PSP Go! Review
I was fortunate to get my hands on a PSP Go! Yesterday and have spent most of the night and today checking out Sony’s newest PSP model and overall I have to say I’m very impressed. If you’re on the fence about upgrading your current PSP or if you’re new to the PSP world find out what I have to say about the device.
What comes in the Package?
Well what do you get for $249, inside this very small box you get the PSP Go!, Media Go Disc, a voucher for Rockband unplugged, USB Cable, AC adaptor, AC power cord, manual and quick start guide. A Patapon 2 demo also comes preloaded on the PSP Go!
Teh Good
Design – Simply put this is a very sleek and well designed device from the sliding mechanism to the beautiful screen to well place and designed left and right shoulder buttons the PSP Go! Fits perfectly into my hands and feels comfortable in my hands.
Digital Library – Since I’m not a current PSP owner I don’t have any UMD’s so the facts there are over 150 UMD released games for me to download and play. Also all new UMD releases will be released on the Playstation Network Store on the same day. I am downloading Gran Turismo as I type this. There are over 60 Playstation One games to download and play on your PSP Go! Hello Metal Gear Solid!. Finally we have our Minis which are bite sized games for gamers on the go, which could be very similar to most IPOD Touch/ IPhone games if they are priced accordingly.
Plenty of Storage – The PSP Go! Comes with a whopping 16 gigabytes of internal storage. That means you could hold 15 1 gigabyte games on the console. This is probably the most important thing you can add additional memory to the unit by purchasing Memory Stick Micro M2. So far the biggest M2 stick I’ve seen for sale is 16 gigs that could give you a whopping 32 gigs of space for games, movies, music and podcasts. That’s more than enough content for a flight across the Atlantic Ocean or your every day commute.
Teh Bad
Upgrading your PSP, trade in those UMD’s as well – Well if you have a current PSP and a collection of UMD games you have 1 of 4 options if you want to get a PSP Go!. 1 being trade them in, 2 sell them or 3 throw them in the trash and finally put them in a box and put that box in storage. As of right now Sony has Zero plans to offer some sort of trade in program or anything for those users with UMD games that want the go. Your only option at the moment would be to buy them on the Playstation network at full price. Luckily, this doesn’t affect me as I’ve zero UMD’s however I fully understand how this affects a lot of people. Hopefully Sony does something to address this quickly.
1 Analog stick and no Touch Screen – People have been calling for a second analog stick on PSP’s for a long time. I understand we have limited size on the GO but surely you could have put the second analog stick to the right of the other analog stick and bumped up the start and select button to the middle of the device. Here’s a big annoyance for me, no touch screen. This could have potentially been a IPod Touch Killer if it had a touch screen. Just the thoughts of browsing the XMB and selecting what music, video, podcast, game or what I wanted to buy in the PSN store with my fingers would have been killer.
Software Costs – I’ll start with the mini’s they seem to be a bit over priced if there suppose to be bite sized games on the go. $4.99 to $9.99 simply won’t compete with the tiny bite sized games that belong in the ITunes store. Digital downloads should generally be cheaper in my opinion then there UMD or full retail released counter parts. Why you might ask? Well there is no UMD disc, no packaging and no manual to be printed this 3 factors a lone should add to minor savings for the consumer. Gran Turismo UMD retail is $39.99 Canadian and should be $31.99- $34.99.
Teh Conclusion
At the end of the day I love my PSP Go! Am I sucker for new hardware or is it a well designed device. I am definitely leaning towards the later for a variety of reasons that I listed above. Add in the fact that the games I’ve been playing have been totally fun as hell. I also managed to watch a full episode of a television show that will remain nameless and was very impressed with the quality of the screen and sound. I highly recommend that if you currently have a PSP you’ll hold off a for a little bit as I have a feeling Sony may have to do something regarding UMD’s and people wanting to upgrade. If you’re looking at buying a PSP this is the model for you.
MotorStorm Arctic Edge Now Available for PSP
MotorStorm Artic Edge now available for PSP and PSP Go!
Here are some features of MotorStorm Arctic Edge:
“MotorStorm Arctic Edge takes full advantage of PSP functionality by bringing exciting features such as eight-player online and ad-hoc modes, photo mode, and the ability to create a custom music playlist to suit your driving mood
Entering the latest MotorStorm Festival location, players will be greeted by a rugged Alaskan landscape featuring narrow mountain passes, giant ice caves, and slippery ice bridges showcased in 12 amazing new track designs. Players will need lightning-fast reflexes to negotiate the dangerous arctic conditions, including sudden avalanches triggered by vehicle horns, collapsing ice bridges, bobsleigh corners, and three different racing altitudes. Combat-like racing takes center stage as vehicles are treated as weapons to fight off other racers.
Two additional vehicle classes
read morePrototype – Xbox 360
Picture this, the game starts with a character named Alex mercer laying on a morgue table, he wakes up and all hell breaks loose. He fights his way out of the GENTEK facility and escapes the military and settles upon a rooftop. From high atop a building Alex sees New York city is filled with mutants and he discovers he has abilities that give him enormous strength, speed, agility, weaponry and the ability to consume people to gain their appearance, memories and abilities. In order to regain his health he must consume people, take their appearance, memories and clothes. He searches out his sister Dana who will lead him on missions to find out what exactly happened to him and New York City. During the course of the game Elizabeth Greene escapes the GENTEK facility and takes control of the infected people becoming their master in the process. During the first face off with the military chosen one Captain Cross he injects a suppressant into Alex that takes away Alex’s power. Alex tracks down Dr.Ragland who develops a cure for him and a weapon to use against Greene.
A Leader Hunter kidnaps Dana and that leads to Mercer tracking down the hive. This leads to a Greene vs. mercer showdown and Alex injects the formula into Greene. Later on in the game Alex is contacted by an unidentified contact who explains the how the virus came to be and about Elizabeth Greene. Back in the 1960’s the government tested the virus in Hope, Idaho which was designed to target predetermined races. Something went horribly wrong and Greene was the only survivor her genetic code was rewritten. Blackwatch took her son and then proceeded to nuke the town. Alex finds out he was a doctor at GENTEK and took the virus as insurance but Blackwatch caught him and he dropped the virus in Penn Station unleashing the virus on New York City. Blackwatch shoots Dr.Mercer but the virus consumes his body. Alex and his contact assist the military in putting the Bloodtox biological agent underground in order to drive the hive above ground for a fair fight. Elizabeth Greene emerges from the sewers as a big ugly monster. Alex defeats her and then consumers her. Alex than goes after Dr. Raymond McMullen for answers, he tells Alex about his history with GENTEK and then when asked about Hope, he commits suicide. The leader of Blackwatch Randall is ready to destroy Manhattan with a nuclear bomb. The contact and Alex meet, the contact turns out to be Cross.
Alex has to attack a military base and consumer Colonel Taggart and then he can in get access to the USS Ronald Regan where the nuclear bomb is being held. Once aboard the USS Ronald Reagan Cross reveals himself to the Supreme Hunter it’s time for him and Alex to battle for once and all. Alex than destroys the Supreme Hunter and then takes the bomb and fly’s it over the Atlantic Ocean where it donates. The blast radius hit’s Alex and his remains wash up on shore, he than consumes a bird and the game ends.
As you can tell there is a deep and confusing story going on, I thought I understood everything until the end when the details emerged about Alex. The voice acting in the game is decent. If I had to sum up Alex in a sentence it would be someone who seeks answers and vengeance and he does not care who he kills.
The combat in this game is very average at best, I couldn’t tell you the name of any of the attacks, I just pressed the buttons on my controller and people ended up dead. My favourite part of this was just walking into a crowd of people at Times Square and killing them all!. This game hands out experience points (XP) like McDonald’s hands out Big Macs, just too frequently. The reason for the abundance of experience points is that upgrades are oversaturated. There are far too many upgrades that are completely useless in this game. I would have preferred less XP points and fewer kick ass upgrades instead of 100 upgrade options. We have a super human and a city full of people, how does he gain his health back? The answer is simply just consume any random New Yorker to regenerate your health bar and that gives Alex access to that persons memories. By consuming military personnel he gains access to their weapons, tanks and helicopters.
In the last quarter of the game the amount of mutants and military on screen becomes instantly stupid and frustrating. You die constantly wandering what retard level designer decided these final missions had to include the amount of AI on screen and because Alex became confused on what to do next because the user is too busy smashing buttons in order to try and stay alive.
I wasn’t bothered to play any of the side missions prototyped had to offer.
Overall the first three quarters of prototype was a good experience and the last quarter of the game is an utter frustrating experience which will surely cause you to curse a few times as you wander how you died. There are many points throughout the game where you go hell yeah that was fun and the next minute you are scratching your head. I don’t think Prototype is worth a purchase but if you have a gamefly, gameaccess or blockbuster account and you have nothing to play be sure to rent it.
read moreBacklog Battlefield Bad Company – Xbox 360
Battlefield Bad Company released just over a year ago on June 23, 2008, Developed by Digital Illusions using the Frostbite Engine and published by Electronic Arts (EA). The story line revolves around “B” Company of the 222nd Army battalion, more commonly known as “Bad Company and the USA are fighting a war against the Russian Federation. Your squad consists of 4 misfits, Private Preston Marlowe the games protagonist, Private Terrence Sweetwater who talks too much, Private George Gordon Haggard who often provides some sort of comic relief for the team and the leader of the group Sergeant Samuel D. Redford, He volunteered for this gig, I know he’s nuts!. During the early course of the game the 4 misfits run into the Legionnaires who are a deadly mercenary army who gets paid in gold bars. Sweetwater searches a body and takes a little gold bar from a dead body. Curiosity gets the best of Bad Company and they go on the hunt for the gold bars. During the course of the chase for the gold, they find a ship loaded with gold and guess what? The US army finds our little band of misfits and orders them to surrender. Being a party of the 222nd Army Battalion the army makes a plea deal with the 4 soldiers to investigate Serdaristan. They are ordered to capture Zavomir Serdar the dictator of Serdaristan. They take Serdar’s helicopter and fly through Serdaristan and are eventually shot down. The squad and the dictator get captured but for private Preston who manages to survive but is stripped of all his weapons. Eventually he makes his way to a monastery where the rest of his squad is being kept. They escape and flee to Sadiz, dropping Serdar off on a little island in the middle of the ocean. The squad blows up 2 bridges to slow down the US army from launching an offensive attack. The squad reaches the gold bars but their attacked by the Legionnaire and his pimped out Ka-52 Helicopter. Private Preston shots down the helicopter. The squad returns to find the US army loading the gold into trucks, Preston convinces the commanding office they are army operatives and they are given a truck filled with gold and asked to join the convoy. The 4 misfits say yes but wait they veer off from the rest of the convoy and go their own way. The game ends with the Legionnaire rising from the burning wreckage.
As you can tell the story is pretty laughable and the voice acting really sold the story. It goes to show that outstanding voice acting can really make a game memorable for the right reasons instead of the wrong reasons. One of the things I really enjoyed was equipping a grenade to my gun and blowing a hole in the wall and walking in. Who needs a doorbell right? The environments are not fully destructible which would have been kick ass. Can’t kill the sniper behind the wall? Just blow it up instead. There are a ton of guns to collect as well. The overall shooting mechanics are very well done. One thing I liked was if you died that you would just respawn and have to run back to where you died. No cut scenes, no load screens and the enemies you killed? Still dead. Your squad mates are very chatty during the game however I felt at times they were completely useless and that I was the only person doing anything to advance on each mission.
I joined a game of online multiplayer however I got my ass handed to me and was completely confused on what I was supposed to do. Maybe that was because I was playing by myself or because the players who play it have been playing for a long time. I think the objective was to find boxes and detonate them and then you would advance and try and blow up the next one. Overall my team got our asses handed to us. I could see the multiplayer being a ton of fun with a group of your friends.
Overall I paid $14.99 Canadian for Battlefield Bad Company and I really enjoyed the game. The single player campaign seemed very short some compare it to the length of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare however I found it a lot shorter. I’m still on the fence on whether or not it was too short for a single player campaign. I enjoyed the voice acting, the laughable story, and the somewhat destructive buildings and most importantly the shooting mechanics were spot on. Highly recommended if you haven’t played it yet.
Backlog Dead Space – Xbox 360
Well Mister Isaac Clarke that was a fun eight and half hour experience we shared together on the USG Ishimura. The music, the atmosphere, the ambience and the Necromorphs scared the living daylight out of me more times than I can count.
Here is a summary of the story, one of my favourite stories in the last 12 months. Isaac’s ship the USG Kellion received a distress signal from the USG Ishimura, the Kellion ship tries to dock with the Ishimura but a malfunction happens and the Kellion is badly damaged. The Kellion crew explores Ishimura to find a way home, the crew notices the Ishimura is pretty much abandoned. Captain Hammond recognizes the Ishimura is suffering from serious malfunctions and sends Isaac Clarke on 12 gruelling missions to fix the ship. During the course of the game you stumble across various text and audio logs that explain the captain of the ship belong to a religious cult that sought a religious artefact “the marker” from Aegis VII by the means of illegal mining. The marker was brought on board and the crew attacked each other, killing each other. Than an alien orgasm ravaged through the ship turning all the dead bodies into necromorphs. What keeps Clarke going is the fact he is looking for his girlfriend who was a member aboard the USG Ishimura. With the critical systems repaired, they launch the distress beacon which attracts the USM Valor. The bad news, a necromorphs were already on board the Valor. Clarke than boards the Valor, fights out the necromorphs and takes the ship power core so he can fix a shuttle and leave this awful area. Dr. Kyne later contacts Clarke and urges him to return the Marker to Aegis VII, believing that it was a means of restraining the Hive Mind that controls the Necromorph. Dr.Kyne is later murdered by Isaac’s fellow crew member Daniels, who states she works for the government and she needs the Marker. Daniel tells Clarke that the Marker is actually reverse-engineered version based on an artifact found on earth. The government placed it on Aegis VII to monitor its effects (never trust the government!). The back stabbing Daniels, takes Clarkes shuttle and leaves. Luckily, Isaac’s girlfriend Nicole arrives and together they recall the ship. Together they take the shuttle and head down to the colony and replace it. Obviously, Daniels arrives and tries to stop Isaac. She returns to the marker to the shuttle, when she’s attacked and killed by the Hive Mind. Leaving Isaac to kill it and escape from the planet.
Well as you can tell I loved the story, it was very deep and interesting. The text and audio logs would fill in little details about what had gone wrong on the ship. This little concept worked great for me every time I found a new log; I would crank up the sound and listen. Even the background noises in the logs were very well done. In order to kill the Necromorphs the best approach is to dismember their bodies; my approach was to first use stasis and then shoot each leg. This gave me ample time to stop their arms and head to death. The physics and dismemberment technology was very well done and very interesting way to play a game. I hate to admit it but yes, Dead Space scared the shit out of me at least once per level. I could literally only play a level a day or so, it was truly a scary fun experience. Throughout the game you find power nodes, these allow you to upgrade your armour or your guns, I managed to find enough power nodes to upgrade my plasma cutter to the maximum, it sure made my day easier!. I had heard before I started playing this game that ammo was precious commodity, throughout the 12 levels I only had 1 section of the game where I ran out of ammo and had to use a force gun to plow my way through the enemies. Other than that I found enough items to sell at the store to buy ammo. The zero G sections in the game literally made me sick to my stomach, I’m not sure what it is about these types of scenarios in game that make me sick but they just do.
Overall I had avoided Dead Space when it launched back in 2008, there was so many games on the market that I wanted to buy and play. I regret not playing it sooner!. For $29.99 price tag, it was a great experience, I even bought some of the downloadable content to support the developer. I really hope they take what they started here in Dead Space and improved on it for Dead Space 2. I surely won’t pass up Dead Space 2 on launch.
read moreLost Planet Extreme Edition – Xbox 360
Lost Planet was released back in 2007 and I picked up the title as it was getting great accolades from the friends and various media outlets. Well I stopped playing half through level 6 because I was couldn’t get passed it. Well fast forward to 2009, I’ve matured as gamer and learned to love to genres of games so I figured it was time to go back and play Lost Planet and finish the game since the sequel is coming out.
Basically Lost Planet takes place on the planet of E.D.N III in the year T.C. -80. A group name NEVEC (Neo-Venus Construction) starting colonizing on this planet because earth had become too hostile. There’s one problem with E.D.N III the alien species named the Akrid who possess the ever precious thermal energy. You play as a snow pirate named Wayne Holden who wants to continue in his dad’s footsteps and overthrow NEVEC.
I’ve been trying to write this for a few days but I am at a loss on how to describe my frustrations with this game. I could only manage to play a single level per sitting before needing to take a break with this game. This is very unusual for me because normally I can play for 4-5 hours per sitting. I can narrow done my real disliking for this game by saying that Lost Planets story can be very confusing at times and it isn’t the amount of enemies on screen that make a game difficult, it’s the quality of the AI used the game. I found myself repeatedly getting annoyed with the amount of Akrid on screen. It was absolutely unnecessary, it felt like they just really wanted to you feel annoyed and frustrated with the game. I guess the only positive out of that was there were a wide variety of enemies on screen.
Overall for $9.99 used game, I was happy I finished the game and will totally play Lost Planet 2. I’m not sure I’ll buy it but I will play it. If you happen to see this game in the bargain bin at your local game store, pick it up and give it a chance.
read more