Some personal reasons kept me from writing. This doesn’t mean that my PSP was forgotten in a corner. It saw quite a few games (I’ll have to check my saves list in order to refresh my memory though – they were quite a few).

I’ll write today a few words about the game that saw the screen of my toy most of the time I’ve missed this site. Obviously you can find it in the title of this article. I have no idea what “plus” comes from. I suspect that’s the PSP features – back in ’05 you can find the usual ad-hoc and as an extra (?) the possibility to send/update scores and replays. I didn’t bother to google it though, i don’t think that’s that important.

In one of the past articles I was writing about PC-PS2-PSP games comparison – assuming that is even possible. Well, so you can have a good idea this version is somewhat 95% like the PC version of the game – CMR 2005 doh .

What this game has to offer? Rally. Cars. Tuned cars (although back then they weren’t that popular). Actually I have no idea if WRC is that popular nowadays but I really like the idea of driving this kind of car in all sort of roads. You can find a lot on info on this here. Actually you’ll find there a pretty good idea of the cars you’ll find there, from the old “raw power” age till today’s extra regulated WRC cars including some special models like VW Beetle RSI, MK1 Escort or the legend Mini Cooper S. Plenty of choice here. The career mode makes you try them all and adapt your driving style according to the car you’re driving and the rally stage you’re in – mind the weather to, it’s not a factor to neglect either.

Overall, one of the best car games ever – if you don’t like the rally and motor sports give it a 8. If you do, it’s almost perfect, 9.5! Make sure this game lands on your PSP!

The simple theme – just tap pumpkins before time runs out, trying to get as big a score as possible doesn’t do  the game justice. ‘Day of the Flying Pumpkins’ is a cute looking and addictive casual game, easy to learn but hard to master. Special bonuses, level deadlines running out, dangerous skulls you need to avoid and, off course, the flying pumpkins you need to blast as fast as possible, cute soundtrack and nice looking explosions, all combined in a unique concept.

No learning curve required: you just start tapping the flying pumpkins as fast as your fingers can handle. Your aim must be perfect, as the Grim Reaper awaits – like the game says, “Do not touch the skull“. Luckily for you, special treats will give you extra help – just make sure you use them quickly, or else they forever vanish. There is no end to the game, there is no goal other than to beat your own record and compare results with people all over the world through the  global highscore board.

The game was updated to version 1.5   and is available on AppStore at the url  http://itunes.com/apps/dayoftheflyingpumpkins).

There is also a free version called (surprise, suprise..) ‘Day of the Flying Pumpkins Free‘ which is supported by ads and only has the “Normal” difficulty game mode available at http://itunes.com/apps/dayoftheflyingpumpkinsfree .

So, now what are you waiting for? Get ready for some heavy trick or tapping for this Halloween and after!

I’m checking here – and it has been long since I’ve written any article here it seems – sorry ed – but here I go. Checked the last need for speed or some of the series? Tuned cars, action, hip-hop style music. I usually compare this games with the PC version – I do this because I don’t own a console except for the PSP and also because I think people are more familiar with these versions. But let’s see. I don’t know the numbers tthing o be honest – I have no idea how many cool cars ready to race are aut there but at the first glance are a lot.

A nice addition is the bonus each kind of cars has. The bosses are also a good idea. But the thing that attracted me is the feeling this game offers – it’s simply addictive! You want to play more and more and you are really sorry when the tube gots to the station you want to get off to – or when the tram that gets me to work reaches the destination and I almost feel sorry that I have to shut down my PSP, interrupting my race series… Good thing the PSP has this thing that “freezes” the game and you can resume it in a matter of seconds next time you open the console. In my case… the tram back home of course:).

One thing everybody loves at this game is the fact that all the cares look exactly like the real life ones – brands included. So if you want to ride at incredible speeds through the narrow streets of the city a Mercedes, a Chrysler, or maybe a Lamborghini then this is the game for you. Between this game and Need for speed undercover only the fame adds some interest to the latter.

The pleasant surprise I’ve mentioned: you play. And play. And you unlock all the cars, all the races, you beat all the bosses and you have plenty of money. You almost feel sorry that the game is going to end. But the real surprize is that it actually doesn’t ! You find out that you’re actually somewhere in the middle of the game because a new city is unlocked (!). Sounds like boring, over again playing the game. For some, maybe. But in the new city new cars new races await you. And above else, the driving is on the left side, fact that takes you some time to get used to it, you really have to master again the driving in the streets that have the rules changed…

Very good game overall. Great music, great graphics, great adrenaline, great cars. Great game. 9 – 9.5 out of then for the only reason that the perfect game doesn’t exist – it’s a matter of taste.

There is no force training or no introspective thinking like the movie has sometimes. You’ll find here action. A lot of action. The gameplay is – taking into consideration the PSP control limitations – like the PC game – multiplayer based, spawn points and revival as soon as there are enough reinforcements available.

For the single player you can play a campaign – a series of stages – actually all of them with some slight scenario events like the repair of Han Solo’s ship for instance or the rescue of general Akbar from a star destroyer are slightly adapted multiplayer stages with the impossibility to quickly finish the stage as you normally could. The difference is also the fact that you cannot capture some spawn points in order to end the stage faster like you normally could. Besides the campaign story you have a “Galactic conquest” option, some sort of turn based strategy, in which you can buy upgrades under the form of heroes.

In the other reviews I’ve read they say the game is bad because the lack of the story. That might be true, but this is no single player game at all. The beauty of it comes from multi player. Recently I’ve bought a wireless router and thus I’ve got the chance to use the multi player feature of the game. Oh, if the nights are not long enough for me to get enough game and sleep in the same time. It becomes obvious after you play for a while on the internet that the game is designed to be played like this. A lot of situation changes, heroes appear more often. a good player can make a difference in a team. I’m not saying the controls are hard, but playing tactical and in a team really makes a difference.

Actually besides the various star wars vehicles that are not uncommon to a lot of multiplayer games there are also the heroes I’ve mentioned before that give you great hit points and destructive power, but to enjoy this more time you will have to kill enemies. I’ve played multiplayer games which had classes, I mean different characters with different game styles, but here you can fully customize the character in terms of weapon – primary and secondary – , appearance – doesn’t affect gameplay – and different skills like increased health or increased speed when acquiring enemy spawn points. The customization can be done during the game and there is no need to die to have that opportunity, simply being next to a friendly spawn point is enough in order to have that opportunity. I have to mention here also a thing that really keeps you in the universe and that is the space battles. The fact that you can easily go inside a star destroyer is a bit childish and the downside is that the space is very limited – if you get only a km far from the objectives you’ll be warned by the game and if you don’t get closer to the action in a certain amount of time you’ll vanish. The good side is that you get to be Han Solo and you can fly his famous Millennium Falcon.

Overall I recommend this game, especially if you are a Star Wars fan and if you have the possibility to play it via multiplayer. 8 out of ten, add a halt of point if the force is strong within you .

I said action. Car game? yeah, lots of them, divided by classes, coupe, sport, compact, each class having 3 main vehicles and lots of unlockables by obtaining gold in the races. Speaking of which, again there are loads, about 13 for each car class. There are several modes of play, in one of them you have to win rival’s car by winning the race, there is the cop chase in which obviously you have to smash the runner’s car in due time, gold will be obtained if you trash the car pretty fast (usually you have to corner the opponent to do this). There is also a timed game mode in which you have to take out as many cars as possible to be the best. In the last mode the car gets damaged that’s why you cannot afford to be trashed many times because you’ll loose time and thus take out attempts.

The different class of cars are actually an increase of difficulty setting, faster the cars, more possibility to crash and more time for the opponents to catch up or to increase the advance that might already have.

A different section of the championship is the one in which you have to make the more damage possible, usually at a crossroad or in an usually crowded area. The feeling it gives you is strange. It quenches your thirst to see a total mayhem on the road and it is actually some kind of puzzle or at least let’s say tricky. You have only one shot and usually more explosion – don’t remember the term because Star Wars: Renegade squadron is on the list now, if I like it I will review, naturally.

Actually the thing that gets you is the pace of the action, sometimes you simply pass to the limit near a bus, miss a higway sustaining pole by a milimeter, cross through a terrace trashing everything in your path just to stopp in an wall with 150 mph . Believe me, you can only feel this, it’s very entertaining. The fact that a lot of stages are under 3 minutes makes the game perfect for the console purpose. Although I must say one of my colleagues wanted to buy a PSP after playing this game more than half of the shift continuously. Not to be missed, a legend indeed as the name says. I didn’t even mention the wonderful sound in the classic style of an EA game. 9 out of 10, add half of point if you like car games and arcades. Simply superb, I love it .

What can I say? This is one of the games that make a console sell, it’s a good combination between tactics, action, some puzzles and various missions. The series follow the agent Gabe Logan and his partner (although she appears briefly in some of the games including this one. Speaking of secondary character the Chinese agent and the French one – both girls a la Bond – add some spice to the story.

Let me think what this game has to offer: as landscape there is a ship – inside and outside, a misty forest with a military base, an underwater mission, a dam and a desert. In terms of scenery there are a lot of twists and scripted pieces of action that add a plus to the feeling – the continuous escape of the Chinese agent or the 2-way escape from the prison are really enjoyable.

Speaking of which, there are some kind of puzzles that require your attention, keeping you from getting bored of shooting and walking around the stage. I’ve given the example with the escape from the prison, during which you’re given the chance to press a sequence of buttons in the right order and as quickly as possible. In the example given, if you don’t manage to do this then you’ll be thrown into jail, but if you do it properly then you’ll be able to kick the officer’s ass and even throw him in the electric chair and electrocute him. Really nice .

Even there are some minuses like the AI which is very weak and the hard level of difficulty means that it has more firepower not that it is more clever, it is a great game, and an experience not to be missed, the secrets and the interesting bonus level that has no action but gives you an insight on the game make up for it. 8.5 out of ten in my opinion. If you have a PSP, a playstation 1 or 2 you should not miss the series, I totally recommend it.

After launching the game first you have music. Lots of it, it won’t stop at all until you exit the game. And you won’t . You have the option to turn it off, but it makes almost the entire atmosphere, making you want to send hundreds of enemies to heaven – or hell? You’ll get this change, don’t worry. If your idea of fun is to beat hundreds of enemies using hand-held weapons like a spear or a hammer? You’ve found the perfect game then, a lot of combos and special moves which require some kind of mana (I don’t remember how it’s called in the game) should do the trick. I said hundreds of enemies. I meant it literally, I’ve slayed in a stage over 500 enemies, so is not a joke.

But this is no pointless hack and slash game. There are only 3 main character types each with a particular fight style (technical, speed and strength), but you’ll unlock a lot of characters during the campaign and you’ll also have access to some features (you can call them upgrades if you like) – RPG style. I mean stats, bonuses and weapon improvements. After each battle you’ll have some points to spend for the improvements I’ve just mentioned or simply to boost character’s experience and thus character’s level.

Another interesting thing is the tactical aspect of this game, consisting in various objectives changing sometimes during the battle, you’ll have new allies when least expecting, and killing the officers – you can call them bosses if you want, because that’s what they are in fact – to put the enemy army on the run.

There are 4 different campaigns each containing about 10 stages each and also bonus secondary missions that will keep you playing for hours and hours in the quest for liberating the world from the Orochi. The story is not great and not that important but ads a little to the overall atmosphere. Not to be missed, 8.5 out of ten. Really nice!

One of the best things about Treasure Towers is that it’s free – completely free – for Sony Ericsson mobile phones, that is. In order to download it onto your phone, all you have to do is – to go, using your mobile phone browser, to www.sonyericsson.com/fun, select the Games category and… well.. look for it. Since it’s free, you’ll only pay for the data transfer to your mobile network operator.

So, back to Treasure Towers now.

You’re an Indiana Jones-like lizard jumping on a pogo-stick on the inside of a cylindric 3D tower. The view is gorgeous and you could have fun just jumping around, but you actually have to hurry and find your way to the top, ’cause the tower is slowly filling with water – and you wouldn’t want to drown, right?

The controls are very easy to master – left, right, up will allow high jumps(but can’t be combined with horizontal ones), down will let you duck and roll through small gates, and down in mid-air will trigger a hard-fall that can break the breakable stone blocks. On your way to the top you’ll have to be careful to special blocks – yellow ones are extended/contracted by special “key” blocks(marked with an exclamation sign), green ones are moving periodically, red blocks retract when touched. You’re likely to meet various enemies as well – spiders or spiked turtles – they won’t kill you but will leave you unconscious for a while – which makes you lose time, which increases the chances you eventually drown.

The fun part about the game is that, although levels are very easy to complete, you’ll never be satisfied with their mere completion – you’ll always want more, namely a better score. So besides climbing the tower, you’ll also want to find all the hidden treasure gems, and do so in the best time possible.

Levels get more and more difficult, the towers turning into 3d labyrinths with your “life” on the edge. It’s exciting, fast paced and a perfect 5-minutes play while taking the subway or waiting for the bus. It’s extremely fun, addictive even, easy to master and tough to let go of – Of all the mobile games I played, only Tower Bloxx and Diamond Rush were comparable(or better) than Treasure Tower.
This is probably the best free games available on the Sony Ericsson portal.

How come? Well, I’ve heard about Dungeon Siege before. It was about a friend asking me to try to help her to pass a quest because she heard of my gaming reputation. The game didn’t rise much interest from me at that time because I had other games in mind, I was playing World of Warcraft, Heroes 5… so there was not that much time left for that game. Two weeks ago though I bought the PSP version of the game and I was not sorry. At all.

What about it? Well, there are so many things to say and I don’t know exactly from where to begin. Let’s see… to have an idea imagine Diablo on PSP, you’ll get a pretty good picture of how this game feels and looks. And it is great. You have 3 main classes and their followers to choose, so you have several gameplay possibilities. The story is the same – not the video cut scenes though – but the items you receive and the skills you have to develop give the game a welcomed diversity.

Another fact that should be mentioned is the world who is pretty large and you have teleporters to reach various areas but you will still have enough places to discover. The world of the game is pretty vast, and the fact that you have a lot of locations to visit when you do the quests needed to advance the level of the character and to unlock different areas adds to the feeling this is a very large world. Here I should mention the fact that after discovering the most of the main continent where the journey begins you will start to wonder if you are close to the end of the game and you become a little disappointed feeling almost sorry for this you will discover the opportunity to travel by sea, increasing not only the enjoyment but also the vastness of the world.

There a lot of things to discover in this game, and although sometimes the environment seems to be a bit static – not more than Diablo game I mentioned above though – and the word that best describes this game is “variety”.

I simply love this game, 9.5 out of 10. Great experience, not to be missed.

Yes, I love this game. From the end of the tutorial things are developing fas, you loose almost everything and your life changes completely. And not only once during the game, you cannot trust anyone and everything it seemed right becomes wrong and vice versa. Yeah, this sentence makes no sense if you don’t play this game.

Plainly, what this game offers? I’ve played two thirds of it according to the statistics and I have it for about two weeks, playing almost an hour per day, almost anytime I get the chance, even in the overcrowded tube. Well, you have an excellent scenario, revealing itself during the game. What options do you have? Well, you can go hunt outlaws for a bounty, you can make deliveries riding as hard as you can (oh, yeah, the game involves a lot of riding, the fastest way to cover not – so long distances in the game – “Hi-yo Silver!” ). You can also do various missions for the lazy sheriffs. Care for a game of poker old west style? Can do that in the local saloons, tournaments are to be unlocked. You also have the possibility to hunt wild animals later on, but you have to do it by sneaking and shooting them with an arrow, so you have a new challenge in those missions. The story missions are far more interesting, from escorting the stage coach to using dynamite for creating a stone wall in order to stop and rob a train.

Another thing that that I think contributes to the depth of the game is the skills system – so this is an extra reason to do the side missions – they will give you extra skills and money. What are the money good for? To purchase upgrades, extra ammo slots, quick reflexes and firepower. Speaking of which you have a “quick draw” mode, meaning the time is slowed Matrix – like and you can shoot very fast a large number of enemies. This can be a life saver sometimes or depending on your skill, this might decrease the difficulty level of the stage.

No matter how much things I would say in this article, nothing can describe the feeling of “being there”, the feeling of freedom when riding through the plains or the badlands, the narrow canyon, the unexpected shortcuts, mines or bandits hideout. You never know what will happen when you reach the site of the mission, so this ads to the general impression.

I am a gamer, so there are not many games that impress me, but this one is great in my opinion. Not perfect, but I love it, nine out of ten from me. It’s been long since I had so much fun, an experience not to be missed.