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Hands-on: Army of Two: The 40th Day (PSP)
When we recently had the opportunity to play EA's version of Army of Two: The 40th Day for PSP, we went into it with the realistic expectation that it would be the console game pared down to accommodate the portable's controls and capabilities. What we quickly found was a game designed specifically for PSP that conjures memories of top-down arcade shooters such as Mercs and Ikari Warriors. It's very much an arcade game, with its own unique art style and controls, but it still sticks to the console game's plot -- and employs its unique Aggro mechanic with some nice results. %Gallery-73575%
Hands-on: LocoRoco Midnight Carnival
The latest, download-only installment in PSP's iconic LocoRoco franchise features many familiar structural and gameplay elements from the first two titles, yet still manages to remain exciting and fresh. LocoRoco Midnight Carnival distinguishes itself from the previous games in that it has a very strong focus on level mastery and overall degree of challenge – Sony told us it's very much geared toward the "hardcore" LocoRoco player.%Gallery-70515%
GTA: Chinatown Wars losing nothing in PSP port
Meeting with Rockstar yesterday for our first hands-on with the PSP "remastering" of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, we kicked things off with a question that's on everyone's minds: What's happening to the DS version's touch-based minigames? The answer: They're all still in the game, just adapted to a button-based format.We hotwired a car to try it out and were presented with a comic book panel-like inset that had us rotate the analog stick, time L and R button presses and rotate the stick again. According to Rockstar, similar mods have been made to all the minigames, but no minigames have been added exclusively for the PSP release. (Developer Rockstar Leeds did, however, deem the need to pay bridge tolls unnecessary.)We were quickly pointed toward some added elements, specifically a new aiming "arc" for lobbing grenades and Molotovs while driving, copious bloom lighting (it was a rainy night) and punched-up explosions. The in-game "PDA" has also been redesigned slightly to mimic the PSP XMB interface.Check out freshly captured new screens in the gallery below:%Gallery-71116%
Fat Princess bulks up on content for PSP debut
The portable version of Sony's PSN-exclusive darling, Fat Princess, was being demoed by the publisher at yesterday's PSP holiday showcase and looked ... just like the console version. We asked Sony what would set the game apart from its console counterpart -- other than the fact that it's on PSP -- and were enthusiastically told, "It'll feature 50 percent more content!"Okay, that's very nice, but also very vague. So, we of course asked for more details and learned that the game will have a variety of modes not found in the PS3 release, including one where the class hat generators are busted at the beginning of the match and must be repaired using resources before they can be used.Another mode removes the princess from the equation and has players delivering something to their opponents' castle rather than removing it -- a bomb. Sony calls this portable version of the game "Fat Princess 1.5," saying that it also has an expanded single-player component, a new map and the aforementioned new modes (plus some). If there's anything this franchise stresses, it's that "more is better."
Impressions: Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
Of all the upcoming titles on display at last night's PSP showcase in San Francisco, we were most eager to check out Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines. After seeing the video from the PlayStation Blog, we just had to confirm that it really looked that amazing in person – and it does. Although our demo was hands-off, it was running on PSP Go hardware and was just about the most impressive thing we've seen on Sony's portable.It looked great, locked in at a nice, smooth 30 frames per second and featured superb character models, textures and lighting. It also seemed to play really well, which, at the end of the day, is what we all know really matters.%Gallery-68095%
PSP Go 'Pause Game' feature tested, deemed very handy
We've had a chance to test out the "Pause Game" function of the PSP Go, which was discovered yesterday by GameSpot UK. In the course of using a Go production unit last night, we tried the feature using two different games -- LocoRoco Midnight Carnival and Motorstorm: Arctic Edge -- and timed the process.Pressing the PlayStation button on the Go brings up two options: Pause Game and Quit Game. We made our LocoRoco jump into the air and pressed it, selected Pause Game, and within 10 seconds reached the XMB (after a progress bar appeared to indicate the saving of the game's current state).After selecting Pause Game, an icon appears under the Game section of the XMB -- it looks a bit like an egg and is labeled "Resume Game." We selected it and, 10 seconds later, were right back where we'd been, LocoRoco still mid-air. We had similar results with Arctic Edge, only we decided to use some of the system's functions, including the web browser, while the game was on hold. Again, a 10 second load and we were back, this time with a prompt to "press X to resume" the race.We asked Sony if this feature will eventually make its way to the standard PSP and were told by PlayStation Network's Eric Lempel that it's PSP Go-only. It's a really convenient feature from our testing and has a nice added benefit: The Go can be completely powered off and still retain the game state, unlike with the standard PSP's sleep function. We'll have a full review of the PSP Go soon.
