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Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

May 7, 2006

PSP / Reviews / by Tim Canty Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Unless you’re new to this whole ‘Playstation’ thing, you’ve probably played [i]Grand Theft Auto 3[/i] at some time. And if you have, you’ll feel right at home here. [i]GTA: Liberty City Stories[/i] is another trip through the streets of the worst city in America, and it’s bigger and badder than ever before. Liberty City is divided into three islands – Portland, the industrial district; Staunton, the residential and business centre; and Shoreside Vale, where the rich kids play. Though not often regarded as the best [i]GTA[/i] city, Liberty has a certain undeniable charm, which makes it stand apart from the others. It has a mafia-istic feel about it; if you like the Godfather for example, you’ll love this. The grimy streets underneath the constantly overcast sky… it’s like a worst case scenario version of New York.

So how does [i]GTA:LCS[/i] fit into the saga? It’s set in 1998, everyone’s terrified of the millennium bug (A nice touch) and the city is tense. Everyone seems to be coming apart – there’s strike action against the construction of the Callahan bridge as the ferry workers fear that the bridge will result in them losing their jobs. Of course, there were no ferries in [i]GTA3[/i]. Wonder what happened to them… The unfinished bridge means that Portland is isolated from the rest of the city when you, as Toni Cipriani, arrive. As you progress through the story, the bridge becomes more or less complete, but not totally. Eventually you can cross to Staunton Island. But then the strikers take out the Shoreside Vale lift bridge, so you’re stranded on Staunton until further notice.
The missions are more mafia centered than any of the previous games – mainly because you play as a wiseguy in the Leone family, rather than a freelance anonymous killer. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but you don’t get the same freedom of choice as you do in the other [i]GTA[/i]s.

Controls wise, this game takes full advantage of every button the PSP has. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be enough. Drive-by shooting is a staple of the [i]GTA[/i] series, and it has become difficult to pull off here. In the default control scheme, you’re required to hold down the L button, and tilt the Analogue stick left or right, then shoot. But you can’t change the direction you’re moving in when you do this; it leaves you totally vulnerable. The alternative allows for a more [i]GTA[/i]-like drive by style, where L and R allow you to look left and right, respectively. However, with this setup, the Handbrake is mapped to Square and X pushed together. Neither one of these control schemes work particularly well. Also, to correctly use the analogue stick, you need to move it with the ball of your thumb. It takes a while to get used to, and doing it incorrectly can hurt your hand…

The graphics are pretty good, all things considered. They’re slightly better than [i]GTA3[/i]’s – there are improved lighting and mist effects, for example. The soundtrack is of the same style as [i]GTA3[/i]’s – an overabundance of techno and trance music. The relaxing classical strings of Double Cleff FM are also present, but the annoying DJ breaks the mood… The staple Talk Radio show isn’t up to regular [i]GTA[/i] standards either – and it loops far too often.

As far as gameplay goes, [i]GTA:LCS[/i] is half-way between [i]GTA3[/i] and [i]GTA: Vice City[/i]. [i]Vice City[/i]’s expanded weapon sets are here(The inclusion of a chain gun is particularly nice), as are the changeable outfits. However, one of the big [i]Vice City[/i] improvements was the inclusion of aircraft; which are sadly missing from [i]GTA:LCS[/i]. This is odd, to say the least, as there are a whole host of fully functioning helicopters hidden away in the game’s code, yet they are only available with the help of a certain game hack… Also a problem is the save system. It stays true to the [i]GTA[/i] style of having a ‘safe house’, but that really doesn’t work so well on a supposedly portable game; how pick-up-and-play is it if you have to run all the way back to your safe house every time you need to save?

The missions are fun. That’s not debatable. Toni Cipriani is an excellent character, even if he has reduced choice in the theme of his missions. He’s a little deeper than [i]Vice City[/i]’s Tommy Vercetti, but you won’t be getting as attached to him as you did to San Andreas hero, CJ. The storyline is just as epic as we’re used to with the ‘big’ [i]GTA[/i] games and Toni gets to do more damage than any other [i]GTA[/i] protagonist; even going so far as to level several city blocks. The token side missions are here, in full force. If I’m not mistaken, there are actually more mini-missions in [i]GTA:LCS[/i] than there were in San Andreas. Among the new jobs available are car salesman and trashman.

Overall, it may not be the killer app everyone made of it. It’s definitely a buy though, as the sheer size of it will keep you going longer than any other game at the moment. The dry black humour will raise more than a few giggles and the intense driving missions will keep you hooked. The inclusion of motorcycles in Liberty City Stories was simply a stroke of genius – Nothing gives you more of a rush than slicing up the road on a PCJ-600 at 90mph. And now you can do it on the go. Groovy.

Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror

May 7, 2006

PSP / Reviews / by Mate Bors Make a comment! / Tweet it!

I had never played a [i]Syphon Filter[/i] game before, on any console. On the PS1, I was not interested in these types of games, and on the PS2 games such as [i]Splinter Cell[/i] and [i]Metal Gear Solid[/i] kept me occupied. However, [i]Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror[/i] being a PSP exclusive which received excellent reviews, and considering it looked like what [i]Splinter Cell Essentials[/i] could’ve/should’ve been, I decided to get it.

The game has the best graphics I have ever seen on the PSP. Stunning cut scenes, FMVs that look better than most games on the big consoles (for example, [i]Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones[/i]), and in game graphics are excellent too. Locations are varied, as well as the times of day to make the game more interesting. Visual orgasm at its best!

No complaints in the sound department either. Voice acting is solid, music is good when used. Weapons sound good quite too.

Speaking of weapons, [i]Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror[/i] boasts a great variety of weapons. Selecting them may seem complicated at first, but it is actually really simple. You press and hold right on your D-pad, and while holding you press the triangle to select the “assault” weapons (such as shotguns, snipers, rocket launchers, machine guns), the square for pistols, circle for SMGs, and X for your rifle that has multiple firing modes. While in this menu, you can press R for melee weapons, such as your bare hands, a trusty knife, and an EDT, which if you hold down long enough, will set the victim on fire. Awesome huh? The L button is for grenades.

Much like [i]Splinter Cell[/i], [i]Syphon Filter[/i] also has a variety of vision modes. You access these and use them like weapons, but press and hold left on the D-pad. There is the infra mode for seeking heat signatures, the night vision mode for seeing in the dark, a flashlight, and the EDSU goggles, which is for searching for bombs and such.

You move around with the analog stick, and use the circle, triangle, X and square buttons to look around. It may be confusing at first, but you adjust very quickly as it is quite comfortable.

The story revolves primarily around Gabe Logan, the protagonist of the previous [i]Syphon Filter[/i] games. He is sent into a variety of places to get rid of some naughty terrorists. Lucky for Gabe and the player, there seems to be a big link between all the bad guys and this “Project Dark Mirror”. A few familiar faces show up as well to complicate the situation even more than it is.

The single player campaign will take you quite some time. There are a number of unlockables to go back for, even in the training missions! Once you are done with that, online play is available as well to spend countless hours on.

[i]Syphon Filter[/i] is one of, if not the, best games on the PSP. Developer Sony Bend managed to bring the complexity and the awesomeness of a console game right to the palm of your hands, and it was achieved beautifully, unlike many other companies’ efforts. After seeing how a third person shooter really can work in [i]SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo[/i], and now [i]Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror[/i], it truly makes you wonder how a [b]real[/b] [i]Metal Gear[/i] game could work on the PSP. Until that happens, [i]Syphon Filter[/i] should be an excellent alternative.

Metal Gear Acid

February 26, 2006

PSP / Reviews / by Mate Bors Make a comment! / Tweet it!

[i]Metal Gear Acid[/i], as you may all know, is not like the [i]Metal Gear[/i] games for other systemsA

Burnout Legends

February 7, 2006

PSP / Reviews / by Mate Bors Make a comment! / Tweet it!

[i]Burnout 3: Takedown[/i] and [i]Burnout: Revenge[/i] are probably my favorite racing games. Their ultra-fast pace is unmatched, and the amount of destruction in a racing game is amazing. This recipe equals awesomeness, and [i]Burnout Legends[/i] is almost the same.

[i]Burnout Legends[/i] came out when [i]Revenge[/i] did, and [i]Revenge[/i] offered a lot of new things compared to [i]Takedown[/i], and I was sort of expecting to see some of them (such as traffic-dodging). Sadly, I did not see these features, as [i]Legends[/i] is the best of the first three [i]Burnout[/i] games.

The game works a lot like [/i]Burnout 3[/i]. Many of the people who played the first three [i]Burnout[/i] games said that the first two did not get nearly as much emphasis as the third. EA probably has a lot to do with this, as they were not involved in the first two games. Most of the maps are from [i]Burnout 3[/i], which can get boring really fast for the people who played a lot of [i]Takedown[/i]. The races usually consist of three laps, and this, too, can be boring and repetitive. You can do signature takedowns, but they aren’t that spectacular.

Crash mode, obviously, is a lot more simplistic on this PSP best-of. There are no cash pickups, and it is very easy to receive gold medal. There is not a lot of destruction going on, but what does is pretty amazing for a handheld.

Road rage is still a fun mode. In this, you need to go and takedown as many opponents within a specified time limit-usually two minutes or so. This is probably the best part of the game but can get very tedious after a few races.

Pursuit mode reminded me of [i]Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit[/i]. I expected the same (getting chased or chasing), and I ended up being the cop. I didn’t really like the cop cars; I feel that they were not fast as they ought to be and crash too easily. This mode got boring for me very fast, and it was my least favorite mode. However, some of the takedowns I made (because that’s how you ‘arrest’ the opponent) were quite beautiful.

As you race, you unlock different kinds of car classes: Compact, Muscle, Coupe, Sport, Super, Race Special, Heavyweight and Collector. Sadly, about three-fourths of the collector cars are only available in multiplayer, which is a real shame if you don’t have friends who own PSPs or [i]Burnout Legends[/i].

[i]Burnout Legends[/i] is a pretty good game. The graphics are awesome-the PSP just keeps amazing me from game to game. The graphics are better than the games I saw on the PS1. One thing that can be annoying, though, is that sometimes the game freezes for a second or two.

The sound of the cars is all right-nothing special. The music, for me, was pretty bland and boring, since I am not a fan of the college-rock genre, or whatever the music was playing during the game. You can’t upload your own music, which would’ve meant A LOT to me-a possible difference in the ratings. I think that, at least for me, it is much more enjoyable going around and listening to some Iron Maiden or Ozzy than listening to some no-name, college-rock, wannabe punk band.

In my opinion, you should rent this game if you don’t have anyone to play it with. Spend your money on [i]Burnout Revenge[/i] instead if you are so desperate for a [i]Burnout[/i]. Even if you play [i]Takedown[/i], you’ll basically get the same experience minus Pursuit mode (but for the Pursuit mode, you have the [i]Need for Speed[/i] games). If you play alone, the game can get tedious, and [i]Burnout[/i] just doesn’t quite feel like [i]Burnout[/i] on the PSP. We all know EA, and we know that there WILL be a sequel or another [i]Burnout[/i] for the PSP, and hopefully it will be better and contain some of the things [i]Revenge[/i] has to offer.

Since Criterion makes [i]Burnout[/i], it is almost a [i]guarantee[/i] that the next [i]Burnout[/i] on the PSP will be superior, if the console games are an indication. On the other hand, if you have friends who have PSPs, buy [i]Burnout Legends[/i] because you will have a lot of fun.

SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo

January 26, 2006

PSP / Reviews / by Mate Bors Make a comment! / Tweet it!

The [i]Socom[/i] games greatly remind me of Trey Parker’s and Matt Stone’s [i]Team America: World Police[/i]A

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