Hello and
welcome to Game Sack! At long last I'm
finally taking a look at the Sony PSP.
That's because thanks to the so-called
Playstation TV here
I'm actually able to get quality
captures of the games. But before we take
a look at those games let's take a look
at the Sony PSP itself.
The Sony PSP in 2004 sony decided to
enter the portable market with a
powerful new system that was far ahead
of anything on the market at the time
launching in japan at the end of 2004
and the rest of the world in 2005 the
sony playstation portable or psp
was truly a powerful system it was the
first and only portable game system to
use disk based media
the sony universal media disk or umd
was a proprietary format which could
hold up to 1.8 gigabytes of data on a
dual layer disk
sony even tried to push the format by
releasing movies on umd
the system featured a wide 4.3 inch
screen with a resolution of 480 by 272
pixels
the psp go which was released in 2009
featured a 3.8 inch screen and lacked a
umd drive requiring all games to be
downloaded
the control layout is similar to a
playstation 2 controller but with only
one set of shoulder buttons and a
sliding analog disc in lieu of an analog
stick there's also a slot for sony's
proprietary memory stick to increase the
amount of storage
the internal rechargeable battery
allowed anywhere between three and six
hours of gameplay depending on the game
you can also purchase video cables to
play on your tv but you need to make
sure to get the right cables for your
specific psp model
the psp is powered by two 333 megahertz
cpus
a gpu running at 166 megahertz and
between 32 and 64 megabytes of ram
depending on the model
the sony psp was officially discontinued
in 2014
selling about 80 million units with
about 1300 games released worldwide
right now that we know a little bit
about the hardware
let's move on to the games now these may
look a little bit rough when they're
blown up to full screen i don't think
they're too bad but you might
if you want to see what the psp really
looks like then watch this episode on a
psp size screen which like i said
is about 4.3 inches diagonally anyway
onto the games
hot shots golf open t is the first
portable entry of sony's extremely
approachable golf series
the strength of this series lies in how
easy it is to pick up and play
you have your typical swing meter but if
you're close enough to the hole it'll
tell you the optimum power that you want
everything is extremely well put
together in this game and it's very hard
to stop playing
i seriously recommend it even if you
don't like golf or sports games
the graphics are perfect for the
handheld and move very fast and smooth
the music is upbeat if you enable it but
you don't have to
this is the perfect game to play if
you're in a waiting room somewhere
or you might even consider hot shots
golf open t2
despite being released three years later
this is pretty much just a slight
upgrade of the same game
even the music is the same there's
really no need to own both games but if
you want one and you have a choice
go for part two here
do you like strategy rpgs then make sure
to try out jean dark from level five
you play as jean whose village has been
destroyed by demons
you start hearing the voice of god and
an armlet affixes itself to you giving
you quite a bit of power
the story is loosely based on joan of
arc if you haven't guessed that already
in fact the story is quite good and can
be darker than a lot of other games have
played in this genre
the game itself plays like a 3d shining
force
if you're familiar with that you'll have
no issue jumping right into this one
you have a certain amount of space each
character can move after that you can
fight if you're close enough to an enemy
of course certain characters can attack
from further away than others
after all of the characters in your
party are done the enemy gets a turn
of course the game throws more at you
than just the normal shining force stuff
like the armor jean can wield if things
go a certain way in battle
there's also a group shield that can
happen and more stuff like that
the control works well enough though
sometimes it's a bit cumbersome to
navigate your cursor along the grid but
it's certainly nothing that'll make you
pull your hair out
the stages can take quite a bit of time
and they get fairly big
between the stages there's lots of story
to be told often you'll see anime
cutscenes and they look
really nice you'll also be able to buy
things in the shop and equip your
characters with new items and magic
attacks
each stage has a specific objective so
pay attention to your goals and also
what you need to prevent from happening
the graphics are nice if a bit grainy
the colors are all very well done
the music is adequate and it certainly
doesn't get annoying overall this is a
fun one and it can be quite addictive if
you enjoy these types of games
printe can i really be the hero is an
interesting 2.5 d
action game from nis you play as a
creature who sort of looks like a
penguin but in fact you're the soul of a
criminal and there's this whole lore
around it from the disgaea series where
all this is from which i've never played
the story is cute for about 15 seconds
but i'm here for the action
you're equipped with a double jump a
slash type of attack a butt stop to stun
enemies and an air attack when you do an
air attack the camera angle switches and
you attack downwards
you can turn off the camera angle
switching if it annoys you you have a
total of 1 000 lives to get through this
game and you just might need them all
it's a tough game but fortunately
checkpoints are everywhere
the control is decent but i feel it
could be better there's definitely some
noticeable lag in the jumping
and sometimes i feel like i get stuck
climbing up on a ledge while getting
attacked
the graphics are nice for the system and
there's plenty of color the music is
excellent it really fits the action
unfortunately the sound experience has
ruined whenever the printies talk
and they talk a lot i got this dude they
say
dude a lot and trust me it gets old
super fast and instead only serves to
annoy you
what's with all the badass demons coming
around lately dude i guess the
developers thought it would be endearing
maybe if it was just a single character
that said this it would be less annoying
however each and every printing is a
different soul yet they all share the
exact
same personality oh well at the end of
the day
this isn't the best platformer in the
world but it's one i think you should
try
three years later we got pretty too dawn
of operation panties dude
that's right this time you're actually
hunting down stolen panties
while the game's title and premise
probably won't appeal to anyone who's
mentally matured past 12 years old the
game is ever so slightly refined over
the original
the controls are the same but i swear
they feel a hair better there are also a
few new things like an easy mode and
enemies that spring you high when you
bounce on them
it's also easier to enter into the brake
mode by filling your combo meter
but wait there's more they also added an
ice stage as well as an underwater stage
these are stages that gamers absolutely
love in their platformers
other than that it's literally more of
the same and it's just as annoying with
this personality
once again there are nice graphics and
good music just be sure to try one of
these out to see if you like pretty
yeah dude
hex's force is a turn-based rpg from
atlas and sting
right at the start you can choose from
two different stories to play through
which will obviously give this title
some replayability
i chose cecilia's story she's a cleric
and her town gets attacked and an
artifact is destroyed
now she needs to save the entire world
as far as the story goes it's about
average for an rpg
it's certainly nothing bad but it's also
not overly enthralling
as you run around you can rotate the
world with the l r buttons which reminds
me of the grandia games
the battles are thankfully not random as
you see the monsters on the map as you
wander around
the turn-based battles are mostly
familiar which is good in my opinion
nothing overly complex moreover they're
fun to play and usually don't get
repetitive
i really love the colors in this game it
looks nice there's also a few anime
cutscenes here and there to enjoy
the music has plenty of good stuff but a
few of the tunes do get kind of old
after a while
it's not the best traditional rpg in the
world but it's certainly not bad
i'll show you what i can do
as you can already tell there's quite a
variety of software on the system it's
like a
mini playstation 2. speaking of the
playstation 2 some of the heavy hitters
on that system got
really cool portable versions
there are two god of war games on the
system that i should mention quickly
even though we've shown them before
these are best described as cinematic
action games
god of war chains of olympus was
released in the first half of 2008.
this is a high dollar production and you
can feel it if you enjoyed the game on
the playstation 2
then you'll enjoy this as the action and
flow are pretty much identical
there are some quick time events and
you've got to be really fast
i kept messing them up and when you do
that whatever enemy you're fighting will
suddenly gain at least 25 percent or
more of their life back
the graphics are great for the system if
not a little dreary the frame rate is
variable which i'm never really a fan of
and there's some screen tearing
overall this is a good one if you enjoy
the series
god of war ghost of sparta was released
in late 2010.
you can take everything i said about the
first psp god of war game and apply it
here
it's more of the same except that this
one is definitely more forgiving on the
quicktime events
for that reason alone i prefer this one
over chains of olympus
for me each of these games are good to
play through exactly once and then
never play them again both of these have
hd remasters on the playstation 3.
rage racer was a launch game on the
system this is basically the greatest
hits of the ridge racer series up to
this point featuring many tracks from
the first four games
if you're familiar with the series then
you'll have little problem adapting to
this one and you'll be drifting all over
the place
otherwise it might take you a few laps
to get completely used to the controls
the more you drift the more nitrous
you'll get for a speed boost
the graphics are really nice especially
considering it's a launch title
the music is mostly experimental techno
and some of it's pretty good
two years later ridge racer 2 is
released but only in japan
europe and australia screw you north
america
this is more of an update than a true
sequel kind of like ridge racer
revolution was compared to the original
ridge racer
you have some new tracks as well as the
tracks from the previous games
all of them there are also some
additional music tracks as well
once again the graphics are really nice
and run at 60 frames per second
the same announcer from the last game is
back and he's just as excited
two laps to go overall this is
definitely the better of the two ridge
racers on the psp
but i do kind of wish it were more
different than the first
yeah it's a new record two laps
to go
burnout legends from criterion and
electronic arts was released in twenty
thousand i mean two thousand five
this one plays mostly like its big
console brothers specifically burnout
three and burnout revenge
you race as a generic car trying to come
in first all while crashing causing
others to crash and generally just
having a hell of a good time
you earn boost by taking risks such as
driving on the wrong side of the road or
bumping up against your opponents
the gameplay is all quite intuitive
there are other modes like road rage
where you need to take down certain
number of other cars to proceed
there's even a pursuit mode where you're
the cop and you're basically playing
chase hq if you're familiar with that
game
you ram the criminal's car again and
again until he dies forever and ever
the graphics are really good but they
only run at half the frame rate of the
console burnouts
the music is all licensed most of it
being pretty much garbage with a few
decent songs here and there
burnout dominator came out two years
later so get this
the game starts with a video that you
absolutely cannot skip telling you how
the game works which isn't hard to
figure out
i mean come on it's burnout it's one of
the most simple games from that era
taking risks while burning refills
that's bad enough but the first stage of
the game is constantly interrupting you
telling you how to play it literally
what the video just showed you
criterion and ea must really think their
customers are insanely stupid
a baby can figure this game out once you
get past that nonsense the game improves
unfortunately i don't feel it's quite as
good as burnout legends
you start out in an old clunker doing
drift challenges to earn
points eventually you get to a real race
that has you on a big track with lots of
speed and action
there are many different things you can
try to achieve while playing other than
just meeting the requirements of that
particular race
like drifting for so many yards or
whatnot think of it like trophies just
extra challenges
this game has the same quality of
graphics as burnout legends for the most
part but the licensed music is actually
slightly better
except for avril levine what is she
doing on here overall it's still a
really good portable burnout game
there are two wipeout games for the
system the first is wipeout pure
sure it's a poor man's f-zero but out of
all of the poor man's f-zero racing
games out there the wipeout series is
probably the best
this controls really well and it
restored my faith in the series as i was
really turned off by the controls of the
original game
this is still floaty but it feels
smoother thanks to the analog disc thing
i still kind of suck at the game but i
suck a bit less at this one
the graphics are fast and smooth and the
soundtrack is the european techno that
we've come to expect from the series
a few of the tracks are actually even
kinda good
two years later we got wipeout pulse
this one seems to have a higher
production value
the tracks themselves are definitely
more interesting in this one it does
seem to be slightly more difficult
compared to wipeout pure
i'd prefer these games without the
weapons as i don't really feel that they
add anything of value
the weapon effects do look really cool
though this was released on the ps2 in
europe and you can also get both of
these psp wipeout games upgraded in hd
on wipeout hd for the playstation 3.
this is another good entry into the
wipeout series
outrun coast to coast is even on the psp
i'm amazed that they even attempted this
at all
back when this was released on the big
boy consoles i was super impressed at
the quality of the graphics
and they still look fantastic on the psp
sure the resolution and detail level is
cut way down there's more fog and the
frame rate is variable but at least
there isn't much if any screen tearing
all of the game modes and music have
made it over so if you like outrun this
will keep you busy for quite some time
what are you doing
and of course you have gran turismo this
is one of those racing simulators that
kind of takes a while to get into
like all games in this series i
initially hate it but the more i play
the more it grows on me you'll
definitely be doing a lot of slower
speed races at first in order to earn
money to buy better and faster cars
the graphics are really nice for the
system at a rock solid 60 frames per
second however the controls can take a
while to get used to
the music is mostly excellent so it gets
bonus points for me
want some sweet kill zone first person
shooter action
well then don't play kill zone
liberation that's right this one
is more of an overhead run gun which
honestly i think is a nice change of
pace
the structure and pacing of this one is
similar to a standard first person war
game though
you have missions to accomplish ammo to
grab and secondary weapons to use
and of course you have a radio buddy who
magically knows exactly where you are
and what you're doing at all times
rico should be in that area you even get
partners that roam around with you which
you can give minor commands to
of course it doesn't take much for them
to fall in battle which requires you to
rejuvenate them
this annoying aspect kind of reminds me
of the first gears of war game
the game itself can be slightly cryptic
it took me a bit to figure that i need
to toss a frag grenade right into these
sensors to disable them
but let me tell you aiming your grenade
can be a little bit of a chore
the game is still pretty fun though the
graphics are good but there's some
screen tearing that pops up now and then
the sounds are average for this type of
game unfortunately there's no music
during gameplay because you know it's
super serious and all
still i'm glad that this wasn't just
another first person shooter
all right like i said the library is a
lot like that of the playstation 2 with
more serious games for older players
but is there any lighter stuff you know
games with actual color in them
hell yeah there is
mega man powered up was released by
capcom in 2006.
this is a remake of the first mega man
game only you know
powered up it's not a straightforward
remake as the stages while similar to
the original have all been reimagined
and redesigned in many ways
the layout isn't the same the game also
gives you a break as there are now many
checkpoints in each stage
but if you lose all of your lives and
continue you'll need to start back at
the beginning of the stage
there's also an easy mode which can
alter the stage slightly like having
these extra blocks to land on
the game even allows you to construct
your own stages and you collect extra
items as you play through the regular
game
that's pretty cool there are also brand
new stages exclusive to this game to
play through
there's an option to switch to old style
from the menu in the beginning
this gives you the same exact stage
layout and arrangement as the original
game in a 4x3 aspect ratio but with the
new powered up polygon graphics
the controls are generally responsive
but it can also be a bit frustrating
it suffers from the same melodies that i
feel infect the genesis remakes
if you press a direction to run mega man
will hesitate before he starts moving
this makes dodging attacks a lot tougher
than they need to be
you can really see this when you change
a direction see that he's pausing before
he begins moving
he feels i don't know sticky i know that
this occurs in the original games to
some degree but it feels much more
exaggerated here and
that's honestly not a good thing the
control might be a bit more laggy than
the original but
you'll get used to it after a few dozen
deaths or so i sure did
i've never been a huge fan of the mega
man series this is because i usually
forget which order to play the stages in
once you start unlocking weapons items
and abilities it becomes
way more fun and honestly quite
addictive one change i really like is
being able to switch weapons with the l
and r buttons
you can even unlock boss characters to
play as
i really like what they did with the
graphics here and it's an excellent
looking remake
it's one of the few psp games that's not
drowning and dithered graininess
the music is kind of a mixed bag with
some of the tunes suffering from a
rather limp arrangement while others
like
bomb man and guts man sound awesome
not the mega man game i would choose for
a remake but they couldn't do the second
mega man game because this one sold
rather poorly
psp owners hate mega man i guess if you
like the first game then you will
absolutely love this assuming the
hesitating controls aren't an issue for
you
i got used to them
mega man maverick hunter x was also
released in 2006.
that's right the title screen says 2005.
no need to leave a snide comment i know
about it
they probably just didn't bother to
update the year for the north american
release
it happens this one was actually made
and released before mega man powered up
but i played it after
this one is a straight up remake with
none of the new additions that mega man
powered up enjoyed
you have new graphics formatted for the
psp screen and redone music but the same
exact stage structure and mostly
the same gameplay not that that's a bad
thing if you enjoy mega man
x a lot of dialogue has been added
people who were kids when the original
mega man games came out were teenagers
once mega man x hit the stores so they
needed a little bit more angst in their
game
maverick hunter x here delivers that in
spades with super angry voice acting
looks like you've gone maverick i'm
taking you out overall this is a good
looking and sounding remake that
controls well enough
give it a try but as for me i'll stick
with mega man powered up
half minute hero from marvelous
entertainment is definitely a unique
take on rpgs
basically in each chapter an evil lord
casts a spell which will destroy the
entire world for whatever reason in 30
seconds and you have to stop them in
that time
you have random battles that happen
often to slow you down
it'll take you a few tries before you
figure out each chapter in order to do
everything fast enough
often you'll need to go to a town or a
cave to get an item
fortunately the clock doesn't run when
you're in areas like these
you'll also often have to pay to reset
the clock sometimes even more than once
per chapter
overall it's a fun and light-hearted
take on the genre but it's definitely
not for people who get stressed or
anxious at these quickly running clocks
crisis core final fantasy vii is an
action rpg
this takes place before the events of
final fantasy vii proper you play zach
who is a soldier working for a
soldier you embark on many missions and
come into contact with multiple
characters from the real final fantasy
vii
the story is pretty good and easy to
follow it kept me interested
being as this is an action rpg the
battles are different from the original
game
they're different from anything i've
experienced in any other game in fact
basically you lock onto an enemy and
engage the action you've selected
at the bottom right of the screen are
icons you cycle through with the l and r
buttons
this all happens in real time so if you
need to take a potion or an elixir you
need to cycle into your bag and find it
all while you run around
you can also select and use your magic
attacks the same way
it sounds frustrating but once you get
used to it it's actually really fun
and honestly i was used to this by the
second enemy i fought so it doesn't take
that long
there's also a slot machine type of deal
in the upper left of the screen
these will automatically interrupt the
battle to give you increased powers
level you up or give you a super special
attack
i didn't care for this aspect as i find
slot machines and gambling pretty boring
i don't feel that this adds anything of
substance to the game but at least it's
automatic as far as i can tell and you
don't seem to have to worry much about
it
i could have paid more attention or at
least some attention to the tutorials if
i wanted to figure it out
but meh this game really dates itself
with the flip phones that are everywhere
not only that but everyone loves to send
email back and forth as a prime means of
communication
you'll be reading a lot of emails
wandering around a few of the areas can
get a touch boring because they seem so
empty
mostly though i found this game to be
extremely entertaining with some good
characters
towards the end of the game you might
also be persuaded to feel some emotions
the visuals are all very well done
featuring some cool enemy designs
the music is also extremely good though
it's not from the original composer
i ended up liking this one a lot more
than i thought i would and i definitely
recommend giving it a go
activating combat mode
conflict resolved
now i certainly can't cover every single
psp game and i'll probably miss your
favorite simply because
i'm not you but there are a few more
that i want to mention because
it's my show and i really want to talk
about them so let's go
of course i need to mention the ease
titles that are on the psp
like ease 1 and 2 chronicles this action
rpg is a remake of the first two games
or maybe a remake of a remake as it's
based on ease one and two complete which
is based on e's book one and two
got all that good anyway i really like
this one you can select either game
right from the start
there are small bits and pieces that
have been added over the original game
and most places are significantly bigger
it still has the bump combat though so
some people are still gonna complain
but i really love the redone 2d artwork
you can also choose from three different
styles of the music i really like both
complete and the new chronicles music
i switch back and forth a lot just so i
can hear how they both sound
the only thing i don't like about this
disc is that the scrolling is only 30
frames per second so it's a bit choppy
this game is also one of the more
expensive psp titles these days
ease other felgana is a remake of ease
three
this one is rebuilt from scratch and now
takes place in a 3d-ish world like the
more modern ease games
the story is the same but everything has
been greatly expanded here
even the music has been redone and it's
incredible some of the areas don't work
very well in 3d
thanks to being able to fall all the way
down to the bottom countless times
very annoying i still prefer the
original game as flawed as it is
but this one is still fun to play if
you're a fan
e's arc of nepishtum is actually e6
this was not only the first east game to
be released on the psp
but also the first ease game to take
place with these kinds of 3d polygons
it's pretty rough around the edges all
over but the gameplay is generally
pretty good
this is far from the best version of the
game but it's still worth a try if you
want a portable version
lastly there's e7 which is only on the
psp
and steam this is also the game that
prompted me to finally buy a psp
this one is really well done though it
starts a tad slow
this is the first game in the series
that's based around partner switching
where you travel with up to three people
and they each have a certain type of
monster they're best at defeating
for example using dogi as your main
character will help you defeat rock
monsters faster
it's also the first game where you
collect parts from enemies you defeated
to make better items
overall the game is very much worth
playing with good graphics and excellent
music just like you'd expect
this is definitely the best ease game on
the psp but i'm still hoping for a
console port someday
there are a few grand theft auto games
on the system but the one i want to talk
about is grand theft auto liberty city
stories
that's because this is the best selling
game on the platform
it kind of shows you that the audience
that bought the psp generally skews a
little higher in age than other portable
systems like the ds
this takes place before grand theft auto
3 and also in the same city
it also plays just like you'd expect you
can do missions which will result in you
needing to drive from place to place to
take care of business
this earns you money and sometimes other
things or
you can just waste your time causing
havoc in the streets it's all up to you
and that's what i love about this series
it is kind of scaled back compared to
grand theft auto 3 but
that's to be expected the graphics are
good for the system considering the
overall size of the game
and of course the radio stations while
driving around can be hilarious
the internet may appear new and fun
but it's really a porn highway to hell
if your children want to get on the
internet don't let them
it's only a matter of time before they
get sucked into a vortex of shame
drugs and pornography from which they'll
never recover
this game was also ported to the ps2 and
mobile phones
overall it's definitely a fun little gta
you're a teenager so you're really
important we understand that
now it's time
in 2006 capcom released ultimate ghosts
and goblins
once again the princess has been
kidnapped and of course you need to
rescue her
if you've played other games in the
series then the basics are very familiar
you jump around and you get an
assortment of different weapons you can
shoot in all four directions like ghouls
and ghosts and you can even double jump
like in super ghouls and ghosts
well once you get the winged boot that
is but that happens at the end of the
first level
like any game in the series it's
definitely challenging but this one
gives you more hits before you die
more lives to start out with and even
responds you where you die
this is all on the normal difficulty
setting this game knows how tough it is
there's also lots of stuff to collect if
you want the proper ending and you can
revisit the stages you've cleared to
make sure you get everything
the graphics are really good but i feel
that the control is kind of weird since
it's all polygons now
you get used to it but it's just not the
same or even as good as it is with
sprites
the music on the other hand is generally
pretty good throughout
this is indeed the ultimate ghosts and
goblins game but that's to be expected
since there's only two of these
it doesn't hold a candle to either of
the ghouls and ghost games however yep
that's a technicality based on the north
american names and yes i will die on
this hill
hammer and hero from irem was released
in 2009.
you may be familiar with the series as
hammer and harry on the game boy or the
famicom
well here you play as again and not
harry you have a hammer and you go to
town trying to prevent an evil dude
sublime plan
you have a vertical attack with a square
button and a slightly slower horizontal
attack with the triangle button
along the way you'll encounter people
animals and things that are in some form
of distress
this is indicated by the sad balloon
that's near them smash it to help them
out and they'll often help you in some
way
you've got to be careful in this one as
you die in a single hit and you get sent
back
you can smash a bubble to get a helmet
which allows you to take an extra hit
though
between stages you can read thank you
letters from all the people you've
helped out
you can also switch jobs if you have any
available doing this changes your
clothes
and also your method of attacking the
action stages
the graphics are great and very colorful
and i'd also describe the music is
colorful as well
the game is really fun but it can be
frustrating since it's so easy to die
still i definitely recommend checking
this one out
and there's the psp for you i know i
didn't talk about castlevania the
dracula x chronicles which is a really
good game for the system
but i want to do an in-depth review on
that in the next castlevania episode i
do down the road
and a lot of psp games i've got to say
they did not feel like
cut down portable versions and that
totally blew me away back in the day
as for the system itself the analog nub
thing
kind of does take a while to get used to
it's certainly not optimal
and some games do suffer from the lack
of a dual analog
but come on it's the psp for what this
thing is it's absolutely insanely
awesome
what do you think of the psp let me know
in the meantime thank you
for watching game sag
you know i went that entire episode
without once saying that the playstation
portable
or psp if you will is backwards
compatible with the original
playstations library
and i want to play the best playstation
game on it right now
and that of course is clique the dna
imperative
i didn't want to play it anyway
