Set for March 2009, Phantasy Star Portable might be the game that saves the PSP, alongside Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. I feel as though the PSP has been lacking games. I find myself picking up title after title, thinking "Oh man, maybe THIS will keep me playing my otherwise useless PSP!" Terrifically wrong, utterly wrong. I have picked up only 3 worthwhile titles; Disgaea, Tekken, and Crisis Core. Over time, I considered it a dream to think that maybe one day my favorite game, Phantasy Star Online, would somehow be made possible. No, but close. Phantasy Star Universe, the sequel to PSO, came onto the scene, Sega took some elements of PSO and re-hashed it into an all-new game, which got mixed reactions due to the amount of veteran PSO players not liking the new style of play. Since the release of the expansion to this game; The Ambition of the Illuminus, reactions have been applauding the game, as the expansion fixed a lot of the bugs, and the curse of single-player PSU, which made the player take role of one character, Ethan Waber. Veterans of PSO are used to starting a game with their own-custom-created characters.
Getting straight to the point; I played the PSP demo and I can tell you that it is even better than it's older brother/sister/whatever. The movement is very sleek, the levels are mapped just as they were in the console version. To make things better, the PSP version of Phantasy Star universe includes the "Ambition" expansion, as well as a new episode, along with many new weapons, characters and stages. There are some downfalls, however. Besides the free-roaming in the action stages, the game is lacking this same quality during your time spent in the GAURDIANS colony. You actually choose where you are going to VIA a path map for every floor, room, and store in the ship. In the demo, although the movement goes over pretty well overall, leaves a wispy after-shadow. You don't begin to notice until maybe.... 20 minutes of gameplay pass. Last but not least the first-person mode. You have to pull away from the game pad to press select to bring yourself to first-person mode while holding any rifle, handgun, or laser-type weapons. Not to gripe, but I like to keep my hands on the necessary buttons all at once, at all time. No one likes to scramble for first-person mode while fighting a giant flying boss who's continuously spitting fire at you. Annoying.
P.S. This review is based only on the demo. Don't anticipate too much, as games change constantly through development.
For a link on infor this game, click here: http://psp.ign.com/objects/142/14222681.html
