30 games you MUST play on the PSP [Part Two]

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6. Gods Eaters Burst - Action RPG

If you heard about the PSP, you must've heard about Monster Hunter. These two brands go hand in hand. Well, you can imagine that after all the rage with Monster Hunter Freedom Unite and 3rdG in Japan (the last one selling over one MILLION copies in a week), other companies would like to get some piece of pie. Well, it ended up being a win-win situation for us, because we got a couple interesting monster-hunting games that rock the pomegranate out of it.

Gods Eater Burst, the retarded name we got in the West because Americans are too religious to see God Eater in the title, is a fast-paced game in which you play the part of a new soldier of an organization called Fenrir, dedicated to wipe out the creatures called Aragamis. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, we get out there and fight huge ass monsters focused on devouring the planet's nature. We have a couple tools to do that though as you get an all-around transforming weapon called the God Arc; which you can use as a Short Sword, Long Sword or Buster Sword, to go melee, or going ranged by shooting from light to heavy guns. Also you get to devour Aragamis for boosts. Yum.

Don't bother getting the previous Japanese-only entry, God Eater, because everything in Burst is way better.

MUST GET WHY: Really fast gameplay, cool monsters and monster-hunting that has nothing to envy Monster Hunter. It is a bit narrow when you compare both games monsters-list and weaponry but it makes up for it with the variety of missions with 2 or more aragamis at the same time. Also, lolis. Ah, Japan.

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7. God of War: Chains of Olympus / GoW: Ghost Of Sparta - Action/Adventure

If you've ever played God Of War before, you know what to expect. Gorey fast paced action while kicking ass and telling the Gods to go pineapple themselves. Y'know, the usual badassery. Kratos is here again with SWEET GRAPHIX and a lot of quick-time events to rape everyone's butt.

Ghost Of Sparta is just a little more difficult, but none of the two are really that hard.

Get ready to plug your PSP back in the power outlet though, the SWEET GRAPHIX come with the PSP functioning at 333 Mhz, draining your battery in 2 or 3 hours.

MUST GET WHY: Be a badass. Break stuff. Get angry. Have your own harem. On the go.

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8. Half-Minute Hero - RPG?

Do you remember the good ol' 8-bit pixel sprites? Well, this whole game is a homage to that era. The graphics, the music, everything.

This game puts you through different styles of gameplay, all of them involving some sort of time counter, and makes you accomplish all tasks before the time runs out. Weird you say? pineappleing fun I tell you. One of the modes, as the name implies, needs you to accomplish the task of killing the Overlord ruling that map's castle. In 30 seconds. While killing random foes. While leveling up. While shopping. While getting new titles and equipment. Yeah. 30 seconds. Now you wanna go try that yourself because you clearly think I'm bullpomegranateting. I kid you not.

Other modes involve some sort of side-scrolling shoot-em-up, switching roles and playing the Overlord, playing as a low-rank underling trying to save your goddess and even 3-seconds challenges.

If the gameplay wasn't enough of a catch, each story is hilarious, the writing is surprisingly good and the jokes come non-stop one after the other. WATCH OUT FOR THE EPIC MUSIC AS WELL.

MUST GET WHY: All around funny, entertaining story, and astounding gameplay that will blow your mind when you start getting to ridiculous levels of packed-in-30-seconds action.

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9. Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep - Action RPG

Okay, when I said Crisis Core was one of the only prequels to see the light of the day in the past years I lied. KH: Birth By Sleep is one hell of a game and set 10 years prior to the events of the original KH.

Disney meets Final Fantasy: The Game, requires no prior knowledge of the story, so it's a nice start for newcomers. You can choose from 3 characters to play - averaging about 6 hours per character, per play through. Great combat mechanics and deep customization coming from ''skill decks'', letting you decide what skills and abilities you want to display. This entry is noted for having much more focus on Disney and far less on DARKNESS and the evil group playing antagonists in KH2 and Chains of Memories, Organization XIII. Also has THIS GUY and may be worth playing just for him.

MUST GET WHY: One of the best games made for the PSP, it's Kingdom Hearts and it's accessible because you can start working your way up in the series from here. Win-win-win situation.

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10. Loco Roco 1 & 2 - Platforming

Get into a surreal experience controlling amorphous blobs in a dreamy, pastel world. You play as the... Earth? Controlling the PSP with the shoulder buttons, to make the ground shake or bend to get the blobs to the end of the level. Sounds boring, but it's ONE HELL OF AN EXPERIENCE. Sports an amazing soundtrack that sounds like it came straight from the kindergarten choir two blocks from home. CUTENESS OVERLOAD.

MUST GET WHY: You get so immersed in the experience that the silly premise of the game becomes a huge deal as you strive to get the LocoRocos safe. Playing with earphones is a must!

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30 games you must play on your PSP!

Hey, what's up. I was thinking about this for a long time, but never quite got around to do it.

Anyways, straight to the point. This post is directed to a mixed audience, either you just bought or got a PSP and you're looking for something to play on the good black thing, or you've had one for a long time but you've ran out of ideas for what to play next. I'm here to solve that for you.

Note: I just want to point out that the order has nothing to do with a ranking whatsoever, it's just a list in alphabetical order, aight. Here we go.

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1. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - Action RPG

What? A prequel for the most hyped and inflated Final Fantasy EVER? I'm in.

If you're looking for a nice-paced RPG, gorgeous graphics, fantastic FMVs and of course Cloud and Sephiroth, this is totally your game. Featuring a 25 - (give or take) hour storyline and lots of sidequests, you partake in the story of Zack Fair, mentor of Cloud Strife (spiky-haired blonde guy from FFVII), in his odyssey to find out why Sephiroth and mainly Genesis Rhapsodos, our girly badass antagonist, are so angry and want to destroy the world. Alright, that last sentence was a bit exaggerated. You go after them as a part of SOLDIER, the organization Zack works for, and consequently Cloud as well, just cleaning up the mess and trying to get a grasp on what-the-pineapple is going on.

Probably one of the best Action-RPGs for the handheld, and overly criticized just because it has FFVII on it. Well, maybe the battle system is a bit overdone but... it flows nicely and you play by yourself, no party whatsoever.

MUST GET WHY: Probably the only prequel that has surfaced in the last 6 or so years that doesn't suck and strayed away from the path of the main game while not being totally out of place (Dirge of Cerberus I am looking at you) and THE ENDING. OH BOY YOUR BODY IS READY FOR THE ENDING. Plus astonishing graphics for a 2008 game.

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2. Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness / Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days - Tactical RPG

Do you know the Disgaea series? If you don't might as well check the trailer for their latest iteration to grasp an idea of what the pineapple you're gonna face next.

THAT'S DISGAEA 4. Okay, not really. Only Disgaea 1 and 2 are available for the PSP, both of them being enhanced ports of the PS2 versions, but they're still solid entries on the series. Disgaea is an Strategy RPG or Tactical RPG, in the vein of Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, Fire Emblem and the such. It's just different because of two important factors:

1. It's set on the Netherworld and all characters are humanoid or monsters.

2. Everything is over the top. Damage, combos, animations, dialogue, everything is over the top. Trust me.

In the first one, the Demon Prince Laharl goes on a quest to be the new overlord of the Netherworld after his father dies and he's woken up by Etna after a 2-year nap. You lazy ass Laharl, you. Defeat other demons trying to take over your throne while grinding 9999 levels and getting ridiculous damage in the meantime. You're bound to have a great time and 60+ hours save files.

In the second one, you are Adell, a young man who is the last human in the small town of Holt. Overlord Zenon has gradually been turning everyone into demons and stealing their memories. As Adell, you attempt an assault on Zenon himself, meeting some very interesting people along the way, including Etna from Disgaea 1 and your brother and sister that join you on your crusade. Enjoy getting superb items in the Item World as well as the enhanced storyline plus the Axel mode.

MUST GET WHY: It's one of the best RPGs out there with fantastic humor, solid gameplay and, I cannot stress it enough, over the top mechanics. People looking for a quick-bursts game and no serious involvement might hate the depth and the grinding though.

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3. Dissidia 012: Duodecim Final Fantasy - Fighting

Yes, once again, and just counting three spots, Final Fantasy. Why? Fighting game, and a pretty good one at that, in 3D with experimental mechanics and boasting a 30 characters roster, that's why.

In Dissidia 012 you're presented with a convoluted story involving the good guys fighting for Cosmos and trying to resolve the twelfth cycle of the eternal struggle between him and Chaos. Just an excuse for a nice fighting game involving FF characters mind you.

Also, don't bother getting the first one, the Dissidia storyline is included in 012 and revamped for the better with a world map and stuff.

MUST GET WHY: It's a freaking Final Fantasy fighting game, that's enough of an excuse. Plus, you get to kick Kefka's butt with Squall or blow GILGAMESH to smithereens with Cecil or Lightning. What's not to like?

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4. DJ Max Portable series - Rhythm

I present you the asian version of music games. Do you like Rock Band, Guitar Hero? Well, this spiritual successor to Beatmania, one of the games that started it all, has the goods and it shows.

In this game you play through homemade songs in different button difficulties and styles, ranging from 4-buttons to 8-buttons. The soundtrack is pretty cool and especially if you like electronic music and J/K-Pop, you're bound to enjoy it. The faint of heart and the LOUSY RAGEQUITTERS needn't apply, because I don't wanna be held responsible of someone throwing their PSP against the wall after getting a GAME OVER - NEVER GIVE IT UP! It can get annoying, but the sense of accomplishment when you start getting better is unbelievable.

By the way, the series is composed of DJ Max Portable 1 (the hardest one though without some quirks that make it easier to understand), Portable 2 (hardest 8B charts in the whole series), Clazziquai Edition (highly recommended for beginners), BlackSquare (fair amount of accessible charts in every difficulty and best game design overall) and Portable 3 (don't even bother, not my cup of tea, check for yourself though).

MUST GET WHY: Visually appealing designs, nice music and ass-raping notecharts. Excellent replay value.

Also, no screenshots because a video does it better justice. This guy playing is GOOD (average song though):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?=vUsYExWBc7wQ
link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsYExWBc7wQ

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5. Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions - Tactical RPG

Alright, I promise to stop with the Final Fantasy games, they're just really close alphabetically.

There's just one thing that needs to be said about this game. BEST STORY EVER. Have you played Final Fantasy Tactics on the PSX? Well, it's a port, but 10x times better. Revamped dialogue, same mechanics, same good ol' gameplay, more content.

MUST GET WHY: If you're in for a deep storyline, with superlative plot twists, lovable characters involving politics and what-not, while keeping interesting gameplay, you're gonna enjoy the hell out of it.

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Crisis Core: Final Fantasy.


Crisis Core, as a Final Fantasy game, as most of you might know, is a RPG game developed by Square. In Crisis Core, you play as Zack, one of the characters featured in Final Fantasy VII, known better as Cloud Strife's mentor and friend.

As a prequel of Final Fantasy VII, and unlike Dirge of Cerberus, the other FFVII prequel of this series, you explore and develop most of the story in common places used in FFVII. For example, you start off your first mission at Wutai, the japanese themed area, in which you get to know quickly one of the characters you can get into your party in the aforementioned game. Places such as Junon, Shinra Headquarters -which acts as the main hub of the story seeing that you are a proud SOLDIER member- and, most importantly, Nibelheim, are recreated as you saw them in your first FFVII playthrough... with a lot more detail and awesome graphics.

Unlike FFVII, in Crisis Core you don't have to perform the pharaonic mission of saving the world. The game just focuses on Zack Fair and his interactions with Angeal -his mentor-, Genesis -the bad guy from the movie-, and Sephirot, portrayed more like a renegade than the mentally tortured guy he appears to be in FFVII. Likewise, the atmosphere feels a lot more intimate, such as when Aerith, who has a huge role in this game and has a huge impact in Zack's personality throughout the game as well, and Tseng come into play. Spectacular FMVs and the excellent music of Nobuo Uematsu add to the mix, completing the beatiful piece of art Crisis Core is.

In this game, differencing it from other regular Final Fantasy editions, you play solo, with a small arsenal of attacks and magics, gotten from a common Final Fantasy game gimmick called Materia. The battles appear randomly in various spots of the map, fading in and in the same environment you were exploring. The game automatically puts in the HUD menu and the HP and MP display and imaginary boundaries, creating some sort of arena. After winning the battle, Zack puts away his sword and the game continues with little delay and charging times. The HUD mentioned before works as a command menu in realtime. When you equip materia, you get to display a list of commands in the lower part of the screen, which you can scroll through with the L/R shoulder buttons. The most relevant mechanics used in Crisis Core, totally new to this sort of games, is the DMW -Digital Mind Wave-. This DMW appears in the HUD and in the main menu in two different ways. In the main menu it shows you the state of mind of Zack, which can be normal, rage and sadness. When in rage or sadness, the DMW autocasts a bunch of spells, such as Haste or Regen. In battle the DMW displays as a three way reeled jackpot with the numbers from 1 to 6. When you get 3 of the same numbers, the battle freezes and you are taken to another three way reeled jackpot with the faces of the most featured chars in this game. Getting three of the same faces triggers a special attack according to which combination you got. This, also, is the same way you level up, which in the game seems to be random, but it's not (after getting a chunk of exp, which is invisible in CC, the DMW tends to level you up almost automatically).

The way mechanics are presented and the lack of a magic and limit break menu, is a way of forcing you to plan what spells and abilities you are going to put in your HUD beforehand.

The controls are pretty easy, the analog stick or D-Pad for movement, the X button for most interactions and for regular/magic attack in-battle, the square and triangle button for rolling and blocking in-battle respectively and the circle button to cancel and return to regular attack when you're battling.

As regards game difficulty, in normal, the game grows exponentially as you advance, but hard mode is pretty hard really, and not recommended for the first playthrough. And you can always do a hard playthrough in the New Game+ feature. Difficulty in this game is not based in how fast can you beat the game, is based on Missions difficulty.

Missions, as noted, are the lifespan of Crisis Core and an alternative for hardcore players. In CC they are featured as a way of accomplishing goals, or even getting rare items and fighting ultimate bosses not available normally. There's a handful of them, that go up to at least 140 and they are intended for hardcore playing or gaming sessions on the go, which they fulfill fantastically.

However, nothing is perfect in this game. Camera sucks from time to time, because it gets stuck easily on map's corners, and even on invisible map borders. Also, the missions can get repetitive and annoying, mostly when you have to cycle the same dull map over and over again (the rewards are great though). Sometimes the character's intentions leave a little to desire and the minigames throughout the story are not that well implemented as you may expect from a game like this.

All in all, the game is brilliant, the story is too, and the ending, without spoilers, is really moving (I even got to cry at some point). Despite some minor errors, Crisis Core should be a must get for any PSP owner.