The Disgaea series is probably my favorite RPG series, or at least one of my favorites. The characters, the stories, the humor and the gameplay are all top-notch. Here, you have a Disgaea game that removes any gameplay aspect from the other games, and instead becomes a visual novel, where you basically just read your way through, changing the events with dialogue choices.

This is a rather weird choice. While the visual novel genre is HUGE in Japan, it barely has a fanbase at all in America, and as such will only appeal to hardcore fans of the series, and nothing else, but I’m pleased, if not REALLY surprised, that they released it here anyways.

So let’s go and see if the huge change of gameplay is any good!

Developer: Nippon Ichi Software
Publisher: NIS America
Date of Release: June 8th 2010
Platforms: Playstation Portable

Genre: Visual Novel
Players: 1
Rated T for Teen (why?)

Presentation
There’s not much to say here. Everything graphically is recycled from previous Disgaea games. The sprites during certain scenes, the big detailed sprites during normal conversations, most of the backgrounds, all are recycled. Except for one minor change: the big detailed sprites are actually animated for certain things which is kinda cool. The sounds are okay. There’s not too much when it comes to sound effects, but most of them are recycled from previous Disgaea games. The music is also mostly taken from the older games, which is nice since the Disgaea series has some really good music. And the voice acting is top-notch too (no recycling in this case, since it’s all new dialogue).

The presentation is really mostly recycling, but in this case I can’t really fault them for doing so. This is what the fans want after all.

Story/Gameplay
Being a Visual Novel sort of game, the story is a very important aspect of the game, and it’s very closely tied to the gameplay. Here, you play as a Prinny. Various things go on, and, after finding out that Etna just bought limited-edition pudding, Laharl explodes (literally), claiming that he’s been assassinated (yeah, he’s weird like that), and cuts the Prinnies’ salary as a result, thinking they did it. Using an artifact he found while cleaning Laharl’s room, the Prinny gets his spirit removed from his body, is able to go back in time, and possess people’s bodies to follow them around. He also gains the power to mind control characters to change what they say or do, affecting how the story progresses. The ultimate goal is to prevent Laharl from exploding, of course, so that the Prinnies can keep their salary. Through all that, you have to find missing pudding, fuel tanks and DVDs that a delivery man mistakenly gave to the wrong people, and dwell through the minds of the Disgaea characters.

Speaking of characters, this game features most of the “main” guys from Disgaea 1, and 2 characters from Disgaea 3. No one from Disgaea 2, but, as you find out in one of the endings, this takes place during the beginning of Disgaea 2. Not too sure where it fits in the timeline in regards to Disgaea 3, but it can take place anywhere in the first half of the game or so, or maybe a bit before.

When there are multiple characters in a room, you can possess whichever one you want (with L and R). Sometimes, during their speech, they’ll be stopped and you’ll have the option to control their minds, or to just continue the conversation normally. When you mind control, you’re given 3 choices and you have a time limit to make your choice. If you pass the time limit, the conversation goes on normally. Depending on the choice you make, different things can happen, sometimes leading to completely different events.

As you possess different people and control their minds, you learn new things about what is happening, and eventually find a way to prevent Laharl from exploding. If you pause the game, you can see a diary, which shows what happened and sometimes gives hints on what to do. There’s also a time table, which shows who are at what area at which time (each “scene” counts as an hour), as well as flags that show which scenes have mind-control opportunities (which are quite important). And as you learn more information about what’s going on, you get extra mind-control opportunities, and access to more scenes.

When you do finally prevent the explosion, Laharl explodes again a few hours later, and it’s time to once again stop him to protect the Prinnies’ salary… again. But here it’s the second “half” of the game, and instead of just one solution, you have a total of 14 endings to get (though one of them is hidden in the first half of the game). Knowing when to possess other characters, what choices to pick when you mind control and various other things can help you get all the endings. Some endings have the same “path”, but change depending on which character you’re possessing at the end.

Whenever you “lose” (Laharl explodes OR you get one of the “bad endings”), you get brought back to the last save point. In the first part it’s right before Laharl attacks the Prinny and sends him out of the castle. When you “lose” during the second half, you’re brought back to right after you prevent Laharl’s first explosion, at the 13th hour of the day.

Overall
The visual novel genre isn’t one I’m very fond of, but take the genre and mix it with the characters, clever dialogues and awesome humor of Disgaea, and I’m pretty satisfied.

It is a rather short game though, taking only a few hours to find half the endings. And when you’re that far, finding the rest is a matter of skipping through the dialog (pressing select does that), stopping only to possess another character or doing some mind-controlling to try combinations you haven’t tried yet. There’s not much length in the gameplay, and not a lot of replay value (once you’ve seen all the endings, there’s nothing that might make you come back to this).

It’s rather entertaining, and fans of the series will love it, but you HAVE to know what you’re getting into before playing.

Only buy this if you’re a hardcore Disgaea fan (not just for the insane leveling either, but a fan of the story). Anything less than a hardcore fan of the franchise will not like this game.

Pros and cons
Pros
- Fun story
- Classic Disgaea humor
- The mind control mechanics let’s you see things you’d never expect the characters to do (like the pudding dance)

Cons
- Even with the 14 endings to find, it’s rather short
- Some people will not like the idea that ALL you do is read
- Very low replay value

The Save Factor
The game has a starting price of $20. Considering the length of the game and the lack of replay value, I’d say the Save Factor for it is about $10(AKA wait for a sell). I had fun with it and I am happy with the purchase, but there’s so little gameplay it’s not really worth spending much more.

The first game in the series was awesome. I had tons of playtime and fun from this game which was original and deep. The game also had tons of replay value. When they announced that the sequel was getting localized, I was very happy.

The first game easily won a spot in our 2009 Games of the Year awards in the PSP category. The second seemed to keep the same gameplay, and added various gameplay elements, so there were high hopes for this.

Does it keep the same fun as the first game, or do the changes reduce the game’s overall quality? Read on and see!

Developer: Acquire
Publisher: NIS America
Date of Release: April 29th on UMD, May 5th on the PSN
Platforms: PSP (both UMD and PSN)

Genre: Real-time strategy game
Players: 1
Rated T for Teen

Presentation
This game uses the exact same graphics as the first game. Lots of recycled sprites, both from monsters and heroes, but lots of new sprites too. The game looks just like the first one though. The same 8-bit/16-bit style which still looks great. There’s really nothing to complain about here. One upgrade is that there’s a few more things on display which can always help.

The sounds are nice. There’s some sound cues for various things which is very helpful. The music is good but not so high in volume so that it doesn’t distract from the other sounds. Not much more to say on that end.

Gameplay
The basics
The basic gameplay hasn’t changed since the first game which is a good thing. For people who don’t know, the gameplay is very simple. You have a dungeon full of dirt, placed in a grid. Some of the blocks of dirt have nutrients and/or mana in them. Breaking a block that has nutrients or mana in them creates a monster. Depending on how much nutrient/mana there is in the block, different monsters are created. The basic monster is the slimemoss, which is probably them most important monster in the game. It takes nutrients from blocks that have nutrients in them, and transport them to other blocks with nutrients. That way, you can add nutrients to blocks and make stronger monsters. Spirits work the same way, but with mana. A new element for resources is that mushrooms sometimes grow around the dungeons, which can spread nutrients or mana through nearby blocks, or that slimes and spirits can take ressources from that.

Blocks with enough nutrient to create a lizardman can also summon other types of monsters. If you clear up every block around it, you will create a rune on the floor which can be poked to summon a demon monster. In the first game it was only a special kind of demon that could be made from that, but here, depending on where you make the rune, a different monster type might pop up. The runes can also suck in Hero mana and spirits, which can produce stronger versions of the rune monsters.

Every monster and hero has a way they move through the dungeon. Slimes and spirits go straight until they hit a wall, and then they randomly change direction. Each hero type has a different movement pattern. Same for the monsters other than slimes and spirits.

In addition to movement pattern, each monster eats another monster. Slimes eat nutrients, Omnoms eat slimes, Lizardmen eat Omnoms, and each other monster type will have some other method of nutrition. In addition to that, monsters eating other make them reproduce, or evolve. Keeping a proper ecosystem will let the monsters reproduce properly and keep your dungeon alive.

After some time, Heroes will come to your dungeon, hoping to fight your monsters and kidnap Overlord Badman. If they manage to take Badman and bring him out of the dungeon, you lose. A new thing some heroes can do is save their game, making them respawn when they die. They can also set traps. Both of those you can remove by poking them with your pickaxe. Some Heroes also have the power to summon demonsto fight you as well. Basically, you just need to build a proper dungeon to get your monsters to fight the Heroes.

After every Hero attack, you can use your remaining Dig Power (yeah, you can’t just build through the dungeon non-stop, you have limited power to dig) to upgrade monsters, and then you’re graded depending on how fast you beat the heroes, how strong your army is, and how much dig power you have left (after upgrading). The better you do, the more dig power you get for the next stage.

New element: Areas
The biggest change from the first game here is that the game is separated in multiple areas. In the first game, Badman took over the world, but now suddenly more continents appeared for him to conquer, and you’re back as the God of Destruction (in the form of a pickaxe cursor) to help him out.
The first game had only one area, and when you went through the 8 stages (if you were good enough to get there), you were done, though you would probably go back through to try and get a better high score. Here, the game has a bunch of areas, with multiple stages in each.  Each area is progressively harder. Each area also starts you up with different monster mutations. It still has replay value as well, since you’ll want to try to get high scores in all the areas, which are all a bit different.

New element: Mutations
This time monsters have multiple forms. Monsters can change form depending on what does  on in your dungeon, monsters will adapt. If they die a lot from getting killed by heros, they’ll keep their normal form. If they die a lot from being eaten, they’ll get a new form to defend themselves from predators. If they die from food depravation, they’ll get a new fat form. Each form has its good elements and bad elements. Fat monsters don’t evolve (Long Omnoms won’t become Pupa and start flying, big Slimemosses don’t become flowers so they don’t reproduce) and don’t reproduce as well. The “abnormal” forms get various special effects, like screaming enemies to sleep, or paralysing attacks, or poison. You can try to manipulate the dungeon to get the forms you want for better defense of your dungeon. You’re always informed before a mutation takes place. You can actually stop it using a new element, a special power letting you create earthquakes. Earthquakes stop mutations, and they also stun heroes for a short time, but only if you have enough Dig Power do to that.

Overall
There’s actually a lot of new elements here, and they make the game a lot more interesting than the first game. It’s more challenging, thekinds of strategies and ecosystems you can make are different, and it’s, overall, a much more complete experience than the first. They also added a “sandbox” type of mode which is great for practicing, a deeper tutorial and some challenges.

If you liked the first, get this one, for sure. If you weren’t too sure about the first, this one is a lot more interesting, and well worth buying.

Pros/Cons
Pros
- Harder than the first
- Deeper than the first
- Still really fun like the first
- Lots of new really cool elements
- Still tons of replay value
- 20 seconds before a hero attacks, Badman informs you that the Heroes are coming, which is an awesome addition
- If you buy the UMD version, you get access to the first game too (though the PSN version is cheaper)

Cons
- There’s no cons really

The Save Factor
For now the UMD version is $30, and the PSN version is $20. I think the price for the UMD version is a bit high, even considering the fact that it includes the first game. The price for the PSN version is fine, it’s well worth $20, so that’s the Save Factor for the PSN version. The Save Factor would be $25 for the UMD version, since it has the first game as a bonus.

I was planning on doing a full review of this game before playing it. But then I put the UMD in my PSP, and after seconds of playing I thought “Wait a second, didn’t I play this before?”. And after checking it up, I did… and heck, I even reviewed it over a year ago. That’s right, Metal Slug XX is actually just a PSP port of the 2008 release of Metal Slug 7 on DS. Yeah… I wasn’t expecting that (since I didn’t inform myself on this game other than knowing it was coming out).

So instead of doing a full review, since I already did that, I’ll just give my impressions on the ports quality.

Here goes! Just a note, this will be a really short review.

Developer: SNK Playmore
Publisher: Atlus
Date of Release: February 23rd 2010
Platforms: Playstation Portable (PSP)

Genre: Side-scrolling action platformer
Players: 1-2
Rated T for Teen

What’s changed from the DS version?
Well, not that much really… Just a small list here:

- The graphics are a whole lot better. On the DS they weren’t too great. At first they might seem a bit lame and stretched out on the PSP, but changing the display settings to “clear” puts the game in a window of sorts and it looks perfect.
- THERE’S MULTIPLAYER! Yeah, this feature was somehow missing from the DS version, but now it’s here. The problem? It’s local multiplayer only. Finding another person with a PSP is hard enough, so finding another person with a PSP AND this game is gonna be next to impossible.  Still, HUGE improvement over the DS version.
- The difficulty is increased from the DS version. On the downside, there’s no option to have limited continues, so you can die as much as you want without caring, even on the Hard difficulty. That’s… a bit stupid, since they could have easily just given us an option to choose how many continues you want.
- Minor changes to levels. Some have alternate routes, the Prisoners of War (POW) are sometimes in different locations, there are changes in weapon locations, and weapons in general (some were changed or removed/added). Some slug vehicles also have minor modifications.
- Leona(from King of Fighters) as a downloadable character. I didn’t try her out, but she’s basically a fusion of all the other characters, having all of their skills (sometimes just a bit less good), and the extra skill of being able to keep her weapons when she dies (unless you use a continue). That sounds pretty badass if you want to pay to get access to her (and it only costs 1$ so it’s really not too bad).

And that’s really it. Other than those minor changes, the game is identical to its DS counterpart. The ports quality is really good, keeping the gameplay intact and making the game a lot better visually. The addition of multiplayer is probably the best addition, though good luck finding someone to play with.

The game itself
You run, you shoot, you jump, you throw grenades, you get killed millions of times… It’s Metal Slug.
If you attack enemies from far away, you shoot, but get up close and you use a melee attack instead to one-hit kill them. If you go change the options for this(I don’t know why it’s not default), holding the Square button lets you auto-fire. Pressing the Circle button throws a grenade, which does splash damage and more damage than the basic weapons. Shooting Prisoners releases them and, if you touch them, they give you items for points or weapons. You can hold up to 2 weapons in addition to the basic handgun, and switch between them with the R button. There’s also various vehicles which can take multiple hits and

You have 6 characters to choose from. They all basically play the same, but they all have minor differences like different damage on certain weapons, or special melee skills, or taking more hits, so there’s some gameplay variety there.

The game is really hard, with tons of bullets and enemies on the screen at once, making it really hard to avoid everything. But the infinite continues kinda downplay the difficulty. If you’re really into it though you can try to finish the whole game without using a continue, and THAT’S really challenging. It’s really short if you just play it through using continues non-stop, but it will take a very long time to master every level and be able to finish it without continues.

Overall
Yeah, told you it was gonna be a short post. Though frankly any review for a Metal Slug game would be just about this short.

This is Metal Slug as it has always been. Fun, really hard, fast-paced, and all sorts of awesome. If you haven’t played Metal Slug 7 yet and you have a PSP, it’s definitely worth checking out.
There’s one thing that I find weird, and it’s that they called the game “Metal Slug XX”. Why not “Metal Slug 7 X” or something like that, to at least let people know that it’s the same game as on the DS? Whatever… It’s a nice little game for fans of the series, and it’s really fun to play, just like… every other game in the series.

And it’s $20, so it’s really not expensive either.

There’s lots of good releases, a few that aren’t too great, but overall it seems like it should be a really good month. Let’s go and see what March has in store for us gamers, shall we?

As usual, the multi-platform releases are toghether, the exclusive releases are in their own sections, and japanese releases are marked accordingly.

Read on!

MULTIPLATFORM RELEASES

Mega Man 10 3/01 on Wii, 3/11 on PS3, 3/31 on Xbox 360

Probably the month’s biggest release for me. I’m always in for some old-school Mega Man 8-bit action. Not sure why there’s super delayed releases for the PS3 and Xbox 360 (seriously… 30 days later on the 360? Why?), but I’m very excited for this, so I’ll probably get it on Wii. And the easy mode might make the game a lot more accessible to casual gamers, or modern gamers who are used to games holding their hands too much.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 3/02 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

Another sequel to the popular franchise. To me it’s just a generic war FPS, but I’m sure lots of people are hyped for it, and from what I’ve seen it looks decent.

Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition 3/09 (PS3, Xbox 360)

A new edition of RE5. The DLC comes in it, and there’s some new content as well. Not really what is new in it though. But if you loved the first version and want to see the new stuff, or haven’t played it and want to try it out, this should be well worth getting.

Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space 3/09 (Wii, PC)

Sam & Max, season 2. Made by TellTale games, this continues the famous duo’s quest of… hum… being incredibly weird and random. Should be well worth checking out for fans of the first season. Which reminds me, I should finish that first season someday…

Final Fantasy XIII 3/09 (PS3, Xbox 360)

One of the most awaited games in a long time. And one I’m quite hyped for, despite the kinda negative opinions we hear from japanese players. It still looks quite good, the combat looks fun, and I doubt it will really disappoint. To me it looks like a step up from 12. And it’s been in development for a really long time, SE can’t really have screwed it up too much, right? RIGHT?

Resonance of Fate 3/16 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

Tri-Ace’s latest RPG. I actually have no idea what this game is like. It’s probably gonna have underwhelming sales because it comes out a week after FFXIII, but it might still be an interesting game… since it’s from Tri-Ace. I’ll definitely give it a try sometime.

Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening 3/16 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

An expansion to the critically acclaimed  Dragon Age Origins. From what I’ve heard it adds quite a bit of content, so fans of the game should really enjoy it.

METRO 2033 3/16 (PC, Xbox 360)

I only saw one gameplay video for this… And I really am not impressed with what I’ve seen. Looks like it will be a boring generic FPS, with no online and little content. But I might be wrong, and might rent it if I have nothing else to do one day(and if the reviews are higher than I expect them to be). I know there’s a bit of hype on the internet for this, so I’ve added it to this list…

R.U.S.E. 3/23 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

This looks like a really fun RTS with some cool quirks and it seems to use different tactics than other RTS out there. I definitely want to give this one a try.

Just Cause 2 3/23 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

I know nothing about that one. Nor have I heard of the previous game in the series. This looks like the average open-world game where you can cause any kind of chaos you might want. I’ll probably rent it, but I don’t have very high expectations from what I’ve seen.

Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes from Liberty City 3/30 (PC, PS3)

Finally the PC and PS3 get the 2 expansion packs for the popular GTAIV. I didn’t really like GTAIV, but lots of people have, and this is a long awaited release for people who don’t have a 360.

Hokuto Musou 3/25 (JAPANESE RELEASE) (PS3, Xbox 360)
(wow, the boxart looks just like Just Cause 2′s… yay for originality?)
A Fist of the North Star(Hokuto no Ken) game, which plays similarly to Dynasty Warriors… With more exploding heads probably. Definitely sounds like an interesting idea. Hopefully there’s gonna be an American release one day.

Wii RELEASES

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon 3/16

From what I understand, this is a sort of Survival Horror game, with anime visuals. I know nothing about it, but I know it’s quite hyped in the Wii’s “core” community.

Cave Story (on WiiWare) 3/22

It’s been delayed so much no one though it would finally come, but there it is. Unless something goes wrong again, you’ll be able to get your Cave Story action on Wii on March 22nd.

Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love 3/23

There’s also a PS2 release coming, though I didn’t list it here… Anyways, this is a strategy RPG where you control mechs, as well as a visual novel-like game it seems (which affects stats in battle). I’m not exactly sure what it’s gonna be like, but the fact that it’s the first Sakura Wars game to make it to the US makes it an interesting release. Should be worth at least checking out.

Red Steel 2 3/23 (found a second release date saying 3/26 with a WiiMotion Plus)

The first Red Steel was a pretty lame FPS. This one apparently makes use of the WiiMotion Plus to correct the original’s shortcomings. Though I have no idea if it really adds much, I have yet to play it so I have not much to comment in that sense. But I definitely want to check that one out someday.

PLAYSTATION 3 RELEASES

Yakuza 3 3/09
(I can’t be the only one not to like this boxart…)
A quite interesting release on the PS3 release. It’s a very loved series, and I know quite a few people who are hyped for it. It was still unsure for a while if it was even gonna come out in America, but there it is.

God of War III 3/16

God of War. The lower tier in the action game genre that was spawned by Devil May Cry. Featuring pathetic QTEs, one of the lamest characters in all of gaming, and boring(though good-looking) combat, it’s an example of everything that sucks in modern gaming. Yet people can’t do anything but be excited for it. I.. don’t get it. But this is a very hyped game that will generate a lot of sales, I won’t deny that. Whatever it is people like about this series, this one will have it all, and fans won’t be disappointed, that’s for sure… Since it’s exactly the same gameplay-wise as the first game, just technically better-looking.

Ryu ga Gotoku 4 3/18 (JAPANESE RELEASE)

Well, just as we get the third game in the Yakuza series over here, the fourth one comes out in Japan. Nice…

XBOX 360 RELEASE

Perfect Dark 3/02 (this comes out on the XBLA)

Well, I just found out that this was coming. I don’t know how I missed that either, since Perfect Dark is by far my favorite console FPS. This is a remake of the original on the N64. This has updated graphics, but the same old gameplay, which I think is awesome(I don’t think any modern console FPS has better gameplay than this… but that’s just me). It also has some cool online implementation which enables more than the usual 4 people in one match, in combination with split-screen play (so you can have 4 people in split-screen playing with more people online at the same time). OH, and it has multiplayer maps from Goldeneye 007 as well, awesome.

PC RELEASE

Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight 3/16

I almost forgot about that one. A new Command and Conquer game! Should be good, I might check it out someday.

DS RELEASES

Sonic Classic Collection 3/02

This includes all 4 Genesis Sonic games. 1, 2, 3 and Sonic & Knuckles (pretty sure it includes Sonic 3 and Knuckles too). It’s a nice little collection, and in total should cost just a bit less than getting all 4 games seperately on the Wii Virtual Console(hopefully, otherwise there’s no sense in buying it). Though there are so many compilations of this, some with MORE games, it might not be really worth it.

Spectral Force Genesis 3/11

Not sure what this is exactly, but from screenshots it seems like it might be a Strategy RPG… For some reason the name sounded familiar, so it’s on the list.

Pokemon HeartGold and Pokemon SoulSilver 3/14

More Pokemon! Yay! This one comes with the PokeWalker accessory, which enables you to carry a pokemon around to make it gain experience. And it’s a remake of the best pokemon games in the main series. Cool stuff.

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey 3/23

From various info I’ve found this sounds a bit like Nocturne, which is pretty cool. Though it takes on a more futuristic theme this time. One game I definitely want to check out.

WarioWare D.I.Y. 3/28

I don’t like WarioWare. Not my thing really. But fans of the series can now make their own WarioWare mini-games, which I’m sure they’re very excited for. Heck, even I want to check it out, see what the various options are in here. (This is also getting a release on WiiWare)

Monster Rancher DS 3/30 (I see multiple release dates for this one including April 1st, so if I need to I’ll mention it again in my April 2010 post)

WHOA!!!! FINALLY!!!! I’ve been hoping for this for a long time. This is the second Monster Rancher game on the DS in japan, but the first never came out here, and it’s some kind of miracle that this one is coming here at all (with Tecmo thinking the fanbase is too small for the game). I can’t wait to play this one, I played the hell out of the GBA games in the series.

PSP RELEASES

Lunar: Silver Star Harmony 3/02

Another remake of Lunar. There’s been multiple versions of this very same game, though the one I played was on GBA. This features new upgraded graphics and… I don’t know what else really. RPG gamers who haven’t played any of this game’s millions of versions might want to check it out, and older fans of the game might like to revisit it in an upgraded format.

Blazblue Portable 3/09

This features new modes and new unlimited versions of characters, but otherwise it’s the same BlazBlue we know and love… with downgraded graphics.

Zettai Hero Kaizou Keikaku 3/11 (JAPANESE RELEASE) (currently known as “Absolute Hero Modding Project” in english)

Nippon Ichi’s newest game is coming out in Japan! It features incredible customization, dungeon-crawling gameplay, lots of content and it looks to have Disgaea’s trademark humor style. I won’t be playing the japanese release, since it seems to have way too much japanese text for me to handle, but people with good japanese skills who are NIS fans should definitely check it out.

Prinny 2: Toukou Yuugi! Akatsuki no Pantsu Daisakusensu!! 3/25 (JAPANESE RELEASE)

MORE NIS GOODNESS! This one features similar gameplay to the first, with some modifications, and a new “Asagi mode” with Contra-like gameplay(or at least that’s what the screenshots lead me to believe). I definitely can’t wait for the American release for that, but people who are too impatient should have little trouble playing this language-wise, since it’s a platformer. It’s sure to feature hard as nails gameplay like the first though.

As usual, I’m not listing all the games coming, just the interesting ones. And no, there’s no interesting Xbox 360 exclusives in February as far as I can tell.

Read on and see what February has in store!

Multi-Platform Releases

BioShock 2 02/09 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

The first Bioshock was a pretty fantastic game… apparently. I only played through a very small portion of it and it did seem like quite an interesting game. Playing as a Big Daddy might be a nice change of pace from the first. One of the Behemoths this year, that’s for sure.

Dante’s Inferno 02/09 (PS3, Xbox 360, PSP)

God of War done right? Seems like it. The demo left a much better impression on me than the whole of the God of War series, that’s for sure. Will it be a good adaptation of the original poem? Probably not, but it doesn’t seem too bad. The PS3 gets a special edition for the same price as the normal 360 edition too. There’s also a PSP version coming, but it looks pretty terrible in comparison.

Aliens vs. Predator 02/16 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

I don’t know about this one. All I really saw about it was a few screenshots, and the special edition. What I’ve seen of the game itself looks fairly generic. The Hunter Edition includes a FaceHugger though… Interesting… too bad it’s not a live one.

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing 02/23 (Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, DS)

A kart racing game with Sonic and other Sega characters. I do wonder why Sonic needs a kart at all… Anyways… it looks pretty fun. Probably won’t be better than Mario Kart Wii, but whatever. Also, the Xbox 360 version includes Banjo-Kazooie as playable characters… too bad it’s their lame design.

Nintendo Wii Releases

Shiren the Wanderer 02/09

The DS version was a sub-par Dungeon Crawler. I didn’t really enjoy it. I don’t know what the Wii version brings to the table, but it might be interesting.

Data East Arcade Classics 02/16

A random collection of arcade games by Data East featuring: BurgerTime, Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja, Burnin’ Rubber (Bump n’ Jump), Caveman Ninja, Crude Buster, Express Raider, Heavy Barrel, Lock ‘n’ Chase, Magical Drop III, Peter Pepper’s Ice Cream Factory, Secret Agent, Side Pocket, Street Hoop, Super Real Darwin, Wizard Fire. Not much I really recognize, but it might be a fun little collection.

Playstation 3 Releases

White Knight Chronicles International Edition 02/02

Whoa, it’s actually coming out? That took a while. Looks like it could be one of the heavy hitters on the PS3 this year. It seems like a very interesting RPG.

Star Ocean The Last Hope: International 02/09
(don’t even know if this is the actual boxart, I saw like 3 different ones…)
The Xbox 360 version was quite good. Yes, it was actually good, despite what… just about everyone thinks. The combat was quite fun, the story was not too bad, and it was a good experience overall. This one adds more characters and… I have no idea what else. But it brings the experience to PS3 users, which is a good thing.

Heavy Rain 02/23

I’ll be honest and say I have no interest in this game. A game completely based on QTEs doesn’t really feel compelling to me. It has some interesting story-telling elements that sound pontially interesting, but the gameplay itself looks meh at best. I’ll probably rent it…

Last Rebellion 02/23

A turn-based RPG by HitMaker. You can switch between 2 characters during battle, both with different movesets and effects (one attacks physically, the other uses magic). And each enemy have different weakpoints, with different reactions when you hit said weak points. This could be interesting. ALSO, it’s gonna be $40 new. Sounds good to me.

DS Releases

Yu-Gi-Oh! World Tournament 2010 02/06
(didn’t find a box art, so I found a card featuring a wombat instead)
The Yearly Yu-Gi-Oh game. Hopefully this one doesn’t have any FUCKING motorcycle stages.

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth 02/16

An Ace Attorney game with Miles Edgeworth as the main character? Very interesting. This one seems to concentrate a bit more on the investigations segments though (as the name suggests).

Ragnarok DS 02/16

I actually did an import review of this one. It’s an okay take on the Ragnarok gameplay, but this time it’s single-player instead of the usual multi-player online gameplay. There is SOME multi-player if I recall correctly.

Estpolis: The Lands Cursed by the Gods JAPANESE RELEASE 02/25

The Lufia 2 remake. Really hoping for a US release, but fans of the series who have good japanese skills should definitely give this a try. I definitely can’t wait to play this, even with the completely new gameplay and modified character designs. The orignal Lufia 2 is still my favorite RPG, and taking another stab at it is a great idea.

PSP Releases

Armored Core: Silent Line Portable 02/04

I’m not very familiar with Armored Core. I played part of For Answer, and thought it was pretty fun (though I never got very deep in the customization), with fast-paced gameplay and nice robot designs. This actually seems like just a port of a PS2 game, though I’m not 100% sure.

SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3 02/16

I had no idea this was coming. SOCOM was never a very interesting series to me. Maybe it’s because I don’t really like “realism” in games. I don’t know…

Metal Slug XX 02/23

It’s Metal Slug. This time with 6 playable character (and Leona as a seventh downloadable character). Should be good, just like previous Metal Slug.

PC Releases

Star Trek Online 02/02

I have no interest in this game and its high subscription fees, but Trekies finally have an interesting MMO to call their own. And from what I understand it doesn’t look too bad. Yay?

NES Release

Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril (February 22nd)

Is it cheating to add this to the list? Kinda. It’s a homebrew game, made by one guy. All the graphics, music and level design all made by him, as well as all the programming. It will come on  an actual NES cartridge (no ROMs will be publically released for a while because of a contract with the site that will be selling the game), which is awesome since it’s gonna be playable on the actual NES. It’s gonna be sold at RetroZone, so probably around 32$ for the game. The game basically seems like I Wanna Be The Guy, but easier, and a bit more fun. Check out the trailer!. And here’s a demo(requires an emulator). I’m pretty excited for this.

Just a few notes here:
1. This is using knowledge we have as of the writing of this post (December 27th 2009). We obviously can’t see in the future, so we can’t predict delays, or unnanounced releases.
2. We will not update this list as the year goes by, unless there’s lots of demand for it.
3.  This only includes “interesting” games, so no shovelware and such.
4. We also include games that might not come out in 2010, but that there might be a remote chance of them coming…
5. If we’re missing something don’t hesitate to tell us.

So let’s do this! Read on and see what interesting games are coming out in 2010!

3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3)

This could be one of the best games of 2010. 8-bit style using 3D models with blocks instead of pixels, gameplay that’s a combination of the first and third Zelda games, leveling, powerful swords, a bunch of items… What kind of gamer can say it DOESN’T look awesome? A stupid one, that’s who.

The 3rd Birthday (PSP)

There’s… really nothing I can say about this here, because I’ve never played a Parasite Eve game. But it looks like it could be really good.

Alan Wake (360, PC)

This has been hyped and hyped for a long time. I have no idea how it’s gonna end. But it definitely looks interesting.

Aliens vs. Predator (360, PC, PS3)

An FPS with Aliens, Predators, and Marines. Yay.

Army of Two: The 40th Day (360, PSP, PS3)

The first one was pretty popular. This one features… exactly the same gameplay as the first. So if you like the first, you’ll like this one for sure.

Bayonetta (360, PS3)

We might as well say this right away: This was a candidate for GotY 2009. But we decided to wait since it wasn’t out here yet (despite both Dave and I having played the japanese version). And it would be unreasonable having the same game winning in 2 GotY awards in 2 different years, right? This is the best Action game since DMC3, and nothing will even come close to touching it in a while. The PS3 version is just a bit inferior, but it’s great nonetheless, no doubt just as good as the 360 version. It’s worth buying no matter which console you have.

Brink (360, PC, PS3)

This looks like a generic FPS. I really have nothing to say about this. It’s getting tons of hype, but I can’t help but feel it’s not gonna be anything special. There’s some interesting ideas, like different objectives depending on the class you choose, but it’s probably not gonna be anything really special.

Bioshock 2 (360, PC, PS3)

The first Bioshock was an amazing game… apparently. I’ve only played a bit of it and it seemed solid. This time you play the role of a Big Daddy, which could end up being really cool.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (360, PS3)

A third-person action Castlevania… They failed with the idea around 4 times already, maybe this will be the time where they’ll get it right. And with Kojima on board, they could be hitting gold here.

Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight (PC)

C&C games are usually really good RTS, so this one should be no exception.

Crackdown 2 (360)

I don’t know what to say about this one… I played a bit of the first and found it to be a bit boring… Like inFamous but nowhere near as good.

Crysis 2 (360, PC, PS3)

Crysis finally gets a sequel. Maybe the developers will learn to optimize their game instead of making it such a ressource hog this time.

Diablo 3 (PC)

It probably won’t come in 2010, but we can still wish, right? Diablo 2 is still a great game after TEN YEARS(seriously, has it already been 10 years?). I’ve been playing Diablo 2 a lot in the last few years and I definitely can’t wait for the sequel.

Dante’s Inferno (360, PS3)

Dante’s Inferno is God of War done right. It does have some of the problems GoW has, but it feels a lot better than GoW both in combat and in the story. It’s based on the famous poem, but it probably doesn’t have much to do with it outside of the title and the basic premise.

Darksiders (360, PS3)

This looks like a mix of Devil May Cry (basic combat), Gears of War (shooting) and GoW (crappy QTEs). It looks interesting enough, but I’ll give this a rent before actually trying it out.

Dark Void (360, PC, PS3)

The first “Vertical Third-Person Shooter”. Videos I’ve seen makes it look pretty boring, but there’s some interesting ideas here, so I’ll definitely try it out.

Dark Void Zero (DSiWare)

If there’s something ACTUALLY interesting about Dark Void, it’s this “demake”. An 8-bit side-scrolling action prequel of the game which looks really fun. I don’t really care about Dark Void, but I’m pretty hyped for this version at least. Only problem? It’s going to FUCKING DSiware. Good job limiting the number of people who will be able to play this Capcom… I’m not getting a DSi for this. Put it on WiiWare dammit!

Dead Rising 2 (360, PC, PS3)

More zombie-killing madness, while removing the boring picture-taking element from the first. Should be really fun.

Dead Space 2 (360, PC, PS3)

The first Dead Space had a nice mix of third-person action and horror elements and made for a really fun experience. The second one should be as good.

Deus Ex 3(360, PC, PS3)

I haven’t played the first 2 games, so I really have nothing to say here… Sorry.

Duke Nukem Trilogy (PSP, DS)

Not sure about this. It’s supposed to come out both on PSP and DS, but nothing is really known about it. Other than this.

Estpolis: The Lands Cursed by the Gods (Lufia 2 Remake) (DS)

Hopefully there’s gonna be an English release for this. A remake of the best games in a great RPG series, with completely new gameplay (3D action game instead of 2D turn-based RPG), revamped character designs, re-written story… Should be badass if the gameplay works well.

EA Sports MMA(360, PS3)

Well… I’m not a huge fan of the UFC, and UFC Undisputed 2009 was pretty boring. But this is made by EA Sports, who made the awesome Fight Night Round 4 (well, not the exact same team…), so maybe it won’t end up being as boring. The ground game will probably make or break this game, so hopefully it’ll be well done here compared to the clusterfuck that was the ground game in UFC Undisputed 2009.

Epic Mickey (Wii)

Not much was shown about the game. So I really don’t know what it will play like. But from the info we’ve seen, it looks like it might be interesting.

Fable III (360)

I didn’t really like Fable 2 at all. All I really expect for this is Molyneux promising a ton of crap that won’t be in the final game, just like before.

Fallout: New Vegas(360, PC, PS3)

A new Fallout game. Yay. Probably not gonna be a lot deeper than a Fallout 3 expansion, but whatever, should be fun anyways.

Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, 360)

It’s Final Fantasy 13! Of course it’s gonna be a quality game. It’s been in development for a while too, so like most people I have high expectations for this.

Final Fantasy XIV (PS3, PC)

The latest in MMORPGs, basically a sequel to 11. Should be interesting for fans of the genre. If I get chosen for the beta I’ll be sure to give it a good try.

Game 3 (360)

The Behemoth’s third game. No name yet, and the gameplay hasn’t been given a proper explanation yet either. But it could be pretty interesting.

Golden Sun DS (DS, duh)

After being teased and rumored for years, finally we’ll get to play a sequel to the GBA’s popular RPG series. Should be badass.

Gran Turismo 5 (PS3)

The fifth in the popular simulation racer series, taking years to actually come out. Will it surpass its competition? Can’t wait to try it out, if not only to see the FT-86.

Green Day: Rock Band (360, Wii, PS3)

Yeah, Green Day getting their own band-centric Rock Band… A completely random choice, but with proper care it could at least get an interesting setlist. And it can get imported to Rock Band 2, so it could at least have SOME use.

God of War 3 (PS3)

The demo is terrible, showing us that the developers don’t want to do anything more than “God of War with better graphics”, instead of actually using all the potential the series has. God of War could really be a great series, but the crappy combat, massive amounts of badly done QTEs and uninteresting characters just makes this a really lame action game. But it’s on here nonetheless since it’s gonna be stupidly popular for no good reason.

Guild Wars 2 (PC)

Hum… No idea what to say about this one, since I didn’t even touch the first one….

Halo: Reach (360)

It’s Halo…

Heavy Rain (PS3)

This is a game I’ll just rent and play through once (if it’s interesting enough). There’s some interesting story-telling ideas, but the gameplay itself looks really boring.

Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! 2: Time To Tighten Up Security!

Almost forgot this one in the list. The first game was one of the winners in our GotY awards, and this one looks even better. Awesome.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep (PSP)

A prequel to all the Kingdom Hearts series, taking place 10 years before the first, featuring Keyblade Masters other than Sora of course, and Xehanort. Should be interesting.

Just Cause 2 (360, PC, PS3)

All I’ve seen is a weapons trailer for this. Not really sure what it’s about, but it’s been getting some hype at least.

The Last Guardian (PS3)

The latest title by Team ICO. No idea if it’s actually coming in 2010, but whatever, it’s on this list since it might. Should be pretty good.

Lost Planet 2 (360, PS3)

The demo was pretty terrible, so I have no hype for this. But the first one was popular, so maybe it’s just the demo that was bad.

Mega Man 10(360, Wii, PS3)

FUCK YEAH! CAN’T WAIT TO PLAY THIS! I’m always in for more 8-bit Megaman awesomeness.

Mass Effect 2 (360, PC)

The first game was really good, and the second one looks awesome as well, maybe even better. Can’t wait to check it out.

MAG (PS3)

This looks pretty boring. Just look at the crappy  boxart, it couldn’t scream GENERIC any louder than it does now. The gameplay looks like a total mess since no one will really bother to work as a team despite that being the main idea of the game. The 128 vs 128 idea is good by concept, but the execution… Lame. But maybe that’s just how it goes in the beta, and that in the final game people will actually play it properly? We’ll see.

Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond (360, PS3)

Maybe side-scrolling action shooter action in the style of Contra is a much better fit for the character than a sub-par third-person shooter. We’ll see.

Max Payne 3 (360, PC, PS3)

More Max Payne is always a good thing, right?

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (PSP)

It’s Metal Gear, on the PSP. It looks pretty good, though from what I’ve played of the TGS demo it felt more like a shooter than a stealth game. But that might just be the TGS demo.

Metal Gear Solid: Rising (360, PS3)

Nothing is really known about this game. But it should be interesting. Though we’re not completely sure that it’s coming in 2010.

Metroid: Other M (Wii)

A Metroid game made by Team Ninja? That’s enough to pike my interest. It looks to have multiple play styles, with some third-person, some side-scrolling and some third-person. U definitely can’t wait to play this.

ModNation Racers (PS3)

This could be the LittleBigPlanet of racing games. If the track building tools are good and if the racing itself is well done it could be really fun.

Monster Rancher DS (DS)

OH SHIT! Finally! This is the second Monster Rancher game on the DS in japan, but the first one to reach the DS in America. Definitely can’t wait to try it out.

Microsoft’s Natal and Sony’s Wands

Hopefully we’ll get to see how those 2 are shaping up this year.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 (360, PS3)

A sequel to what was a pretty fun and AWESOME-looking Naruto game, if this corrects the issues in the first(especially balancing, Itachi was way too strong), it could be pretty fun.

Nier (360, PS3)

I have no idea what those games are about. Both Nier Replicant and Nier Gestalt will come on 1 system each, and each seems to share multiple similarities… But that’s really all i know about it.

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (Wii)

Nice, more No More Heroes. The first one was pretty good, though it lacked polish. Maybe this one will correct this?

Okamiden: Chiisaki Taiyo (DS)

Finally Okami on the system it always felt it was meant for. Should be good. No US release announced yet, but it should come someday.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (360, PC, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP, Cake)

A sequel to the Sands of Time trilogy. Hopefully they don’t make it boring like their pathetic attempt at a “reboot”.

Project Needlemouse (Unknown)

There’s no actual name for this game yet, but it’s a new side-scrolling Sonic game on console… PLEASE SEGA DON’T SCREW THIS UP!!!!!

Pokémon HeartGold and Pokémon SoulSilver (DS)

Remakes of the most beloved games in the series. Nothing more to say.

Puzzle Quest 2 (DS, PC, probably everything else)
v
I guess Galactrix didn’t count as a sequel. Should be pretty fun.

Quantum Theory (360, PS3)

So this is japan’s Gears of War clone, but with a more Fantasy tone to it? Looks okay, we’ll see.

RUSE (360, PC, PS3)

Ah, now this might be really cool. Not sure if I’ll play it, but it has a lot of new and interesting concepts for an RTS.

Red Dead Redemption (360, PC, PS3)

Looks quite interesting. Haven’t played the first game so I have nothing to compare it to though.

Red Steel 2 (Wii)

This was supposed to come out in November 2009, but didn’t. It’s supposed to take advantage of the Wii Motion Plus, but gameplay demonstrations didn’t show anything that couldn’t be done without it. So I really have no idea how this will end up. It definitely looks better than the first one though.

Rocket Knight (360, PC, PS3)

ZOMG, a new Rocket Knight Adventures! Awesome! Should be really fun.

Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love (Wii, PS2, though the Wii version will apparently be a bit better)

The first Sakura Wars game to come to the US. I have no idea what the series is about, but it might be worth looking at.

Sin and Punishment 2 (Wii)

The first never came out in the US until recently with the Virtual Console (I really should check that out…). The sequel looks like massive fun.

Starcraft 2 (PC)

So this is finally coming out? Cool. Too bad they went for that stupid “1 campaign a year” idea. But it’s obviously gonna be a great game.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope International (PS3)

It’s finally coming to the PS3, with more stuff than in the 360 version. The 360 version is pretty good, so this one should be fun as well.

Singularity (360, PC, PS3)

A first-person shooter… You can control time for combat and puzzles, which could be really interesting.  It’s probably the only FPS I’m interested in in 2010.

Splatterhouse (360, PC, PS3)

It’s been a while since a new Splatterhouse game came out. And… considering it’s a modern take on an old game I have low expectations for this. But I might be wrong.

Star Wars:The Old Republic (PC)

A new Star Wars MMO and it looks pretty fun. Star Wars fans will have something really cool to play together.

Star Trek Online (360, PC)

To counter the new Star Wars MMO, there’s a new Star Trek MMO as well. So Trekies will also have something to play as well. OH and Leonard Nimoy is in it.

Tatsunoko VS Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (Wii)

We didn’t think this would come to America, but it is coming. With new characters, including Zero! Awesome.

Tales of Vesperia (PS3)

No idea if it’s actually gonna come to the US, but hopefully it will. Not that I really care since I already have it on my 360, but it’s a pretty fun game so more people should experience it.

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction (360, PC)

I’m not very familiar with Splinter Cell, but what I’ve seen from this one is really interesting. I’m really interested in playing this.

Split Second (360, PC, PS3)

A racing game with things constantly crashing and exploding and changing the track every lap. I think you have control over those things but I’m not 100% sure. It definitely looks interesting.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)

The first one was great, this one looks just as good. And Yoshi is here! Can’t wait to try this game out.

Super Street Fighter IV (360, PS3)

So from what I understand there’s 10 extra characters compared to SFIV, or so teases tell us. So it could be well worth checking out for fans of the series.

Trauma Team (Wii)

A new Trauma Center game. Looks fun.

Ushiro (PSP)

An RPG where you posses people to advance through the game, and when fights come by you control the ghost itself and fight other ghosts. The graphical style is really nice japanese horror-ish anime-ish look.

White Knight Chronicles (PS3)

Oh, it’s finally coming? Nice. Not too sure about the gameplay and such since it’s been a long time since I’ve checked anything about this game. But it looks quite fun from what I remember.

Valkyria Chronicles 2 (PSP)

It’s strange that the sequel is coming to PSP. But if it keeps the same gameplay as the first, it should be pretty good.

Yakuza 3 (PS3)

It’s finally getting released in the US, just before the fourth comes out in Japan. Took them a while.

Last year we had a really crappy system for our GotY posts, but this year we almost seem *gasp* professional! Which I think is really cool.

So let’s go and look at all of the posts! Read on and check all the links!

So instead of choosing one winner in each category and a runner-up or two, we went for 5 winners in each category. This makes the lists a lot more varied and makes sure there’s something for everyone on there. The only exception is the Games of the Year, where we only chose 3.

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Best Soundtracks

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Best Single Player

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Best Multiplayer

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Best PSP Games

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Best DS Games

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Best Downloadable Games

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Best Multi-Platform Games

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Best Wii Exclusives

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Best Xbox 360 Exclusives

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Best Playstation 3 Exclusives

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Biggest Surprises

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Biggest Disappointments

The Save Points! Game of the Year awards 2009: Games of the Year

So that’s it! Thank you everyone for tuning in and seeing what we thought were the best games of the year! And thank you everyone on the team for your input which made this list a lot better than if I had done it all myself

Cheers to another great year on the way!

The first game just won our award for one of the best PSP games of the year. And now a demo just came out for its sequel.

So I gave it a try… and it seems like it’s gonna be a lot better than the first!

Read and see what I liked about it! (just a short post)

What stays the same?
The basic gameplay doesn’t change. You build a dungeon by destroying blocks. Destroying blocks with nutrients in them create creatures. You get different creatures depending on the amount of nutrients in the block you break. Using slimes, the basic super-weak creature, you can move nutrients around in the dungeon. Other creatures eat lower level creatures. So in the end you have to maintain a working ecosystem while making sure to have powerful monsters to defend the Overlord from heroes coming to kidnap him. The basic gameplay works as well as before.

What’s new? (in the demo)
There’s some additions to the gameplay. The most noticeable is extra things on display. There’s some extra bits of info on the screen, both when zoomed in and zoomed out. For example, you have a better view of where the Overlord and the Heroes are in the dungeon since they’re circled when you’re zoomed out, and you always see a meter at the bottom giving a rough estimation of the division between the number of creatures you have.

The biggest gameplay addition is evolution. Depending on how your monsters die in your dungeon, the remaining monsters of that species might evolve to fit the current situation. If they get eaten a lot, they become a smaller stronger form. If a lot of them die because they don’t have enough food, they’ll evolve into giant form which doesn’t require as much food to survive. If they mostly die because Heroes kill them, they stay in basic form. As in the first game, you can upgrade your creatures, and upgraded creatures get their own evolutions as well. The Almanac will definitely take a lot more time to fill up this time.

I’ve seen that Fungus can grow in the dungeon too. It acts as food for most creatures, nutrients for slimes to transport around, and if you kill if nutrients spread all around it. There’s probably more than one version of that.

Another addition is the fact that the game isn’t confined to one dungeon anymore (well, 2 if you count the second difficulty level). Instead, you have to conquer multiple continents, each which seem to include 1 dungeon for you to defend the Overlord in. There’s also a new mode, which is not available in the demo. Overall it kinda loses that “arcade-style” gameplay from the first, but it gains a more coherent story as a result.

Overall
The sequel seems like it will have a lot more depth than the first game. In addition to the few changes I mentionned here, there are things like water which wasn’t seen in the demo, and maybe some more stuff. Needless to say that this sequel adds a lot to the original’s concept. This is definitely one to look out for.

On another note, buying the UMD nets you the first game as a bonus. The UMD is $30, and the PSN release is $20.

The following games are all games that should at least be checked out for Sony’s handheld.

Read and see our 5 winners this year!

Half-Minute Hero

This game takes on one of the most unique concepts of the year: Take a few game genres, though mainly RPGs, parody them, and then make you finish each level in a super-fast time. The game includes 4 completely different modes of play, and 2 variations on the 30 second RPG mode, offering lots of variety and a surprising amount of gameplay time. In addition to the gorgeous 16-bit visuals and hilarious(and actually interesting) story, it’s a must for PSP owners.

Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do to Deserve This?

This is like the perfect arcade classic that never existed. Here your job is to build dungeons, summoning an army of monster, and preserving the dungeon’s “ecosystem”, and protect the Overlord from being captured by the good guys. The game takes no more than 20 minutes to complete… that is if you’re able to complete it at all. It has pretty brutal difficulty, especially when you’re not a complete master of the game. The ability to make up your own strategies makes this game a must-try.

Dissidia Final Fantasy

This is pretty much the recipe to greatness. Take a few characters from 11 incredibly popular games, and make them fight using an original fighting game system. The concept alone sold this game. Add in fun intertwining stories for each character, great music, nice visuals, each character being unique, a fun battle system, some customization… and what’s not to like really?

Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?

People who whine that games aren’t hard anymore NEED to try out Prinny. On the hardest difficulty of course(easy mode is a bit too easy). Incredibly strict jumping mechanics right out of the original Ghosts n’ Goblins, tough enemies, dying in one hit, really hard boss battles requiring to totally master their patterns. This is the recipe of a hard game done right. Some might think the 1000 lives you start the game with is a bit much(you can’t get any extra lives by the way), but when they realize going through one level can take you a few hundred lives, they’ll change their opinion right away. Though it’s actually a lot more lenient than a game like Ghosts n’ Goblins, it’s stll one tough cookie. Add in great replayability, with each playthrough being different, fun DLC, and lots of extra things to find and you have a great game in your hands.

Undead Knights

Undead Knights is a unique addition to the zombie franchise in that you take the role of a character killed amidst a conspiracy, given the power to turn the living into your rather grisly looking undead slaves. Using this makeshift army, you’re given the power to crush those who stand in the way of your revenge. With an interesting plot, an incredibly well-written script, multiple difficulty levels, multiple playable characters, an upgrade system for each of the playable characters and even unlockable titles, this is a game built for replayability – making it one of the best games on the Playstation Portable this year. (thank you Wintrale for the text)

This game started out as a rumored Zelda game for some reason (because of the triforce symbol on the clock thing). It got a bit of hype because of that. What really interested me was the graphics, ad then I heard about the completely random concept. After playing the demos, I was sold.

What is it that made me fall in love with it? Read on and see!

Developer: Opus
Publisher: Xseed Games
Date of Release: October 13, 2009 (and on the 22nd on the PSN)
Platforms: PSP (UMD and PSN release)

Genre: RPG? Shooter? Action? RTS? I don’t know, it’s its own genre
Players: 1 (there’s ad hoc gameplay which I didn’t try)

Looks and sounds
The graphics are great. I love 8-bit sprites. They’re a small step above NES graphics, with the colors being a lot richer and there’s a bit more detail, and closer to FF4 on the SNES. I really like how it looks. I think it’s hilarious that instead of getting more detailed portraits for character faces, you get a big zoom-in on the sprite. It’s definitely not taking itself completely seriously and it just really works. I have no complaints whatsoever with the graphics. Everything looks nice and crisp. The animations aren’t incredible, but they aren’t meant to be. I also think it’s fun that the monsters are a lot more detailed than the human sprites. I don’t know what it is with the game but I love the style.

The sound is not too bad. There’s thankfully no voice acting to complain about. The sound effects are classic stuff. And the music is really nice. There’s some hard rock at multiple areas when the acting is faster or the game is reaching a climax, softer rock music in other section, and some regular Fantasy game music. It sounds really nice overall.

Gameplay
There’s 4 main modes in the game (and 2 special modes when you finish the 4 main ones). All of them are based on one idea: they all have something to do with 30 seconds. Let’s go through all the modes one by one.

Hero 30
This mode is an RPG mode, but it’s incredibly fast-paced. There’s 50 stages in this mode. Each of them have the same basic goal: Defeat the Evil Lord before the world is destroyed. The world gets destroyed in 30 seconds because of a spell of destruction. So you have to level up (you start each stage at level 1), buy equipment, do quests and fight the evil lord before that happens. The battles are all automated, where you (and possibly party members) and the enemy monsters just run forward and ram into each other until either you die or all the monsters die. Also, time stops in villages so you can take your time and plan your next moves. And on the field, movement is similar to NES/SNES RPGs with an bird’s eye views. But wait, 30 seconds isn’t really long. To give a bit of a chance to the player, you can pay money to the Time Goddess to reset the timer. Each time you do that, the price to reset the timer increases, so you can’t really have infinite time.

In villages, you can talk to NPCs, buy herbs (they’re obviously a one-time use, but they heal all HP), buy full healing, talk to NPCs, and buy equipment. Equipment comes in 5 varieties: headgear, weapons, shields, armor and footgear. Those power up a few stats: Attack, Defense, Speed, Weight, Hit and Avoid. All are pretty self-explanatory. The only one that’s different from the usual is Weight. Usually it’s bad in other games because too much weight slows you down, but here it actually lowers the knockback that enemy attacks do, so you can land more attacks. Coupled with high speed you’ll be able to attack fiercely and frequently.

As you complete levels, you get to keep the equipment you buy and bring them to later levels. So you can start with whatever equip you want. But if you go back to an older level, you can only use equipment you got before that level, because otherwise it creates a time paradox (or we could go with the proper excuse that otherwise it would be too easy with some of the best equip). Either way, unless you change your equipment to older stuff before doing an older level, you’ll start out naked. There’s certain equipment that has different effects as well. Some armor and other wear that lets you swim or move faster on certain surfaces, weapons that kill certain enemy types in one hit (like the fly swatter which kills insects, no matter how powerful, with one hit). So you can try going at each level with optimum equipment that will be better depending on what’s going to come at you.

Overall it’s a really fun mode and trying to find the best way to go up against each Evil Lord is really fun. Some have different gimmicks, so it adds variety. It takes a few hours to finish all 50 levels. And there’s tons of replay value if you want to get the best times in all levels, and some levels open alternate paths or have slightly different endings.

Evil Lord 30
This one is another 100 years later, and features an Evil Lord(who is so “fabulous” he’s almost gay) that you could fight in Hero 30 who saw his ways were evil.

Here, he’s trying to turn Millenia(who was previously a beautiful girl but got transformed into a bat) back to a human. So he goes across the world to find a way to do that. But he only traverses the world in the night, because the sun is bad for his skin. It seems they have short nights, because each level can only take 30 seconds, otherwise he runs away to hide from the sun. Like the previous modes, you can get extra time. Killing enemies gives you money, and to reverse time you have to give all your money to the Time Goddess, who hides in golden barrels. But that’s not always a good idea, since money will be stored in the bank after each level and you power up when you get to certain amounts of money.

So the gameplay here is pretty much RTS-based. You control the evil lord moving across the map, and you have a magic circle under you. The magic circle charges up over time, and the more charged-up it is, the stronger the monsters you can summon. There are 3 enemy types to summon. Nimble, shooter and brute. Like Rock/Paper/Scissors, each type is strong against another type. Nimbles beat shooters, shooters beat brutes and brutes beat nimbles. Enemies are always one of those types as well. In addition to the monsters you summon, there are animals on the field. If they touch your magic circle, they’ll fall in love and follow you around. Pressing X also makes any creature in your magic circle move forward, attacking anything on the way. And, by doing some side-quests, you get access to spirits which you can touch during levels and press R to activate. This gives you a certain power which can stun enemies or destroy them. If enemies hit you, your magic circle will become weaker and smaller. Reseting time gets it back to full power.

Not much more to say here. In this mode, the goal is either to kill a certain target, destroy one or multiple statues, or just clear all the enemies. There’s 30 levels once again, and takes a little bit over an hour to complete. It’s a pretty fun mode.

Princess 30
A hundred years later, a King gets cursed, and it’s up to the princess, equipped with a fast-shooting crossbow, to save him.

In this mode, each of the 30 levels involve getting to the end to pick up an item or fight an enemy, and coming back to the castle, all that within 30 seconds. Each of the face buttons make you shoot in the corresponding direction. At first your shots will be going all over the place, but by holding the button the shots become more concentrated in that direction. You have a bunch of knights protecting you as you move across the levels. Each of them will take a hit to protect you, and when only 2 are left enemies can stun you, preventing you to shoot. Knights return to you after some time. Killing enemies and destroying objects spawn money, and money is used both for healing knights, and the time element: there’s red carpets in most levels, and riding on them gives you extra time to finish the level (as long as you have money).

That’s really about it with this one. There’s not that much variety for each level, except for a few boss fights which can be pretty challenging. It takes a bit less than an hour to complete, and while you can try to enhance your times on each level, I don’t find that there’s as much incentive as in Hero 30.

Knight 30
The final main mode is the last in the game’s timeline, taking another 100 year leap in the future.

Here you play as a Knight, and the goal of every level is pretty clear: Protect the Sage long enough for him to cast his spell. His spell takes 30 seconds to cast, and if he’s in movement he’ll stop casting, pausing the counter. The sage can take only a few hits before dying. By pressing X when near him, you can make him follow you around, and if you want to move fast you can charge and carry him around, but only for as long as you have SP left. Other means of protecting him are ramming into enemies to stun them, or picking up and using weapons to stun them. Another element here is traps. Before each level, you can build traps. At first you can only build one per level, but as you level up you can make more. various traps have various effects, like attracting certain types of enemies, blocking enemies, or damaging them. You can place those strategically to better protect the sage. Enemies will either aim straight at you, or go straight for the sage. Other enemy types will be hitting bells, which, if the sound is heard by the sage, will make it take longer to cast the spell, or just plain reset his timer, so you have to destroy the bells.

It’s a pretty interesting mode, and offers quite a bit of challenge. I found though that not building any traps during the night (giving you more time to sleep) is more advantageous s you get more HP to ram enemies and more SP to carry the sage around. Again, there’s 30 levels in this mode(and no alternate paths in this one), and it takes around an hour to complete. And it’s actually pretty fun.

Overall
This is a great game. There’s TONS of gameplay variety through the different modes. Each mode is a game itself and each of them is really well done. They all feel similar since they’re all so fast-paced as well.

There’s actually a pretty fun story in the game. It’s cliche and all, but there’s nice humor(there’s an opponent named CATS…. I think just with that you can guess his dialogue … and that’s just one example) and a few really good plot twists, with each mode having a continuous story despite each mode being 100 years apart.

And each mode can be really replayable as well. And the final mode you unlock will keep your attention for a long time until you figure out how to beat it.

To be pretty frank, this is one of the most interesting games in the PSP’s, and there’s nothing like that on any other system. It’s something most gamers should experience.

Pros/Cons
Pros
- Looks great
- Really fun to play all the modes
- Replayability for most modes
- Can be challenging, especially the very last mode you unlock

Cons
- Hum…. I guess it could be longer. It’s pretty short

The Save Factor
Considering the variety of gameplay and the replayability of the game as a whole, the starting price of 30$ is well worth it.