LATEST PSP GAMES

You think PSP games has no progression? Well think again. Here's a bunch of Latest PSP games with the latest reviews. 

As hinted by a time-lost relic of a newsletter sent last week by Atlus, the PSP remake of Persona 2: Innocent Sin is on the way to North America, with a release scheduled for sometime this fall. Persona fans have extra reason to get excited about this particular release, as the PlayStation original was never localized.

Even if you have already played the original, in Japanese or through a fan translation, this one offers new content in the form of new sidequests, a new interface, and an optional new soundtrack by director Shoji Meguro. This post also offers new content: screens in the gallery below, and a trailer after the break.

Persona 2: Innocent Sin was the first game in Atlus's Shin Megami Tensei series to drop the traditional first-person dungeons in favor of a third-person viewpoint. Like the other Personas, it's all about cool high school kids negotiating (and fighting) with demons and discovering their powerful "Persona" alter egos. 

NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: Ultimate Ninja Impact lets players unleash their honed Jutsu skills through exciting single-player and multiplayer modes. Story Battle lets fans become part of explosive NARUTO SHIPPUDEN fights straight from the anime with more events and battle sequences than ever before on the PSP. Tag Battle lets two friends connect through Ad-hoc to team up and complete over 20 missions cooperatively, while Versus Battle lets players battle against each other with their persistent customized characters across all modes. Over 20 characters are available to choose from across the NARUTO SHIPPUDEN universe with customization options that carry through each mode within the game.

Featuring large-scale battles against massive groups of enemies, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact puts players in the middle of epic fights as their favorite Naruto Shippuden characters through electrifying single-player and multiplayer modes. Deliver an action-packed and dynamic fighting experience, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact lets players unleash their honed Jutsu skills through exciting single-player and multiplayer modes. Story Battle lets fans become part of explosive Naruto Shippuden fights straight from the anime with more events and battle sequences than ever before on the PSP.

Tag Battle lets two friends connect through Ad-hoc to team up and complete over 20 missions cooperatively, while Versus Battle lets players battle against each other with their persistent customized characters across all modes. Over 20 characters are available to choose from across the Naruto Shippuden universe with customization options that carry through each mode within the game. Beginners and long-time fans of the Ultimate Ninja series will be able to feel immersed in the fast-paced on-screen ninja action.

You control the title protagonist Black Rock Shooter, or BRS for short, who is awakened from a capsule in the year 2051. Her dress sense consists entirely of a black leather jacket, hot pants, and the top part of a two-piece that is overshadowed by her huge cannon and crooked katana she brandishes for combat. Her left eye also emanates a bright blue flame for some reason.

The world is in ruin, thanks to a war between humankind and aliens. Naturally, BRS is siding with humankind as she helps the remaining human resistance combat the otherworldly menace while finding out more about her origins in role-playing game combat glory.

Black Rock Shooter's main appeal is its combat system. Whenever you engage an enemy on the map--major kudos to developers Imageepoch for ditching the random battles concept--you'll enter a battle screen where you defeat enemies in real time. The D pad and left analog stick is used for moving and aiming your reticle, while the square button is used for shooting. The X button is used to guard, while the circle button is used to evade to the left or right side of the battlefield. Shooting at enemies and evading builds up heat on the heat gauge; if you max it out, you'll overheat and can't perform any action while stunned for a short duration. Additionally, having the gauge at 50 percent and above limits the effectiveness of your cannon.

School settings have been especially popular in JRPGs lately, and following suit, the newest Final Fantasy begins in a school, but don’t expect too many giggles and panty jokes. As early as the opening, Type-0‘s story is darker and more constantly serious than most others that use the setting, and even more than most JRPGs in general.

While not “gory” by today’s standards, it’s several notches above what Final Fantasy has been used to. Lack of advanced graphics prevented us from seeing blood for years and years, and even when characters died in the past, there was something… somehow cleaner about it. That changes in Type-0 with its frequent images of people losing their lives – often violently. It’s not the FF we grew up with, but damn if it isn’t powerful and well done throughout, epitomized in the thrilling introduction and memorable conclusion.

Rather than collecting party members gradually, we’ll meet all of our 14 protagonists within minutes of starting, all of whom are as different on the battlefield as they are in personality. It’s enough to make a big cast that the player honestly cares about, but not too big to suffer from “Chrono Cross Syndrome,” during which the player is overloaded with too many characters and has to ask “Who was he again? Was he the one with the dead mom? No? Well, then whose funeral did I go to? I have no idea who this kid is.” It would be nice to be able to rotate the order somewhere other than save points, though; either that, or make the world map a save point so that changing up the roster isn’t such a pain in the butt. Sometimes, characters won’t even need to be rotated at all, as some parts of the game are clearly done more sensibly as a solo effort. Being an extension of the Crisis Core battle system, this might not be surprising. With enemies so powerful that they’re often capable of one-shot killing anyone in the party, having a second and third character simply stand around can be detrimental to progress. I noticed multiple instances of my allies simply standing around (with no negative status, even) instead of attacking things. I busted into a room, guns blazing, only to realize too late that my two teammates hadn’t even followed me in.

One downfall of having 14 playable characters is that they all apparently need some spotlight time, and some story sequences will have, say, 15 lines of dialogue split among 11 people, as if the writers had a checklist and a quota beside them. This is mostly an early thing though, to establish the characters; like most other aspects, it gets better as the game goes on. The story and its characters are pretty strong overall, and hopefully they’ll transition well into English. Another small setback with the sheer amount of characters is how it ties into leveling them up. The punishing mission structure and strong enemies will put players into situations in which almost all characters must be used at some point. I had two instances of being down to my last singular character when finishing a mission; everyone else was knocked out. What a rush.

It might be Final Fantasy, but Type-0 is no walk in the park. In the first 10 or 11 Final Fantasy games, when you couldn’t beat a dungeon or boss in the first try or two, a feasible option would be to go get your main crew two or three level-ups and have another go at it with a noticeable difference. Levels certainly are important in this game, but for all the power that leveling can grant against regular enemies, the time-honored grinding tradition described above won’t work on most of the game’s bosses. Much more important is timing one’s shot to get critical damage, and the game is actually better for it. It can be initially frustrating to get Game Overs and feel helpless against someone, but the benefit is that it makes the player to get in there and fight a better fight. It’s surprisingly more possible than it might sound, which to a player that just got stomped, is great to realize. The increase in difficulty without being ridiculous is an overdue addition to the Final Fantasy series.

Final Fantasy Type-0 is addictive as hell, thanks to its furiously fast combat and magic growth system. On one hand, the huge level gaps between some of the story segments suggest a need to hit the grindstone, but on the other, time flies during that process. You’re always looking for that next Phantoma, that next level for whatever character, and FFT0 keeps the hunt exciting with the fast pace and high challenge of its battle system. There is a killer amount of fun to be had finding the best party combinations, finding which characters are best for taking out which enemies, or testing out the results of your Alto Crystarium magic mixing. It’s just too freaking easy to get caught up obsessing over your master plan for how you’re going to customize the magic spells, then accidentally spending hours working towards it. The spells can be modified manually through gathering Phantomas from defeated enemies, though, on the downside, the game has a way of capping the player’s growth. Through making certain types of Phantomas available only appear in select locations, then roping those locations off from the player via invisible walls, players are somewhat restricted in just how crazy they can really get with the Phantoma system, though a lot of players won’t notice this.

FIFA Soccer 12 delivers a true soccer experience with authentic club and league licenses, and intelligent gameplay that mirrors real-world soccer. Compete as any one of over 500 officially licensed clubs and experience responsive, intelligent and realistic action. Enjoy turning defenders with sophisticated dribbling and ball control, snapping off precision shots and placing beautifully timed passes with pin point accuracy.

TAG FORCE is back in the hot third installment featuring cards up to the Crossroads of Chaos Set. Battle against Jaden and his pals including Haou Jaden and Mr. T (Truman), Jessie, Bastion, and even Yubel! Fully animation dueling is a must as well as the return of the Seasonal events and Mail System from the 1st Tag Force Game. TAG FORCE 3 takes you into the world of Duel Academy like never before, and is trip you don't want to miss.

Fate/Extra is Type-Moon's latest role-playing game based on Fate/Stay Night, a Japanese visual novel. Like the visual novel, the game boasts an intriguing story that revolves around masters whose servants do their bidding, and also includes stellar boss fights that bring the story's central struggles to life. Unfortunately, poor exploration and repetitive combat undermine the adventure. The result is a game with more novelty than substance--and more plot than gameplay. You should approach this dungeon crawler with caution.

Fate/Extra's unique story entices you to keep playing despite some cliches. After 20 years of peace on Earth, an alien supercomputer hidden within the moon has invited you to fight through a tournament for the Holy Grail, a device that grants wishes. The catch is that it's a tournament to the death--and you're a hapless amnesiac. Together with your legendary soul, a magical servant that fights in your stead, you must defeat other masters in weekly elimination battles to survive. Events leading to these fights are particularly interesting, with each opponent challenging you in different ways. Interacting with your servants is also delightful, because you're given three servants to choose from, and each exudes a different personality. The varied dialogue trees also keep things entertaining, prompting key plot decisions that affect the game's ending.

Surviving in this cutthroat world is difficult enough for any participant, but your amnesia severely weakens your servant. If you want to win your elimination match, you have to level the playing field by unveiling your opponent's techniques during the week before the fight. This investigation period is both refreshing and critical: you can unlock enemy secrets in interesting ways, such as by sparring, snooping, or stealing items. Uncovering the enemy servant's identity also reveals part of its attack pattern, which can mean the difference between victory and defeat.

Technically, Corpse Party is a full-sized PSP game that just happens to be PSN-only, but it is a downloadable portable game, so I'm using this column as a convenient venue to talk about it. Because it is really, really cool. It may look cutesy and SNES-like, but the cognitive dissonance between that presentation and what is happening only serves to amplify the profound wrongness of every single moment of this game.

Team GrisGris's Corpse Party began its miserable life as a fan-made RPG Maker project, and while it's been updated since then, it retains the look of a 16-bit RPG (and the gameplay of an adventure game). It also relies on mostly stereotypical characters, of the "anime" variety -- like the inappropriately upbeat "genki girl" and the aloof cool guy.

Those familiar elements are then dropped into an inescapable nightmare dimension where small groups of people occupy the same space but can't see each other (and thus can't find each other), where doors don't work and windows are often blocked by thick walls of human hair, and where evidence of horrific murders is absolutely everywhere. As you try to find your way out of Heavenly Host Elementary, you won't only find bodies of children (!) everywhere, you'll find mysterious buckets of congealed mystery substances, bloody scissors, and scratchy notes about the inevitability of killing your friends.

Those likable characters are literally put through hell. Team GrisGris, assisted by XSEED's localization, did a really great job of making a lot of the characters seem interesting and fun to be around ... only to make it more heartbreaking when they're subjected to the physical and psychological torture of a ruined elementary school where, you're told repeatedly, your spirit will continually relive the pain of your death.

With over 5 million copies sold worldwide and over 20 Sports Game of Year awards, last year NBA 2K11 allowed you to BECOME THE GREATEST with MJ & the Jordan Challenge mode. This year the NBA 2K franchise is back and bigger than ever, providing fans with the opportunity they've always dreamed of - to finally END THE DEBATE as to who are the best teams and players of all time with the ALL-NEW NBA's Greatest mode. Featuring 15 legendary players such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Dr. J, NBA's Greatest let you relive some of NBA's most celebrated careers and rivalries, painstakingly recreated in historical detail. In addition, several innovative gameplay features have been added putting fans center court of an unprecedented basketball experience.

Jordan Challenge - Relive 10 different legendary games from Michael Jordan's career and replicate what MJ did on the court in NBA 2K12. Successfully reenact all 10 game scenarios to unlock the My Jordan Mode.

My Jordan - Complete the Jordan Challenge to unlock this special mode where you get to take control of a newly drafted rookie Michael Jordan and craft your own version of Michael's career in the NBA.

Improved My Player - Experience the life of an NBA star firsthand as you create your own player and progress his career from an impact rookie to NBA legend. With the ability to now simulate during games, your player's progression will advance at a much more realistic rate.

Signature Style 2K12 - Hundreds of Signature Style animations have been added, along with enhanced player models & improved graphics, bringing your favorite NBA players to life like never before.

Updated Rosters - All of the latest transactions from the 2010-2011season have been incorporated, meaning you will be playing with current teams and ratings.

There you go. I'll keep y'all posted for more PSP GAMES latest updates and reviews