 3000 is the best of the three, but something about ultra-compactness and the slide-out screen really sells the entire package. It’s a gorgeous system, and it’s a shame it hasn’t been re-released. The only true way to play this is by buying the UMD versions, downgrading the firmware, and playing the backed-up ISO of your game. You can even downgrade a UMD PSP, and there are plugins that allow you to rip the game from the UMD onto the MS Pro Duo and then transfer it to your Go to completely circumvent piracy. This huge hurdle is probably what killed the Go, and the fact that the PSN store is shutting down on the PSP natively this month is a crying shame. You can still buy and purchase PSP games, but eventually those will go away as well, and this hacking circumvention will be the one and only way to even get games on this system.
It’s also the rarest of the variations, as a new system will run you over $200, which was the original price point, and even just finding one in good shape is a chore on its own. I picked up a beat-up system near me for $80 with the charger, and it was the only one in my entire county. I later tracked down the white model used in perfect condition for just $100, but again, most cheap Go systems are extremely beat up. If you don’t care about that, then $60–80 is your price range, which isn’t bad.
Here we have another collection of games that are almost completely worthless. Capcom was never well known for puzzle games, so why not just stick these in another larger collection? All we get are two lousy puzzle games and one good one. Buster Bros. has three variations! The game stinks as it is; why do we need three? The only worthwhile game is Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. BlockBlock is just a Breakout rip-off and is less fun.
Honestly, even Puzzle Fighter looks like crap on the PSP. These games were poorly ported, and with such a small selection, who would want to buy this when the back says six games? I played the entire collection in less than 30 minutes and was done with it. Buster Bros. consists of shooting arrows straight up that are supposed to pop bouncing bubbles. It’s extremely difficult and no fun at all. Puzzle Fighter is a gem/Tetris hybrid that many may be familiar with. Chibi Street Fighter characters punch each other when blocks fall. Your goal is to chain colors together and drop the breaker block to set the chain off. Your blocks, which you broke, then fill your opponent’s wall. It’s a lot of fun, and this is the only game I could go back to. However, there are more fun variations of this game (Puzzle Kombat from Mortal Kombat: Deception/MK3 for DS).
There aren’t even any great extras like in other Capcom collections. The game is just dull and boring, and even if you bring a friend along ad hoc, you’re just going to waste their time as well. If Capcom were to have included some newer puzzle games from their catalog or just added these to other collections, it wouldn’t be such a big deal. As it stands, there’s not much to really say about these three small games. It’s not worth the money or your time, even as a rental. Just stay away from this and enjoy your memories of them instead.
These classic compilations from publishers are hit-and-miss. They can either be amazing (Midway Arcade Treasure 2) or complete crap. Reloaded falls kind of in-between. Here we have some great Capcom games like Street Fighter II, 1943, Ghost & Goblins, and Knights of the Round. On the other hand, we have multiple versions of one game, which is completely unnecessary where other games could have been. Do we need two versions of 1943? Three versions of SF2? 3 versions of Ghost & Goblins? No, we don’t. Instead, just give us the superior versions.
Ghost & Goblins includes the original NES version, an arcade, and then the superior Super Ghosts & Goblins for SNES. Just give us the SNES version! I don’t care about the other two. For Street Fighter II, we get the original arcade version, Champion, and Hyper Fighting. Just give me Hyper Fighting! I honestly don’t know what Capcom was thinking. If it’s not multiple versions, it’s duds. SonSon isn’t all that great, and I didn’t care much for Vulgus. There are better Capcom classics that could have taken their place.
Thankfully, there are other features inside the game that are nice, such as save states like in emulators, and your scores are tracked. You can also use these score “coins” in the slot machine to unlock extras such as cheats, art, and other things. Local multiplayer is a nice addition to games like Street Fighter and Knights of the Round. Infrastructure would have been much nicer, but given the poor software sales, it would have cost too much money to keep servers going.
The games themselves are nicely emulated, with no slowdown. The screen is nicely fitted to the PSP’s widescreen without looking stretched out and grainy, so I give it credit for that. You have to take each game with a grain of salt because some of them are over 20 years old. Don’t come in expecting innovative new ideas and amazing graphics. These games are fun to play as a weekend rental, but only people who grew up with them will truly appreciate them. I just wish there weren’t so many duplicates and so many duds.
I don’t know much about Black Rock Shooter, but I know it’s highly popular in Japan and has made its way to the US. The premise of the story is interesting. Mankind was destroyed by machines, and only a few humans remain alive. Black Rock Shooter is mankind’s heroine, and you play that role in the game. There’s some shooting involved and minor exploration, but the game feels like a cheap cash tie-in for the franchise.
Exploration consists of wandering through extremely linear and ugly environments to find enemies to kill. When you get into battle, you are stationary and must use the analog nub to control your gun and press square to fire. As you continue to fire, your gun will overheat and do less damage. This is an interesting idea, so don’t spam shots. Enemies advance on you, and you need to block or use defensive special powers to reduce damage taken. There are many special powers to unlock, but they have long-cooled-down timers. This seems fun at first, but after the first few levels, it gets tiring. It’s really easy because you are given plenty of health packs, and it’s not hard to judge the enemy. Each battle plays exactly like this, even bosses.
When you’re not shooting, you’re just running around, and that’s the entire game. There’s no handing out stat points, and the story drags on and is pretty incoherent. I didn’t get attached to any of the characters, and I couldn’t even finish the game. The game has good Japanese voice acting, but the game is downright ugly, even for PSP standards. The textures are so low-resolution and muddy that you can hardly make out what they are. The models are ugly, with hardly any detail, and everything looks out of proportion. BRS is nearly taller than 5-story buildings, and all the environments look the same. There’s honestly not much fun here, even for hardcore BRS fans. They may trudge through it for the story, but that’s about it.
BRS could have been so much more given the license. Instead, we get an ugly, dull-shooter RPG hybrid that isn’t interesting at all to play. Why the game got a US release is beyond me, seeing as a lot of people have never heard of BRS and the game is so hard to find. There is a collector’s edition released in Japan, and it has done much better over there.
This has been a long time coming. I have been trying to get through this game since it was released, but I just gave up. The game is not only difficult, but it’s so repetitive and strange. It has an odd vibe to it, but at least it controls well for the PSP and looks fantastic. The voice acting is spot on, but the story is so strange and broken up that I just couldn’t follow it.
That’s not to say the game’s horrible. All I know is that you play as Aya Brea from Parasite Eve (this is the spiritual successor), and you get jacked into a system where you can warp into people’s bodies and control them. Think of them as lives. Once one guy is dead, you have to transfer to another body, or you will die. As you bring down the health of these parasites that have taken over New York City, a yellow triangle will flash over them that lets you transfer into them and do massive damage. This is essential to winning most boss fights. You just run around blasting everything with traditional military weapons, but at least you can upgrade them. Adding more power, accuracy, and various other things requires points that you acquire through completing levels. There are a plethora of weapons in the game, from handguns to rocket launchers. It’s nothing special, and I wish there were more unique weapons. The combat is fun at first but gets tiringly repetitive as you get further in.
Every level nearly plays the same. You blast through parasites, transfer through bodies, and then fight a boss. Sometimes you have to destroy nodes to advance, but it stops being fun less than halfway through. The bosses are extraordinarily tough, and you will die dozens of times. If you shoot stuff long enough, you get Overdrive, which allows you to do massive damage, but there’s a weird pause between every few shots, and it wastes precious time. Some bosses I died on dozens of times and nearly gave up on—they have multiple life bars, and if you don’t beat them a certain way, you never will.
The action never lets up, but the pacing is so poorly balanced. You get a good run through a level, then suddenly you have to run from some unbeatable monster. The platforming is atrocious, and even climbing ladders can be hard. I died multiple times because of how linear the levels are, and I just couldn’t maneuver properly. The game could have been one of the last great PSP games if it had just had more polish. The graphics are fantastic, with some great lighting effects and good-looking textures. There are just too many issues for this to be considered one of the PSPs’ best.
Overall, The 3rd Birthday has a lot of amazing aspects and ideas, but they fall flat because they weren’t fleshed out all the way. The platforming stinks, the game is just too damn hard, and it’s overly linear. The story is an unfocused mess, but at least the game looks amazing and the controls are great. The shooting feels good as well, and there are a lot of customizable features. It just needs more polish, but what’s here is worth a rental or cheap bargain bin price.
LocoRoco was one of the PSP’s killer apps and brought cute platforming fun to the handheld. LocoRoco 2 is a disappointment because of how little it changes from the first game. The gameplay and graphics are unchanged, with just new levels and bosses. There are a lot of things to collect, but the mechanics a second time around just seem a bit frustrating.
You control the blobs by tilting the world with L and R and pressing both to jump. This is fine, except I wanted more control. Some levels require precise jumping, and tilting the world doesn’t provide that precision. There are underwater levels that feel the same way, but I really enjoyed the mini-games; however, they were short-lived and only lasted seconds. The goal is to get to the end of the level while collecting pickles and fruits to make yourself bigger and knocking out Moja along the way. You can help out creatures by having enough fruits and using a pretty simple rhythm mini-game to earn rewards. These rewards come in pieces to help build Mui Mui’s giant treehouse. This is great for kids, but as an adult, this is just kind of boring and feels useless.
The game uses physics for everything, and it works well enough, but it just feels a bit floaty. The boss fights are extremely difficult, and I couldn’t get past the second main boss. The jumping mechanics just aren’t precise enough for this, but that doesn’t make it a bad game. You have to use momentum to be able to jump up high, so tilting left and right until you get enough speed makes jumping tedious. You get used to it, but I just couldn’t shake the feeling. After about 10 levels, you start getting bored with the game, especially if you already played the first one. I kept expecting new stuff to happen, but it was all the same. The level’s difficulty just varied way too much, and I felt there wasn’t a good pace set. This was mainly due to the fact that Mojas can eat a piece of you, and there’s no way to shake them off. If you bump them in time, you can get the piece back, but when several surround you, it gets frustrating.
All the collecting and stuff is fine, but it is difficult to tell where these hidden spaces are. You have to accidentally come across them because there is no hint that they are there. No wall discoloring, no breaks, nothing. I honestly felt nothing in this game was worthwhile or worth finding. Once you finish a level, you never want to go back because you will eventually get tired of the game. The most enjoyable moments in LR2 are when you aren’t even controlling the game. When you go on “gumball” style rides where you break down into tiny blobs and go for a ride, those were enjoyable to just watch. It reminded me of gumball machines as a kid, especially the crazy ones.
LocoRoco 2 is full of charm, but older players may grow tired of it quickly. It’s a one-trick pony and is nearly identical to the first game in almost every way. Collecting items feels pointless, and they are very difficult to find in levels. The boss fights are annoying and hard due to the finicky jumping mechanics, but it is an overall enjoyable game.
BlazBlue is a newer fighter from the guys behind Guilty Gear. The game has crazy characters, beautiful art, and an awesome soundtrack, but it has one of the most complicated fighting systems I have ever played. Jump cancels, combo cancels, high jump cancels, canceling mid-combo it continues said combo, this is all just ridiculous and literally gave me a headache. The story is also something to be desired, but the overall characters are fun, and the game is a good button masher.
The game also has a lot of modes, which means you get your money’s worth. Not only do you get arcade, story, and a tutorial mode, but an endless mode, online play, score attack, a full gallery, and a few others. Unlimited Mars is a mode where you fight against advanced AI, and mission mode allows you to fight waves of enemies. There are lots of things to do here, but overall, you won’t spend too much time in either mode because it all feels repetitive after a while. When I went into the tutorial mode, I pretty much gave up 3/4 through because of how complicated the fighting system is. Thankfully, there is a stylish mode that simplifies the whole thing and allows you to do complicated combos with only a few button presses, but all the other elements like shield barriers, different blocking techniques, this meter, that meter—it all just becomes too much.
BlazBlue does become an entertaining button masher once you get the hang of it, but only hardcore fans will attempt to master the fighting system. I even found the arcade mode to be long-winded, and there’s just too much talking in the game. There’s a “Teach Me, Miss Litchi” section in the story mode that is just constant yapping about tips on the game. You get to experience the other two-story modes from past games, but there is more talking than fighting here. Sure, it’s entertaining, but I couldn’t wrap my head around the overly frustrating and complex fight system to enjoy it enough.
Once you spend a few hours in the game, you will put it down at this point, and that’s when you will decide if you like it or not. I highly suggest renting this first for newcomers, because even Street Fighter or other Japanese fighting game vets will balk at this game. The animations and scenes are beautiful, the soundtrack is great, and I can’t help but really dig the characters here despite all the complaints. Sticking to stylish mode eased some of the headache-inducing memorization.
Overall, the game is great for fans of the series, but newcomers may want to seriously consider this a rental first before buying. If you do buy it, there is tons of content to keep you busy in many modes. Online play is the usual blast and the only reason to come back to any fighter these days. The characters are awesome with great personalities, and the visuals are stunning. I just wish the fighting engine itself wasn’t so complicated and complex.
Need for Speed has taken many different directions, but the mid- to late-2000s were the worst for the series. ProStreet is probably the worst NFS I have played, and I can’t really recommend this to even hardcore fans. The game has good customization options and varied event types, but after a couple dozen races, you will be bored.
Races consist of earning a certain amount of points to “dominate the day.” These events range from drifts, drags, grips, time attacks, and sector shootouts. Sector Shootout is where you have a track divided into sections, and you must get the fastest times in those sections to win. Grip races are straight-up races, and the rest is history. Out of these events, the drags are the best because you need to heat up your tires before racing. You can only win by getting perfect shifts, but after you get NOS upgrades, the drags become really easy. There are 1/4 mile and 1/2 mile drags, but I would have liked to see 3/4 and 1 mile drags as well. All the other races are pretty boring, and drifting in the game feels like dragging an 18-wheeler through the dirt. No matter what car you use, drifting never feels right and is a huge pain to pull off.
The game was one of the first NFS games that used real-time damage, which is supposed to affect the way the car drives but really doesn’t. You can get light and heavy damage, but I never really noticed much of a hit in performance. If you damage your car, you have to repair it before the next race, but you can use cash or repair markers that you earn. My biggest issue with these “Race Days” is that if you quit in the middle, you have to restart the whole thing. This drove me nuts because I couldn’t go upgrade my car and come back.
Upgrading your cars is pretty fun because there are a lot of options for both performance and cosmetics. You can fine-tune your car as well, but there is a quick upgrade option for impatient people. You can only have certain cars for certain event types, but you can only save customizations as blueprints. This allows you to have multiple looks and load-outs for your cars. I found that cash is given very slowly and parts are very expensive, so you won’t be upgrading very often, which is a huge bummer.
Lastly, the game is just monotonous. After about a couple dozen races, you will feel fed up with the same tired races over and over again. The physics feel too weighty, and most cars feel the same no matter how you upgrade them. The whole game is really unbalanced and poorly designed. The game doesn’t even officially support the Game for Windows controller and just shows keyboard buttons instead. I just gave up about halfway through because some races were always easy, no matter who you were, and some were extremely difficult, no matter how good you were. The visuals are decent, but not anything to write home about. The announcer is just extremely annoying to listen to with his stoner one-liners, and he just blabbers on about nonsense.
Overall, ProStreet wasn’t very good when it came out and isn’t 5 years later. There were, and still are, better racing games out there. I can’t really recommend this game unless you like monotony and repetitive nonsense. ProStreet is half-broken and highly unbalanced. As it stands, this is probably the worst NFS out there right now.
The past portable Mortal Kombat game’s quality ranged from mediocre to abysmal. Unchained is probably the best portable MK in recent history and is an excellent port of Deception. All the modes like Puzzle and Chess Kombat are here, as well as the full Krypt, Konquest, and Arcade modes. Unchained adds a few characters and an endurance mode.
The game plays just like Deception, and the controls are just as tight and responsive as the console versions. Using each fighter’s three fighting styles is great fun, but I felt it didn’t feel as quick and fluid as the 2D games. Sure, the animations are sharp and smooth, but the 3D depth takes away that lightning-quick feeling between each move, and the combos are canned. Free-forming combos are a bit tougher because you have to memorize all the long combos and kind of manipulate the fighting engine to get extra-long combos that aren’t there. The combos spread across two- fighting styles and one weapon style, but you can switch between the three on the fly. Each style has its own combos, but to do the longest, you have to switch back to their default style to start it. This makes the overall play slower but more tactical, and it really makes you think before jumping around like an idiot.
The stages are multi-tiered, with yellow lines that represent hazards and red lines that represent death. Knocking opponents off these yellow lines will cause damage, but red lines cause instant death. There’s one level that is suspended in the air, and the outside slowly crumbles apart. If you are on the edge at that time, it’s instant death for you. Each stage is very unique and nicely designed, with even some weapons on the stages, like in Mortal Kombat 4. There are a lot of new stages here, but some old ones appear, like The Cesspool, Living Forest, and The Pit.
Fatalities are intact, with each character having two pre-made fatalities. They’re as awesome as anyone remembers, but there are a few duds. A new feature is a reverse fatality, which is a Hara-Kiri. This allows the loser to perform a fatality on themselves to steal the glory from the winner. These are just as interesting and a very neat idea that I would like to see come back to the series. The fatalities are only executed a bit differently. You have to enter the Fatality stance so your character stays put for the code input, but otherwise, it’s all the same.
There are some new characters added to the series, like in Deadly Alliance, and most of them are boring duds. Shujinko, Hotaru, Dairou, Darrius, and a few others are boring and don’t really fit in the MK universe. Dairou, for example, is absolutely boring to play, with only three special moves and small combos. Thankfully, there are more classics like Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Ermac, Liu Kang, and Baraka, just to name a few. A few new additions are Frost, Kitana, and Blaze from Deadly Alliance, but sadly, they only have one Fatality from that game. Shao Kahn and Goro are here as well from the GameCube port, but they have no fatalities.
Chess Kombat returns, where you play an MK version of chess and fight it out when you try to take other pieces. There are two power squares on the board that give you an extra 25% of health for every square you own. There is even a spell list like Kill, Teleport, and Resurrect to add to the strategy. These games can get intense and require a lot of thinking. I really love this mode, and I hope it returns to the series someday.
Puzzle Kombat is an MK twist and Street Fighter puzzle, but at the end of each round, a Fatality is performed. Each character has a special power to use, like Jumble, which mixes blocks around, Freeze, and even a move to remove a certain number of columns. This is a really fun mode and can be played for a long time or to take a break from fighting.
The saddest part about this game is that there is no online play. This is what made Deception so awesome, and it was taken out of the game. Thankfully, the graphics look pretty decent, but the sound quality took quite a hit. The Konquest mode is probably the ugliest and pretty boring and monotonous. The load times are on par with the PS2, and the overall menu design and feel are the same. Other than that, this is one awesome Mortal Kombat package for people still rocking their PSPs.
Great post tthankyou