PSP Reviews – PSP Console, Games & Accessories

Final Fantasy

The first Final Fantasy was a revolution in gaming. When it was first release in 1987, it captured the imagination of players around the globe with its combination of impressive graphics and an epic storyline. It was one of the first games to create a full game world; since then Final Fantasy has evolved into a one-of-a-kind series with a massive worldwide following. To celebrate the original’s 20th anniversary, a remastered new version comes to your PSP. The updated graphics and new content allows fans to take the best treatment of these classics anywhere their real life adventures may take them.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Forever a Treasured Classic
I’m a 27 year-old guy who landed this game on NES back when it was first released. Zelda was my first RPG; I loved it, then Final Fantasy came along and sealed the deal for my love of RPG’s. Years and many RPG’s later (everything from Dragon Warrior to Neutopia to Breath of Fire to Landstalker, etc.), I landed Final Fantasy III for SNES and was – once again – in awe of the superiority of Final Fantasy.

Skip ahead however many years and Final Fantasy gets a HUGE facelift, but becomes linear and nowhere near as expansive as its predecessors. To this day, I’ve not liked any Final Fantasy past FF III for SNES. There’s just something about the overhead view RPG’s that has the look and feel I love. Because of this, this remake of Final Fantasy 1 is like a breath of fresh air… even having purchased and thoroughly beaten the, “Dawn of Souls” (FF1 and FF2 in one cartridge) remakes for GBA a year or so ago.

Having just purchased a PSP for the first time since they were released (I know… a late-bloomer), I’ve been scouring the internet for good RPG’s on this platform. Needless to say, I saw this remake and swiped it right up (along with the FF2 remake as well). Now, I know a lot of people here say they can’t really justify telling someone who has owned this remake on other systems to buy this one, but… if you love FF1 and still come back to revisit it through its entirity every couple of years or so, DEFINITELY buy this version!

It’s everything you’re familiar with, and then some. Being a truly COMPLETE rework (that is, this game was developed from scratch), the game looks great. You can check out a graphical comparison of the bosses (from NES development up to the PSP) here:

http://warmech.fantasyworldxd.co.uk/ff1/bosses/bosses.html

With the ability to save anywhere, the game is definitely a lot less challenging than it was on NES, but it’s a welcomed addition for those of you who couldn’t quite make it to Chaos. The four new dungeons add a lot to the game; including, new weapons, new enemies, new bosses, new levels (obviously), and – thus – new game play. While they’re the same as the new dungeons from the GBA remake, they graphics are completely reworked; the whole game is just much more enjoyable to play as a whole.

Nobuo Uematsu’s soundtrack is back, but with a bit of a touch-up. I’m an audiophile and a music buff, so I’m pretty fickle about classics being changed (even upgrading something from 8-bit to real instrumentation, lol) but nothing in this game has been changed in what I felt was a negative way; so, that’s a definite plus! In addition to his soundtrack, the new dungeons have their own new music that I really dig.

Along with a complete rework of the graphics and an updated soundtrack, the next major PSP-only feature is the addition of the, “Labyrinth of Time.” Man, this is one of the most frustrating things I’ve ever played in ANY RPG! It’s EXTREMELY challenging, has NUMEROUS paths and outcomes, and generally just makes the rest of the game seem like a cakewalk (which it kind of is anyway, being 27 and not 9 or 10, lol). Chaos is *nothing* compared to Chronodia (who has artwork that reminds one of the majesty of Kefka at the end of FF III or perhaps a boss that would’ve been found in Breath of Fire 2)… but that’s all I’ll mention in regards to that. I won’t post any spoilers or additional information, because I don’t want to ruin it for anyone. If you want to know more about the Labyrinth of Time, Gooooooogle!

The only gripe I have (and that’s just because I’m diggin’ for one) is the time it can take to load new enemies you encounter, new towns, new dungeons, etc… but we’re talking 3-4 seconds, max; a small price to pay for as much enjoyment as I get out of this game.

So… if you’re like me and you’re absolutely, hopelessly stuck in the land of – and in love with – 8-bit and 16-bit RPG’s (but dig cleaned up enhancements and a few additions to the game), I HIGHLY recommend this version of FF1. I realize there are a lot of people out there who disagree with my opinion, but they have their opinions and I have mine. Hopefully, I’ve spelled mine out enough to reach out to the exact demographic of those who share it.

Now, if only I can somehow convince Square-Enix to port FF III (SNES) to PSP…

-Stephen

5 Stars Final Fantasy fanatics, REJOICE!
What more could a 40 year old FF junkie ask for? Ahh, memories of a video game I LOVED nearly 20 years ago are wonderful! Being able to play it … again and improved..? FANTASTIC!

4 Stars The game that sailed a thousand ships…
Reviewed for Big Boss Games By: Tim

Prologue: Taken from the instruction book.

The world lies shrouded in darkness.

The winds die… the seas rage…

the earth decays…

but the people believe in a prophecy,

patiently awaiting its fulfillment.

“When darkness veils the world, four warriors of light shall come…”

After a long journey, four young travelers did last appear…

…and in the hand of each was clutched a crystal

Personal Note:

I can remember 20 years ago when I was about to borrow this new game called Final Fantasy for the Nintendo system, I was 9 years old and the game was not like any I had ever played before in my young life. Final Fantasy had a long story with a turn based battle system. It was my first adventure RPG. Final Fantasy wasn’t like all those action platformers that ran wild in the Nintendo universe. It was more grown up and fulfilling than those non-thinking games out at the time.

Story: 4/5

This game taught me to read and to have patience, that not every minute in a game had to be filled with flash and heart pounding adventures. The story in Final Fantasy has been updated many times. Final Fantasy has been told on the NES, PS1 and GBA. Now it has made it’s way onto the PSP. This time around they have added more tidbits to the major story line. I enjoy a good remake and the story was redone enough for me to enjoy it.

Sound: 3/5

It’s hard to update a Final Fantasy music soundtrack that is over 20 years old because it still stands up to the test of time. Square Enix has added some new beats with the same hauntingly mystic sounds the will follow you into your dreams. I enjoyed the music to this game.

Graphics: 4.5/5

OMG! The graphics upgrade on this game is phenomenal. What a difference from the PS1 version of the game. The sunlight flowing through the woods in the Elf village was such a nice touch. That was when I started to really notice the graphics over haul. Oh, this game is so pretty.

Game-play: 3/5

Final Fantasy’s game-play is the same as it was 20+ years ago. Turn-based attack system. You attack, then the monsters attack till one of you dies. I, for one, will never tire of this type of battle system, as long as the story keeps me playing the game.

Replay Value: 1/5

Once you complete the game there is no reason to play the game over unless you want to see the whole story over again.

Overall: 3.5/5

I’m one of the biggest Final Fantasy fan EVER! This was a great remake. I recommend this game for everyone that has loved the final fantasy games that appeared after this one, just to see where it all began. In a word WOW! If Square-Enix can remake all the Final Fantasies like this one than I’m going to be a very poor man from buying all those games again!

5 Stars Balanced Gaming
As a child, the TV and the Joystick were my babysitters. There was nothing more gratifying than mashing buttons for hours on end. However, I was never introduced to sophisticated gaming titles. Final Fantasy is not your average video game. It requires you to immerse your personality into the gameplay, and as a result the game begins to grow on you in a very positive way.

This game engages your intellect and instincts as you begin manipulating the environment of the game. You will experience the repetition of military training, gaining strength as you progress through your journey, explore and discover areas of the earth, sail with pirate ships, row with a canoe, and even fly through the air with an airship as you cross time to defeat the main enemy.

Underneath the physical emulation lies a bedrock of Japanese philosophy which can be visualized with an image of a circle. You will find the characters and events sticking to your memory with the delight of a harmony as you criss cross the earth over and over again, finding yourself remembering the idiosyncracies of each character again and again. And, like a well written song which begins and ends on the same note, you will find final fantasy beginning and ending at the same point, completing the circle, and bringing final fantasy to life in your mind.

Experience the Zen of Final Fantasy today. Challenge yourself to enrich your bestiary and find every treasure to unlock the wonderful treasures at the end of the rainbow. But remember, this game requires virtuous characteristics for completion. Be prepared to invest your time and patience for this most rewarding franchise.

5 Stars Fun to play
this game brings you back to the roots of it all the final blow before the mighty square would fall to bankrupcy, and as you play you can see why this saved the day. this game is a marvel to play the graphics are great the sprits are vivid its just fun to play, if your a fan of RPG’s then this is a must.

Buy/More Info

Ys The Ark of Napishtim

Ys: The Ark of Napishtim is a great new adventure starring the hero from the classic Ys games! Adol Christin is stranded on an uncharted island, where he discovers ancient power hidden deep under the waves. As you explore the lush islands you’ll try to face that power – and uncover an amazing adventure.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Y’s
Arrived from Hitgaming in perfect condition and 7 days early.

The loading times are rather long, but it only bothers me when it has

to stop and access the UMD the moment you level-up or teleport somewhere,

interrupting the effects. I think the frame-rate drops into the single digits

in some areas. It seems to be a bit too much for the poor PSP.

But if you’re a Y’s fan, it’s not too bad and I happen to like it quite a bit.

Not for the impatient though, or people with really good PC’s accustomed to

playing games at 500fps ;-p

3 Stars Y’s The Ark of Acceptable Gameplay
Ys The Ark of Naphishtim

I purchased the PSP version when I was looking for games that seemed decent on the PSP. Since there aren’t many out that I am able to enjoy. This happened to be one I may see the end to.

Sure playing one dungeon for 5 hours may be fun to some people. But it gets frustrating when you are doing it to try and jump to an invisible ledge repeatedly in the distance, and if you fail then you fall to a screen below you and need to traverse back up. Thus this means not only running back and hopefully getting it “this time” but sitting through the long LONG load times this game suffers from. It experiences lag when you Level up, decide to buy or sell your goods, or zoning. Luckily once you zone and you are in combat the game is truly fun.

It is all real time combat with a certain amount of enemies that spawn in each zone, once you leave the area and come back that same amount will return. Enemies are simple to having to retreat from them even from the very beginning of the game. This really helped me personally feel like I was getting stronger throughout the game.

Figuring out where to go can also be quite difficult since they don’t necessarily say where to go unless you talk to some random NPC who tells you, you can go to a faroff area to experience one little scene that really doesn’t even matter. Or the fact that there are sidequests that require you to traverse long long roads through enemies that aren’t even worth killing throughout the game. So it definately would be useful to have a guide with you for these things.

The key to battle is defeating enemies to get gold to buy healing items, armor, and shields. Sometimes enemies drop little blue crystals called Emil which is used to power up 1/3 of your swords and near the end of the game, make the high leveled armors. The key to this is getting and mastering the 3 swords’ secret techniques. If you use the magic bar which fills up with each time you hit an enemy, then the Water will unleash a Maelstrom around you, the Fire will shoot out a beam along the ground, the Electric one will fire a homing attack lightning bolt onto enemies. Each sword can do special triggers as well. The Water sword unleashes more hits if you time your [] button hits correctly to unleash a semi-maelstrom. The Fire sword will unleash a mini wave along the ground if you just hold the [] button. The Electric sword will unleash more attacks if you keep tapping the [] button until your character glows and eventually will lunge you into an enemy.

All of these various ways to make battles fun really helps out the game. And it would be highly suggested to at least be a rentable game if you enjoy RPGs all the way to dungeon crawling games like “Diablo”. But sadly you will have to get used to load times that seem to take some time, but is bare-able.

All in all I’m giving this game a 3/5 since it could have worked out some things better (mainly the “leaps of faith” concept). I’m near the very end of the game, and in two dungeons out of roughly 3 or 4. They have all involved this concept of “dash jumps”.

Still for being a fun game with a decently “ok” story, and very difficult boss battles, this game received a 4/5 for being fun.

3 Stars Just get this on your PS2
I really wanted to beat this game, I am a big fan of this type of action RPG(this game runs the same lines as Secret of mana, zelda, and Alundra), but the insane load times on the PSP make it almost impossible for me to enjoy the game.

I found myself taking less time to walk across the screen than it took to load it(a real annoyance when trying to find something you missed)

the graphics are really good, I loved the cutscenes, and the story was very well written(short but good)

Like I said, just get this one for the PS2 and save yourself some money, and stress from obsurdly long load times

there are plenty of better RPG’s to pick up for your PSP

3 Stars Not as good as it could have been
There was a lot that this game had going for it. The visuals both in game and during the FMV moments are the best I have ever seen from any game system of the size ever, and that does got a long way towards the enjoyment of the game.The deveolpment system has been used in some form or another for so long that a lot of people who play games like the console versions of baldur’s gate will have no problem dominating this game. Anyone who is a fan of hack and slash action will enjoy this game.

There are three things that made detract the one star that I did in each category. The first item is that since they push the in-game visuals so far, there is a loading screen, every time you go from map section to map section. You can actually say they went a little bit too far for the psp capabilities. There seems to be less replay value in this title than in the average handheld game.

In short:

Pros:

1. Insanely good visuals.

2. A gameplay system that’s very easy to learn.

3. Enjoyable hack and slash action

Cons:

1. The visuals are so good that they push the psp to the point where there is a loading screen every time you go from map section to map section.

2. There replay value is below average.

3 Stars Decent Zelda Wannabe
The story is okay. The game play is action oriented and fun, but nothing great. The graphics are good. The load times can take quite a long time and happen fairly frequently (enough to take a bit away from the fun)

It attempts to play similar to Zelda or the Secret of Mana, but falls far short from the fun, story, and overall appeal.

Overall, this game is decent and worth paying a discounted price for but I’m still looking for a great adventure / role playing game. Buy it used if you can.

Buy/More Info

Dragoneers Aria

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars Not So Fun
The storyline starts out fairly well, and the graphics are great. The voice acting is a bit on the fake side. However, aside from the nice visuals, the battle system is very unstable. I usually don’t die within the first six hours of a video game, but in Dragoneer’s Aria, I had already died 12 times within the first three hours. The random battles are just that–random about what you’ll actually encounter. During one battle, you may come away without a scratch. The next might be so hard that it wipes out your entire party–and this in dungeons that you’ve already beaten. All in all, it doesn’t make for smooth gameplay when you have to keep reloading old data to try again…and again…and again…e.t.c.

5 Stars Really a very good game
This is really a very good game if you like turn-based strategy RPGs. The graphics are about as good as your likely to find on a portable RPG. I think they look fine. I find nothing wrong with the voice acting, although the lines are (as always) either too cute or too corny. It does bug me when the Empath girl says “This isn’t bullying, is it?” when fighting a weaker monster. No, you can’t bully monsters, you just exterminate them. This game is a little tough, and a little slow. “Brave Story New Traveler” is a quick and easy (very easy) RPG. This one requires careful character development, and it takes its time. Here are a few tips if you are unfamiliar with this kind of RPG.

You have to use magical skills to develop them – This is a magic users game, don’t just rely on your sword.

You get Manna (MP) by using your sword – beat up on weaker enemies with Attacks to build manna to clobber the stronger monsters with magic.

You regain all your HP whenever you go up a level – which will be frequently – exploit this. You do not need to heal so much if you know you will regain your HP at the end of the battle.

The Monsters go up in power rather abruptly – and there can be powerful monsters mixed in with the weaker ones. But your power will go up quickly as well as you level up. Overcome the monsters in each area as you go… don’t be in a hurry, you’ll just get killed.

If you don’t have much patience and you want a fast action-based game, or an easy no-brainer RPG, this game is not for you.

1 Star Worst RPG ever created – Don’t waste your money!
First of all, the graphics and gameplay are not worthy of being on the PSP. All of the dungeons have breaks at the polygon seams with light shining through making the graphics ghetto. The battles are so slow that you will need anti-depressants to get through them.

This game has the worst drop rate for items I have ever seen. I must be a masochist because I played the game over 100 hours hoping to get the ultimate weapons and armor, but only had enough items to open one chest at the end of the game only to get another recipe, not the actual item. What do you do once you have 999,999 money and all characters are at level 99? QUIT!

I suffered through the game to see the ending, which lasted about 2-3 minutes and left tons of unanswered questions. Where are the Full Motion Videos???

This game is an embarassment to the PSP. Don’t waste your money – buy Brave Story and Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth.

4 Stars It’s better than the people say
I have read many reviews for this game, and they are unfair. they say that the battle system is no good, but is highly entertaining, it’s true it takes several minutes per battle, but as you can level up each of your skills and if you are like me that I always want to maximize every aspect of my character you will find an entertaining battle system.

With Dragoneer’s Aria you will never encounter a battle that is boring like Attack, Attack … You have to have an strategy for your mana management. The part of the mana in this game is very creative, I liked a lot that touch. The battle system is turn based, and the mana pool is common for all the chars. You fill your mana pool by using an attack or defend yourself. The defend system is great also, is like a minigame and if successful you will block 100% of the damage.

I would like it to have FMV (full motion videos) but the polygonal animation is pretty good by itself. I agree with the reviews that the Dragon’s personality is a little plain, but I think that the voice acting is pretty good.

I think that if you like RPGs you need to buy this, is not the best RPG available for PSP but is a good game worth the while.

3 Stars Not what the PSP needs…
I’ll start by saying that I am a big RPG guy and any promising-looking rpg that is released, i’ll buy with my hopes up. Well I had my hopes up for this game and unfortunately my hopes arent stayin too high for PSP rpgs anymore. I was excited about this game but what did we get? another let down for what could be one of the greatest systems out there.

I’ll start by stating best. The graphics arent bad. They’re not as smooth as ‘Brave Story” which was released before Dragoneers aria but they are still good for a portable device. I personally think the graphics could have been better considering the graphics on other PSP titles out there but they’re OK. Nothing amazing.

The story isn’t the best. It has an OK base but it doesnt pick up well and after an hour or two of gameplay, there’s nothing the story has to offer that will keep you going.

… Ok that about wraps up the good. Now to the many problems.

First and foremost is the voice acting and sound. To put it simply, Final Fantasy VII had better voice acting… (and for the few that havent played FFVII, there is no voice acting) The love scenes in this game make the love scenes in “star wars episode II” look golden… Yeah. That bad. The voices don’t seem to fit the characters real well but I guess when the voice acting is so terrible, its hard for it to sound good in any way. I thought the voice acting was the real low point, that is until i watched alot of the cutscenes.

To some up the quality of the sound, well… there really isnt any. ALL the cutscenes are completely destroyed as a result of horrible voice acting and NO sound effects. I watched cutscenes which had dragon fights (which sucked), sword fighting and all sorts of movement, ALL with no sound effects. No footsteps, no sword effets, no movement sound at all. As for the actual lines in the game? I seriously think they might have written random words on popsickles sticks, through the popsickle sticks in a hat and what they pulled out made it into the game. No joke…

In most great RPGs, you have great characters… Not in Dragoneers aria. And the one character that should be at least a little cool, the main charcter, you, is a total know-it-all, uncool, girlie lookin guy with long golden blonde hair… I dont know about you but i prefer my video games to NOT be made by crack addicts. The only possible way for the main character to get any worse is if they took Michael jackson and had his dragon power be the “seducing little kids chant of mystery”.

I thought the cutscenes were the real low point in the game… that is until i actually played through a good portion of it and saw what the gameplay was really like. Ok, the very first dungeon in the game… i died at least thriteen times… And I only play RPGs so I’m usually pretty good… In the very first dungeon of the game i was matched up againts some bad guys that were way to low a level for me and other guys that had to be at least ten levels higher than me for I would be on a single fight for fifteen minutes, get close to killing the bad guy, then the monster would just fully heal himself with all my guys health almost gone… I shouldnt have to run back and forth for an hour and level up in the easiest fighting zone in the game, just to get past the first dungeon.(which is what I had to do)

The battle system revolves around horrible gameplay features that are not fun and just bring the whole game down. The battles do not flow smoothly at all and I eventually gave up on it and went back to “Brave Story”. The level and dungeon design on the game is just as bad as the battle system. Just plain boring and not fun.

Is this what we have to put up with until “Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core” for PSP? I hope not. The PSP is an amazing system that is bad mouthed bacause of crappy games like this that do not take advantage of it. If you’re looking for a pretty good RPG for PSP, I would recommend “Brave Story: New traveler”. Its the best original PSP RPG at the moment. Just don’t waste your money on Dragoneers aria.

Buy/More Info

Warriors Orochi

You are a wise and courageous warrior in Ancient Asia who has been kidnapped by Orochi, the Serpent King. Most of the great armies of these two periods would succumb to the might of Orochi. But warriors like you remain and are ready to continue the fight. You can play as any of the 77 legendary characters from the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors video game series. Go into battle with your own three-person tag team. With the new Team Battle System, when one warrior is engaged in battle, the other two can recuperate, restoring their Life Meters and Musou Gauges. In battle, you can rotate to a different character in real-time. You can also combine attributes from different weapons for more devastating results with the new Weapon Fusion System. So get ready for the greatest showdown in history.

Go into battle with your own three-person tag team using characters from either series with the Team Battle System Combine attributes from different weapons for more devastating results with the new Weapon Fusion System Play previously played and unlocked stages with any combination of available characters in Free mode

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Many characters and missions is a small package
Game review sites seem to bash the Dynasty/Samurai Warriors series pretty hard. It’s true that the developers add a few improvements to the same old formula when they release a new version. But the improvements do make a difference, and I really like the the basic gameplay formula, so seeing it again is a good thing. I like the idea of button-mashing (with no complicated sequences) to fight through hundreds of enemies, while completing various rescue and take-the-field missions. Leveling up characters and unlocking new skills and equipment keeps the fun going.

The only way to get all the Dynasty Warriors from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms period in China and the Samurai Warriors from Feudal Era in Japan fighting together in the same battles, was to create some kind of time-warp caused by a snake-demon. Lame, I know, but it is great to have access to nearly 80 characters, and campaigns from both Samurai and Dynasty factions.

I think this is a great game, providing hack-n-slash action, some not-too-deep RPG elements, lots of content to play through, many colorful characters to use… and I thought it worked very well on the PSP.

5 Stars A great game to kill lots of time with.
I know Some people hate long reviews so here is the short version.

Overall 8/10…. Yeh, you have lots to do, great officer choice, and you cant find enough generic peons to ram all your weapons though, and this is a Samurai Warriors/Dynasty Warriors game so you know the massive armies you fight. The weapon upgrade system is put to use often and creates a reason to replay through Lu Bu’s stages. Fire/Ice/Dark elements all on one weapon… i see possibilities….

The story is great, four sides, four endings, and having Lu Bu as a backup character is great. If musou and true musou where not enough, 3 person team musou attacks just add to the level of ownage you can inflect upon the massive force trembling before your power…. Sorry, Megalomania coming though.

Buy it…You know you want too….

5 Stars Take the console game and cram it onto the PSP, changing very little. This is the definitive PSP Warriors game.
THE SHORT: Unlike past PSP Warriors games, this is the real deal- no shrunken maps or different board-game style format. This is the same game as the PS2 and Xbox360 editions, just crammed onto the PSP with no glaring differences. Great fun to have on the go. Little to complain about unless you’re just sick of the Dynasty Warriors formula, in which case you wouldn’t like the console version anyway.

THE LONG: I admit I’ve been a longtime fan of the Dynasty Warriors series, and although I still play them, the enthusiasm for each new one wanes more quickly than the last. For every new batch of characters and levels, the formula has remained the same for 8 years as of this writing. Granted, if it sells why mess with it, but there is warrant to the criticisms against the game.

Last fall Warriors Orochi came out and I picked it up for the Xbox 360. With modern graphics and featuring the almost 80 characters from the Dynasty and Samurai Warriors games, I thought this would be the ultimate Warriors package. Sort of a collectors’ pack.

I was disappointed that the game hardly looked any different than it had on the PS2, and while it was fun, I just had better games to play on my 360. Oblivion anyone?

So I sold the game and took my losses, and was surprised to see it pop back up on the PSP. I remembered not wanting the earlier PSP Warriors games because they had been changed to fit the format- shortened levels, quick-play board game mechanics, etc. In other words there didn’t seem to be a true Dynasty / Samurai Warriors game for the PSP, so when I saw this one I wondered if it would change the formula. I looked up a few reviews that indicated that it did, and picked it up. I was quite happily surprised.

Let me assure you that, although It’s been half a year since I played the 360 edition, the PSP game plays exactly how I remember its console brother. The graphics have hardly changed over the years but this means that they’re right at home on the PSP. The action is smooth and I rarely see slowdown. I was worried that since it was a smaller format the game would compensate by having fewer troops. I dreaded wandering through small handfuls of enemies and vacant levels. In fact there are plenty of times I was able to rack up 1500 kills in a level due to being completely surrounded by dozens of enemies. The meat of the Warriors games has always been to play the role of a super soldier who hacks and slashes his or her way through hordes of foes, and this experience was not diluted on the PSP.

Similarly, the Orochi experience specifically was kept intact. In this game you choose from about half a dozen kingdoms that you want to represent, and you play through their story and unlock new characters as you work your way through the levels. Each kingdom’s story has around a dozen stages, for a total of anywhere between 3 and 10 hours to complete depending on how fast you want to whisk through. When you figure this is PER story, this is a pretty big game. For example I began by playing the Shu storyline, and spent about 5 hours finishing it. Then I decided to try the Samurai Warriors storyline and have already put about 3 hours into getting halfway through it. The good thing is you can save after each level, and the game keeps track of progress through each storyline. You don’t have to completely finish one storyline before playing parts of another.

Something I enjoy is that while the characters you unlock are generally members of the kingdom you’re playing for, you get a few surprises. Fans familiar with the game will understand when I say that I unlocked Ma Chao of Shu while playing through the Samurai Warriors storyline. I think that’s pretty cool- there’s crossover and it keeps things interesting as it’s not exactly rigid as to what characters will become available next. In all modes of play you take 3 characters into battle and flip between them at will- in story mode you are restricted to the characters available for that particular story, whereas in free mode you can make your team out of anyone you’ve unlocked.

The little incentives from the console version are there too- weapon fusion is a fun way of customizing your character, for as you find new weapons from defeating officers you can spend experience points to combine a weapon’s attributes and increase your overall attack strength. It isn’t greatly deep but it’s pretty cool to have a maxed out character with a superpowered weapon of death backing up 2 weaker characters on the team. In-battle abilities, such as higher defense or faster speed, can be applied to your team and must be earned by completing character specific goals in each battle (such as killing 60 foes in 5 minutes, etc). This isn’t mandatory but fun and helpful to do since these accumulated abilities remain for later story playthroughs.

Are there flaws? Well of course. The biggest is probably the draw-distance. While the levels are vast and I was happy to see them filled with enemies, you can’t see much beyond your characters’ current screen. The PSP had no trouble surrounding me with 30 troops as I hacked away a smooth, flashy, colorful barrage of 10 hit combos, but I still had to move forward a few steps to see officers 20 feet away. It’s not horrendous, but it is noticeable. I didn’t think it made the game any more difficult or lame to play.

Audio during battle is fine, but the instructional chatter is gone. You’ll still hear the grunts, groans, stabs and slahes. And you’ll still hear your character yell or taunt after defeating an enemy officer. But progressive comments such as “Now! Lure them to the east bridge!” Are represented only by word balloons on the screen and not spoken dialog like on the other systems. This isn’t TOO much of a big deal. The battle isn’t some quiet experience because of this and sometimes that chatter could get annoying since it’s fairly constant. However, this does make some situations irritating when you miss dialog because you’re too buy watching the action. You can bring up a screen to check the last messages, but you’ll want to train yourself to do a little in-battle reading instead.

Lastly, there aren’t many video cutscenes. There are opening and story ending cutscenes that are fine. But the in-battle cutscenes are sort of comic-book style still shots without much animation. This isn’t a huge flaw, it comes across as decent and there aren’t enough of them to make a big difference. They, like the pre-match rhetoric, are accompanied by spoken dialog.

So to wrap up…Will this change anyone’s opinion of the Warriors series? Doubtful. It’s a packed game- some characters do feel the same but with 77 to pick from you’ll definitely develop specific favorites on each team. The gameplay is pretty much just action and button mashing, so nothing new there, but this feels perfectly fit for the PSP. You can click it on for an hour, go through a stage or two and get some solid action on during rides or lazy afternoons, or you can stay at it for hours and unlock a dozen characters before ending your session. With the amount of characters to unlock and stat building to do, this is a very solid entry in the portable library and without question the most reccomendable game in the series for the PSP.

4 Stars A lot of fun, kills a 5 hour plane flight really fast

I never seem to have enough time to unlock as many characters as I want on the home console versions of these games. By the time I get around to unlocking half of them, a new version comes out. Now I can unlock the fighters when I have a lot of spare time, on the plane. I didn’t consider the previous PSP versions of these games because I always had the console version.

As mentioned in the review above, if you love the other “Warrior” games, you will love this as well.

It is nice to have the different spin on the story. It is a little odd, but at least it’s not all about The Three Kingdoms or the Samurai story line.

The reason I didn’t give it 5-stars is because the enemy pop-up is quite bad. It is worse than the original PS2 versions of of the game. It is not a deal breaker by any means, but it is a bummer that it is as bad as it is.

I hope they bring the Gundam version of Warriors to the PSP as well.

5 Stars MUST HAVE for Dynasty/Samurai Warriors Fans
If your a Dynasty or Samurai Warriors fan then just go buy it you know your going to. If you played the console version you should be pleasantly surprised with how well the PSP version stacks up against its big brother. The Cinematic scenes are straight from the console version, whereas the shorter pre and in-game cinemas have been cut down to Comic-Book-Style intros with Dialog balloons.

The sound is very good, straight from the console with one exception. The in-game dialog has been mostly replaced with text. The only in-game dialog is after you defeat an enemy officer or during certain charge attacks you still get a character specific quote. The Soundtrack once again is your traditional Dynasty Warriors music; Techno and Rock with some asian influences , which I like but does get a little repetitive after you’ve heard it a few dozen times.

Graphics I’d say are really good for the PSP. Not the best, but still impressive. The backgrounds in a some of the areas are a little boring but the main focus is the characters. The characters look really good, the only thing I noticed and didn’t like is that there are no flowing fabric affects and by that I mean like moving capes, scarves and whatnot. Characters that do have capes(Nobunaga)or anything like that have a flat 2-dimensional peice of cardboard stapled to their back. Not noticiable during action, but sticks out when your just running around.

Gameplay is exactly what you’d expect if you’ve played the console version. The entire battlefield is available for you to run around; not like previous PSP warriors titles, where your movements were restricted quite a bit. Also plenty of enemies on screen to fight, I thought the PSP was going to be more limited especially with the whole battlefield now available. One thing I noticed is there is slowdown when your fighting a large amount of people; not all the time but when you perform an attack that affects all the characters on the screen it slows down a little bit. but only for the duration of the attack. Also some characters(Diao Chan, Kunoichi, etc) possess moves that the camera angle changes during the move and that seems to slow the game down, but once again only during the move so only for a fraction of a second. But in general almost no lag or slowdown.

Overall I really liked this game, I haven’t finished it yet so I’ll edit this if anything noteworthy comes up. But so far this makes me wish they did this with Samurai Warriors 2, Gundam, or Dynasty Warriors 6; Those games having my favorite overall combo/special move systems. But Orochi still has an excellent team mechanic that changes the sometimes stale Dynasty Warriors formula. Definitely buy this if you like this series of games, If your not a fan than I’d say give it a try since theres not a ton of awesome games for the PSP, or games that let you roam such a large battle field.

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Tales Of The World Radiant Mythology

Tales Of The World: Radiant Mythology is an incredible adventure in a once-beautiful world you must save, to make it beautiful again. The world of Telegea was protected by the mystical World Tree. Under its benevolent guard, people went about their day-to-day lives in peace. Until the Devourers came — creatures from another world with an appetite that could not be sated. As these creatures destroyed the land, Telegeans fled and looked to the World Tree for help. The Tree itself was weakened from the attacks, but gave its remaining energies to give the people one last hope: Your main character.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Good start but poor finish
The combat system is actually pretty good in this game. The plot is it’s downfall and by the end I had ceased to care and really just wanted to get it over with. The characters don’t develop and there is no way to empathize with the character you play as. The plot becomes very predictable and there are no surprises in the end.

The other major problem is the scale; the world in which Radiant Mythology takes place is actually rather small so there is no fun in exploration. For the most part you keep going back and forth from one dungeon to another and fighting similar monsters again and again.

Overall I have to give it a very average rating because after you’ve mastered combat and seen the rather spartan world that you play in it becomes monotonous.

3 Stars Kingdom Hearts for the Tales of Series
This isn’t a bad game, but you need to remember that this isn’t really a Tales game. Though fun to play, the tone is more serious and the battle system is all in real time instead of random battles that are in a separate screen. It is also much more of a button masher, instead of the fighting game like controls Tales fans will be used to. This game is to the Tales of Series what Kingdom Hearts was to Final Fantasy in that you will see some of the characters now and again, but for the most part it’s a different universe. Interestingly however, instead of playing as one character, in this game you get to choose what you want the character to look like and how you want them to sound, which is a nice addition but feels out of place for a tales game.

1 Star Ads are worth it………actual game is NOT worth it
I decided to buy this because well….it looked awesome, the graphics good, and the magic incredible. I got it, i played it, i put it down….and never went back to play it again. Yes, if your a HUGE tales of fan like me, you probably will be disappointed . It gets extremely repetitive the first hour you play it with the fetch quests and dungeon crawling plot line. Honestly this is no Tales of game at all, all you do is get a quest, then do that quest, get another quest, do that quest, get another and so on. The one thing that made me not break this game disc in half is that previous loved tales of characters were included, and they join your team when you do enough quests. I would give this a 1/10, for true tales of games are AMAZING, with good graphics, okay music (some really good music), wonderful combat, exciting involved plot linkes, and good controls. This game had NONE of that, the only thing it had was the graphics (kinda), and the music (okay not really at all ).

THE GOOD:

graphics 7/10

music 5.5/10

characters 8/10

THE BAD:

plot line 1/10

menu visuals/wording visuals 1/10

EVERYTHING ELSE 1.8/10

5 Stars Best RPG for the PSP
Tales Of The World: Radiant Mythology is hands down the Best RPG for the PSP. This is a game that you can pick up and play for half an hour but you also can get lost for hours on end. I would highly suggest this game for anybody looking for a good RPG for a portable game system

5 Stars Not just for Tales fans.
Having never played any games in the Tales series for much longer than an hour, I was a little worried about buying this game. A friend of mine highly recommended the game, but he was a huge fan of the series. Well having played the game for dozens of hours, I can say that if you’re a fan of action-RPGs, this game will suit you.

This game is meant to be a sort of fanservice for people who have played any of the Tales games, such as Tales of Symphonia, or Tales of the Abyss. Several characters from those games are present in this one, and play parts in the quest to save this world. You play as a character you create, assisted by a miniature creature named Mormo. Tales veterans will be delighted as Tales characters seem to come out of every outface of the game’s plot. They can be recruited to your party, but usually only on a temporary basis. Having never played a Tales game, there was no nostalgia or anything for me, but I’m sure people who have played as Stahn or Luke before will be happy to do so again.

The game’s plot, while not anything revolutionary, is sufficient for a game which is meant to be a action RPG / Tales showcase. As mentioned before, you’re basically yourself, and your mission is to save the world with the help of Mormo and eventually a large cast of Tales characters. You’ll run into a few original characters as well, including the main antagonist – Widdershein. If you’ve played Final Fantasy VII, think of a kiddie Sephiroth, and you’ll get the picture. The characters are fairly well developed through cut scenes and conversations.

The graphics are great for a PSP title, the music isn’t bad, and the voice acting is great – no qualms there.

This game has a lot or replay value. Finding rare weapons through quests and repeatedly killing enemies can be a rewarding experience since they show up on your character (for example, when you ninja leggings, you’ll see them on your character’s feet), and mastering different classes means there’s plenty of ways to play the game if you get tired of being a warrior or a priest(ess).

My main issue with the game is the complete lack of variety of quests in the game. The majority of the quests in this game are either “Kill [some number] [some monster].” or “Collect [some number] [some item]s.” There is the occasional opportunity to fight a boss or Tales character one-on-one or one-on-two or even one-on-three, but those are few compared to the fetch quests strewn about the game. Fortunately, I found leveling-up my character and collecting items fun enough to forgive this flaw.

So despite knowing next to nothing about the Tales franchise, I found this game to be very enjoyable and fun to play. At current, I’ve got over 50 hours of playtime on the game, and it’s still appealing to play. If you’ve played any Tales games and enjoyed them, then this is an excellent buy. If you’re as new as I was to it, then I’d encourage you to give the game a go.

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