I'll nominate this game to be the game of the year!!! Yeah!
04/17/2009 Written by Adam Wolfe
Email: Wolfehound@playstationlifestyle.net
Site: http://playstationlifestyle.net
The second Ratchet and Clank game has made its way onto the PSP. This time around, Clank takes center stage as the main character. Now with Clank as the lead man, can this game stand with the previous games? Does Clank fill Ratchet’s shoes?
As the game opens up, Clank is sent to the Boltaire Museum to halt the theft of a priceless jewel known as the “Eye of Infinity”. Once there, he sees Ratchet being arrested in connection with the theft. Ratchet does not seem to be himself, and in fact is acting quite evil. Clank vows to find out what has happened to Ratchet and who is behind the theft. In order to clear Ratchet’s name, Clank will have to investigate all over the galaxy, fighting enemies both old and new in hopes of freeing Ratchet before it’s too late.
The gameplay is very similar to previous Ratchet and Clank games. There is still plenty of platforming, and you can still smash crates and kill enemies for bolts, the currency system for the game. Where it does differ is that Clank is the main hero this time around, and instead of a physical weapon Clank relies primarily on ‘clank fu’ instead. Clank fu is basically hand to hand combat. You can also buy upgrades for these, adding crazy moves to your arsenal.
The wacky weapons are also back this time around, but Clank’s weapons are more discrete. He will be equipped with a boomerang tie, cuff link bombs, a flamethrower briefcase, and more. Just like the famous James Bond flicks, not everything is not what it seems when it comes to Clank’s attire.
One of the main focuses of Clank’s gameplay is stealth. You will have to sneak up behind an enemy and hit Square, triggering a mini-game in which you will have to hit a series of buttons in a certain amount of time. In addition to the stealth kills, Clank will also be able to hide in pipes, under flowerpots, and even pose as a statue. For each area you complete without being detected, the game will give you a health bar bonus. The stealth tactics also work well since Clank’s weaponry is not exactly the strongest, so an all out attack would go south rather quickly.
Other than the stealth elements, the rest of Clank’s time is spent fighting enemies and platforming. But there are two other play types that you will encounter. The rhythm button games (a la Sly Cooper) will help you navigate lasers, dance or play cards. There is also some downhill skiing and speedboat driving which will have you trying to escape enemies by knocking them into cliffs, or dropping bombs in their path.
Clank isn’t the only character you get to control. You will have to play some arena based levels with Ratchet, which are exactly like the previous games’ arena battles. These are fought in jail, and you will have to survive waves of enemies for the designated number of rounds. The enemies you will be facing are all the guys Ratchet and Clank put behind bars, so you will be seeing quite a few familiar faces. Since Ratchet is in jail, Clank will have to find and buy all of Ratchets weapons during his levels. This only adds another level of depth to the game since you will have to decide who needs the new weapons more, Ratchet or Clank.
There are also some puzzle based levels in which you will be playing as Clank’s little robotic sidekicks. You will remember them from previous games as the little guys that helped open up doors and disable various security barriers. Well this time around, you get to control them and they will be in charge of navigating the complex locks and security systems, as well as fighting off enemies in order for Clank to gain access to certain areas.
The last fan favorite you will be playing as, of course, is Captain Qwark. His levels are pretty comedic since he is writing an autobiography, and you will be fighting all of his epic battles…at least the way he remembers them. From opera fights, to giant cactus people and saving nuns and orphans, Qwark has done it all. Each level is relatively similar, with you simply punching and shooting your way through them. However, Qwark’s, but with Qwark narrating what is going on they all are fun in there on way.
Since Secret Agent Clank is jam packed with many different game types, the gameplay never grows stale. The development team at High Impact Games chose to spice things up by switching up the gameplay and the tone constantly, providing gamers with a far different experience than previous Ratchet installments.
The visuals are crisp and stylized, making Secret Agent Clank one of the better looking PSP titles out there. The voice overs have been well implemented, with characters still played by the original actors. All of the corny dialogue is still in place, with Captain Qwark standing out in particular.
Secret Agent Clanks ends up being a worthy installment in the Ratchet series, and is a blast to play. On top of that, it really puts a spark back in the series by going in such a bold new direction. The length is pretty good, roughly 6~7 hours, and the short missions really make this perfect for traveling or quick play sessions. I hope to see more games like this on the PSP, and all fans of Ratchet and Clank should pick up this enjoyable title.
Source article: PSP Review - Secret Agent Clank
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Patapon 2 Review
April 17, 2009 by no-reality_allowed
After a year the original rhythm game Patapon has earned its sequel. The first game was a huge success and garnered critical acclaim. Is Patapon 2 the sequel we’ve all been waiting for or has this series lost its footing in the rhythm?
The gameplay in Patapon 2 hasn’t changed at all from the first. You use the face buttons to issue your drum commands, the left/right arrows move the screen, the select button shows your list of commands, and the start button allows you to quit the mission. I should note my tiny gripe that the start button still doesn’t allow you to pause the game. I understand this is a rhythm game but having to put the PSP in sleep mode every time I needed to pause was just annoying.
Patapon 2 has an RPG element which involves levelling your units (more on that later) and collecting equipment to make your army stronger. The stronger weapons and pieces of armor also include various status effects like sleep, freeze, and burn. My major annoyance about this game that wasn’t change from the original game is that you still get all your weapons from missions. In missions the weapons you get are all completely random and if you happen to kill an enemy and they drop a rare weapon but have a horde of enemies you have to fight that weapon might disappear if you take too long. This gets increasingly frustrating if your bow units happen to kill enemies behind towers and you have a tower or two to get through, and not to mention the Karmens you have to fight.
The first Patapon had around 35 missions, while Patapon trumps this by having 80 missions. Missions usually take 5 minutes but can stretch up to 20. There are three types of missions: Hunting missions involve hunting various creatures for materials, boss battles which pit you against one of the game’s giant behemoths, fortress missions which involve you commanding your army through the defenses of a Karmen fortress, and missions that are similar to fortress missions but without the fortress. Fortress, boss battles, and hunting missions can be played repeatedly. Fortress and boss battles increase in level and difficulty every time you complete it.
One of the big additions to the single player campaign is the Hero unit. These are stronger than your regular Patapons and wear masks. These masks have different abilities that boost your Hero’s stats and can be acquired in multiplayer mission (more on that later). Hero Patapon can take the form of any class and rank of Patapons, and each class has a special ability which can be activated by performing a set of Just Timings. Just Timing is beating the drum (button) perfectly on beat and the amount needed to trigger your Hero’s special ability depends on the difficulty.
When you complete a certain amount of perfect beats your Patapon will get into Fever mode where the music gets faster, your Patapon get stronger/faster, and their specific skills get much stronger. For example the Tatepon’s shield gets much bigger when the defense beat is used, Yumipons get faster and fire 3 arrows at a time, and Yaripons throw their spears farther.
One of the biggest gripes with the first game was the fact that if you upgraded your Patapon to a faster class for example, and wanted to change it for a stronger class you’d have to throw out the first Patapon to make room and losing all the materials and Ka-ching you spent on it. In Patapon 2 they have added an evolution map that has a vast majority of classes to upgrade to. The best part about this is if you create an ice resistant Patapon for a mission but need a fire resistant for the next mission you can just switch their caps in the equipment screen. You can also level up each separate class up to 10. Within the map are 6 memories to unlock advanced Patapon units. Once you unlock a class near a memory you’ll get the memory and be able to create new Patapons of that memory. The brute Dekapons, horse riding Kibapons, and musical Megapons return once again accompanied by the fist-fighting Robopons, magician Mahopons, and the flying Toripons.
Mini-games return to Patapon 2 and include some old favorites with new ones. The mini-games from the first game return with a twist. When you start up the game it’ll ask you which level you would like to start at. As you play the mini-game and if you get a perfect score you will unlock the higher levels. The newer mini-games have a twist on the gameplay by having notes move across the screen which you must hit at the right moment.
There isn’t much to say about the story. It takes place immediately after the first game and after landing on a mysterious new island you encounter the new enemy tribe called the Karmen. After that it’s your job to guide the Patapon tribe to through this new land. There’s also another tribe you encounter led by a Dark Hoshipon, but I’m going to keep as little spoilers as possible.
Rolito does it once again with the designs in Patapon 2. Each sprite is colorful and their animations are full of personality, style, and wit. The bosses are huge, menacing, and their animations all feel different giving each one its own personality. Rolito’s designs truly stand out and are a huge part of what makes the game so adorable.
The music in Patapon 2 is just as amazing as the first game. I found myself tapping my foot to the beats and humming the songs when I wasn’t playing. As you beat your drums and your Patapon army begins singing it’s hard not to smile. You’ll mainly hear the sound of your drums and Patapons singing during gameplay but the background music is a treat to the ears and I really hope they release a soundtrack.
Probably the biggest addition to Patapon 2 is multiplayer. Once you unlock your Hero character you are able to join 3 friends via Ad-Hoc in a co-op mode where instead of commanding your squad you control your hero. The mission is to transport a magical egg to the end of a level, and then hatching it by completing a minigame.You acquire eggs from bosses and some missions. You can then play these with your hero character and unlock upgrades for your hero. After each mission is a rhythm mini-game that involves hitting the correct beat for Ka-ching. The better your score the better the reward will be when the egg hatches. The big rewards are masks for your hero. There are 4 per egg to acquire. If you don’t happen to have 3 friends you can play all these missions by yourself with the aid of 3 AI heroes. You can also acquire new heroes to help you by playing the missions. Acquiring newer masks for your hero will aid you in the story mode by allowing you to use them.
Source article: Patapon 2 Review
After a year the original rhythm game Patapon has earned its sequel. The first game was a huge success and garnered critical acclaim. Is Patapon 2 the sequel we’ve all been waiting for or has this series lost its footing in the rhythm?
The gameplay in Patapon 2 hasn’t changed at all from the first. You use the face buttons to issue your drum commands, the left/right arrows move the screen, the select button shows your list of commands, and the start button allows you to quit the mission. I should note my tiny gripe that the start button still doesn’t allow you to pause the game. I understand this is a rhythm game but having to put the PSP in sleep mode every time I needed to pause was just annoying.
Patapon 2 has an RPG element which involves levelling your units (more on that later) and collecting equipment to make your army stronger. The stronger weapons and pieces of armor also include various status effects like sleep, freeze, and burn. My major annoyance about this game that wasn’t change from the original game is that you still get all your weapons from missions. In missions the weapons you get are all completely random and if you happen to kill an enemy and they drop a rare weapon but have a horde of enemies you have to fight that weapon might disappear if you take too long. This gets increasingly frustrating if your bow units happen to kill enemies behind towers and you have a tower or two to get through, and not to mention the Karmens you have to fight.
The first Patapon had around 35 missions, while Patapon trumps this by having 80 missions. Missions usually take 5 minutes but can stretch up to 20. There are three types of missions: Hunting missions involve hunting various creatures for materials, boss battles which pit you against one of the game’s giant behemoths, fortress missions which involve you commanding your army through the defenses of a Karmen fortress, and missions that are similar to fortress missions but without the fortress. Fortress, boss battles, and hunting missions can be played repeatedly. Fortress and boss battles increase in level and difficulty every time you complete it.
One of the big additions to the single player campaign is the Hero unit. These are stronger than your regular Patapons and wear masks. These masks have different abilities that boost your Hero’s stats and can be acquired in multiplayer mission (more on that later). Hero Patapon can take the form of any class and rank of Patapons, and each class has a special ability which can be activated by performing a set of Just Timings. Just Timing is beating the drum (button) perfectly on beat and the amount needed to trigger your Hero’s special ability depends on the difficulty.
When you complete a certain amount of perfect beats your Patapon will get into Fever mode where the music gets faster, your Patapon get stronger/faster, and their specific skills get much stronger. For example the Tatepon’s shield gets much bigger when the defense beat is used, Yumipons get faster and fire 3 arrows at a time, and Yaripons throw their spears farther.
One of the biggest gripes with the first game was the fact that if you upgraded your Patapon to a faster class for example, and wanted to change it for a stronger class you’d have to throw out the first Patapon to make room and losing all the materials and Ka-ching you spent on it. In Patapon 2 they have added an evolution map that has a vast majority of classes to upgrade to. The best part about this is if you create an ice resistant Patapon for a mission but need a fire resistant for the next mission you can just switch their caps in the equipment screen. You can also level up each separate class up to 10. Within the map are 6 memories to unlock advanced Patapon units. Once you unlock a class near a memory you’ll get the memory and be able to create new Patapons of that memory. The brute Dekapons, horse riding Kibapons, and musical Megapons return once again accompanied by the fist-fighting Robopons, magician Mahopons, and the flying Toripons.
Mini-games return to Patapon 2 and include some old favorites with new ones. The mini-games from the first game return with a twist. When you start up the game it’ll ask you which level you would like to start at. As you play the mini-game and if you get a perfect score you will unlock the higher levels. The newer mini-games have a twist on the gameplay by having notes move across the screen which you must hit at the right moment.
There isn’t much to say about the story. It takes place immediately after the first game and after landing on a mysterious new island you encounter the new enemy tribe called the Karmen. After that it’s your job to guide the Patapon tribe to through this new land. There’s also another tribe you encounter led by a Dark Hoshipon, but I’m going to keep as little spoilers as possible.
Rolito does it once again with the designs in Patapon 2. Each sprite is colorful and their animations are full of personality, style, and wit. The bosses are huge, menacing, and their animations all feel different giving each one its own personality. Rolito’s designs truly stand out and are a huge part of what makes the game so adorable.
The music in Patapon 2 is just as amazing as the first game. I found myself tapping my foot to the beats and humming the songs when I wasn’t playing. As you beat your drums and your Patapon army begins singing it’s hard not to smile. You’ll mainly hear the sound of your drums and Patapons singing during gameplay but the background music is a treat to the ears and I really hope they release a soundtrack.
Probably the biggest addition to Patapon 2 is multiplayer. Once you unlock your Hero character you are able to join 3 friends via Ad-Hoc in a co-op mode where instead of commanding your squad you control your hero. The mission is to transport a magical egg to the end of a level, and then hatching it by completing a minigame.You acquire eggs from bosses and some missions. You can then play these with your hero character and unlock upgrades for your hero. After each mission is a rhythm mini-game that involves hitting the correct beat for Ka-ching. The better your score the better the reward will be when the egg hatches. The big rewards are masks for your hero. There are 4 per egg to acquire. If you don’t happen to have 3 friends you can play all these missions by yourself with the aid of 3 AI heroes. You can also acquire new heroes to help you by playing the missions. Acquiring newer masks for your hero will aid you in the story mode by allowing you to use them.
Source article: Patapon 2 Review
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