Best PSP Game by Gamespot of 2005

[wraggster]

Source - Gamespot

This is the highest honor that we bestow upon a PlayStation Portable game, and with it we acknowledge the one game that stands out from all the rest as being the greatest, most highly recommendable game of the year. Sony's first handheld system had a strong launch, followed by a fairly typical drought of good games that lasted up until the very end of 2005. But with our eyes fixed on the offerings of the Tokyo Game Show, and the precedent being set by the end-of-the-yearbatch of releases, it's easy to be hopeful for the PSP's lineup next year. This year's lineup still had a few very noteworthy titles, and here they are.



Burnout Legends

Burnout Legends is the best racer the PSP has to offer, and any PSP owner should definitely check it out

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

Liberty City Stories has its share of minor issues, but it gets enough of the GTA look and feel in there to be an exciting portable game overall.

Lumines

Between the beautiful presentation, the innovative gameplay, and the excellent single-player and multiplayer modes, Lumines may very well be the greatest Tetris-style puzzle game since Tetris itself.

SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo

Fireteam Bravo effectively captures the spirit of previous SOCOM games on the PlayStation 2, making it easily the best shooter yet for the PSP.

Wipeout Pure

Wipeout Pure is a joy to look at, and it's viscerally satisfying enough to please fans of the series and new players alike.


And the winner is... Lumines

Lumines, the launch game from legendary developer Tetsuya Mizuguchi, has a noteworthy pedigree and the gameplay to back it up. The simple genius behind this puzzle game can best be compared to Tetris, and yet it doesn't just derive from what made the most classic of all puzzle games great, but brings its own brand of ingenuity to the table. Not only does it play well, but it looks and sounds sensational too. A strong soundtrack and beautifully rendered graphics only help to enhance this stylish and personable game. Though the PSP certainly has the strength to become the powerhouse of all the portable consoles, its greatest achievement this year was one of its simplest, proving that you don't need a lot of muscle to make a great game.

[MaxSMoke]

I must be mad. Otherwise, how can it be that I consider Lumines to be a terrible game? And I do, I hate lumines. And I like puzzle games, I like them quite a bit. But Lumines relies more on timing then logic and the music seem more like a gimmick then an actual gameplay elements. And I can't even begin to comprehend how you are suppose to unlock all 60+ background themes when they always come in the same exact order. Would it have been too much to ask them to randomize the themes so that novices had a chance to see them too?

I think the game is poorly designed and relies too much on cheezy pop artwork and weak techno beats. Am I alone in thinking that? I know the critic community all seems to agree in unison that Lumines is the best game ever made, but I'd like to know if anyone else disagrees with them?

BTW, the most under appreciated game of all time has to be Untold Legend. I played that game for WEEKS! And where is Xmen Legends 2? I've played that game all throughout december, and I rarely play any game that much. I can't believe it's not on that list. I don't seem Kingdom of Heaven either. I played KoH for almost 2 months. Is there no love for the RPG's??

Wipeout is a nice looking game, but much like Lumines, it's kinda lacking in substance IMHO. GTA and Burnout are definitely great games, but not really attention holding. I get the feeling Gamespot only likes really shallow games without alot of substance. Because the PSP can be put into stand-by at any time, it's possible to play a 50 hour game without ever shutting down the actual game. From my experience, the PSP is actually the BEST platform ever for long-term RPG's and strategy games! I can't comprehend why people think portable games need to be Shallow. In my opinion, the PSP is actually the best long-term gaming platform ever made.

Maybe they should just use their PSP more. Learn to really appreciate it's many abilities. (Maybe even use some Homebrew?)

[Vancougar]

As any hardcore Lumines player can see, logic totally beats out timing. Try beating a high score or maxing it for that matter and you'll see that you need to set up formations that combo into other blocks not only for a big score but also to regain control of the board. The developers also decided on a psyche-out twist where the blocks change shape, appearance, color and speed. From that point, the gamer has to make a connection with the adjustments quick before he's lost control of the field.
It's a very deep game. The audio and visual style adds to the uniqueness of the game and extends its audience by giving people something entirely new to experience. But the whole unlocking themes thing to me seemed very nazzi-ish and i just went right on to download someones save data and try to beat his high scores so that it looked like i did it all myself.

The RPGs are your choice. To most of us, they're just an aquired taste. I've played them and got bored quick because of the repetitive text and bland exposition i had to endure before getting to the real meat of the game. In the case of Untold Legend, the whole design of the game itself seems extremely unbalanced and unfair; where most of the time i had way too much of an advantage. But that's usually the problem with games where the dungeon that pulls it's map out of its ass. I'm hoping they get it right next time because it's a serious flaw. But then again, that's just my opinion.

Burnout definately had me at attention. When i got 100%, I was at the 30 hour mark. The length of the game, timewise really doesn't mean anything much. I've been through some boring ass 100 hour games and not felt anything at all through and through other than i'd just wasted my time on a crap story and uninspired gameplay that repeated over and over again. Burnout, Wipeout, GTA, SOCOM; they all held my attention because they were games where you constantly had to focus on the gameplay rather than just have the game play itself out.

For RPGs, PSP still has to prove itself. Theres nothing out on it right now. If it's about RPGs to go, the Gameboy clearly has a better selection. If it's about RPGs to go that aren't from the systems actual library (i.e. Emulation), the PSP is hands down b/c you can play all that SNES and Genesis stuff on it. I'm a huge RPG fan and i just feel that each one the PSP has to offer is like a poor mans version of a better game on another system.

And if you look at the PSP library on a whole, it's just 55 crapola games and 15 ok-great games. The hardware may be good but the majority of games arent.

[Datahax]

Hey Gamespot, "What the F*&@!?!"

Lumines? C'mon please, ok maybe I'm a total retard, or maybe I'm crazy, but I thought that game just plain sucked. I mean I like puzzle games, granted I prefer a good RPG or RTS, but still, this was just stupid. It was a badly made clone of hundreds of similar flash games you can get on the internet with beefed up music.

[slayer2psp]

no way gta socom burnout are all better then some puzzle game that can be beat in 90min its cool and all but not game of the year not even close

[MaxSMoke]

I think there's more then a few RPG lovers out there. There isn't alot of selection for the PSP at the moment, but the games that are there still shine. They demonstrate just how well suited the PSP is for long-term gameplay. The industry's current thinking is mostly aimed at very short-term gameplay, like gameplay bites, as I've heard some people call them. I think that's all wrong. The PSP can actually allow for longer games that last many more hours at a single sitting then a console could ever allow, simply because you can pause it and return at any time. (A rather handy feature for adult game players, who can't spend an hour or two at a single sitting just playing games)

Once more RPG's and Strategy games get out there, and the fans of those games learn how well suited the PSP is towards these games, I think they'll become a dominate force in game sales for the system. There will never be a lacking of hardcore action titles for the kids, but once the PSP library is more matured, they won't continue to be the dominate force they are now.

But back to the point I was trying to make, the critics that are reviewing these handheld games are only into "bite-size" gameplay. They ain't interested in RPG's and they don't want to play games with alot of depth to them. And I don't think these critics are in the majority. I think it's actually quite the opposite. The games that were picked by Gamespot prove my point. They are the kind of games I would expect adrenaline junkies with limited attention spans to play. They don't represent popular opinion at all.

[DraconumPB]

Lumines is alright, but I can't see how it beat GTA.

Notibly, though, Lumines was the ONLY game on the list that wasn't nearly a direct port of a PS2 game.

What about Metal Gear Ac!d? It's kept my attention for awhile.. suprised it wasn't even mentioned.