kyyubidx
December 17th, 2008, 12:52
Since the year is almost up I thought it would be a good idea to make a retrospective of 2008 in terms of the PSP Gaming (I am sorry homebrewers but I shall exclude homebrew from this topic since I am not the best person to talk about it).
So we could say that 2008 started pretty well with God of War and Crisis Core making their debuts on PSPs but things turned grim after that. Ready at Dawn handed over their PSP Dev Kits, franchises like Prince of Persia and Tomb Raider didn't come to the Sony handheld this time, and there was an obvious period of drought in game releases during the summer holiday - you might remember me doing a State of Gaming thread in this same forums around that time.
This end of the year brought some new games to PSPs all over the world but still it feels like 2008 was waaaaay to weak in comparison with 2007.
All over the web there are 4 games that make the obvious - or not-so-obvious - choices for best games in 2008:
1. God of War: Chains of Olympus
2. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
3. Patapon
4. WipeOut Pulse
Then you have the hidden cards that came out, game like:
1. Space Invaders Extreme
2. Echochrome
3. Downstream Panic
4. Star Ocean: First Departure
Near the end of the year we were also blessed - though some beg to differ - with Loco Roco 2, and a suprisingly good FIFA 09 and more recently Dungeon Maker II.
On the PSN side on things we also have Everyday Shooter, or the mighty Super Stardust Portable
I guess the more impactful things in terms of non-gaming on the PSP was the 3000 revision and the "scanline" issue.
So yes, 2008 had few games, but GOOD games - and I decided to leave out games like Valhalla Kinghts 2 due to the fact it was over-hyped and did not deliver.
So where does that leave us for 2009? If you look at it in a 2008 point of view, 2009 is going to be the year of the PSP - or so Sony claims, again.
Let's check the 2009 lineup for the PSP as we know it to be right now:
1. Dissidia: Final fantasy - This might be the only game I'll ever import and from the looks of it I don't think I'll regret it. Slated for a 2008 Japan release, WE all know it only going to get US/EU bound more than six months into 2009
2. Final Fantasy Agito XIII - The first numbered series to come to the PSP - or so developers claim - is going to be both single and multiplayer friendly. Will it deliver?
3. Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep - A wildcard here... We know the KH series to be quite good - though there are many haters - but the fact that it won't have any FF character in it makes us wonder: can KH succeed without FF presence?
4. Parasite Eve 3 aka The 3rd Birthday - Now this is a franchise - that I personally - longed to see revived by the folks at SE, although not as good as the Resident Evil series, it is still quite solid and may give us some fun with our handheld.
5. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite - AH-HA! The best 2008 game for the PSP in Japan (if not the best 2008 game period) is finally crossing nipponic borders! Thousands of PSP'ers are itching for this one.
6. Phantasy Star Portable - Sega's rival to the Monster Hunter saga on the PSP is also coming US/EU side. We all loved the original games for Game Gear, Master System and Genesis, but can this PSP iteration deliver?
7. Resistance: Retribution - So, Sony decided to turn a FPS into a 3rd Person Shooter? The game seems to promise a lot but will it deliver also? We do have bad experiences with over-hyped games, ain't we?
Also worthy of mention are games like: Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2, Star Ocean: Second Evolution, Prinny: CIRbtH, Mana Khemia. Not bad considering we aren't even in 2009 yet. Things could get even hotter!
As for the rumour mill - we all love it don't we? - Around the net we can hear echoes of a new GTA for PSP, a LittleBigPlanet PSP version, a new Jak and Daxter game, Ready at Dawn's might comeback, the famous vapourware's Oblivion: Travels and GT: Mobile may - or may not - appear, a unnamed and unnannouced CryTek PSP game and a PSP-4000 revision.
Out of my list I left Level-5 Ushiro, for it is yet TBC date in Japan - God knows how long we'll have to wait for that one - But considering Jeanne D'Arc was one of the best RPG's on the PSP, Ushiro promises a LOT.
And I guess that pretty much sums it up, eh? The only question left in my mind is: Where is the hell are the oh-so-promised Ubisoft projects? Oh well...
(The author of this wannabe article encourages criticism, and wants YOUR opinion. If you had the patience to read all that, please leave your comments and opinion, the purpose of this huge chuck of text is also to promote discussion)
So we could say that 2008 started pretty well with God of War and Crisis Core making their debuts on PSPs but things turned grim after that. Ready at Dawn handed over their PSP Dev Kits, franchises like Prince of Persia and Tomb Raider didn't come to the Sony handheld this time, and there was an obvious period of drought in game releases during the summer holiday - you might remember me doing a State of Gaming thread in this same forums around that time.
This end of the year brought some new games to PSPs all over the world but still it feels like 2008 was waaaaay to weak in comparison with 2007.
All over the web there are 4 games that make the obvious - or not-so-obvious - choices for best games in 2008:
1. God of War: Chains of Olympus
2. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
3. Patapon
4. WipeOut Pulse
Then you have the hidden cards that came out, game like:
1. Space Invaders Extreme
2. Echochrome
3. Downstream Panic
4. Star Ocean: First Departure
Near the end of the year we were also blessed - though some beg to differ - with Loco Roco 2, and a suprisingly good FIFA 09 and more recently Dungeon Maker II.
On the PSN side on things we also have Everyday Shooter, or the mighty Super Stardust Portable
I guess the more impactful things in terms of non-gaming on the PSP was the 3000 revision and the "scanline" issue.
So yes, 2008 had few games, but GOOD games - and I decided to leave out games like Valhalla Kinghts 2 due to the fact it was over-hyped and did not deliver.
So where does that leave us for 2009? If you look at it in a 2008 point of view, 2009 is going to be the year of the PSP - or so Sony claims, again.
Let's check the 2009 lineup for the PSP as we know it to be right now:
1. Dissidia: Final fantasy - This might be the only game I'll ever import and from the looks of it I don't think I'll regret it. Slated for a 2008 Japan release, WE all know it only going to get US/EU bound more than six months into 2009
2. Final Fantasy Agito XIII - The first numbered series to come to the PSP - or so developers claim - is going to be both single and multiplayer friendly. Will it deliver?
3. Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep - A wildcard here... We know the KH series to be quite good - though there are many haters - but the fact that it won't have any FF character in it makes us wonder: can KH succeed without FF presence?
4. Parasite Eve 3 aka The 3rd Birthday - Now this is a franchise - that I personally - longed to see revived by the folks at SE, although not as good as the Resident Evil series, it is still quite solid and may give us some fun with our handheld.
5. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite - AH-HA! The best 2008 game for the PSP in Japan (if not the best 2008 game period) is finally crossing nipponic borders! Thousands of PSP'ers are itching for this one.
6. Phantasy Star Portable - Sega's rival to the Monster Hunter saga on the PSP is also coming US/EU side. We all loved the original games for Game Gear, Master System and Genesis, but can this PSP iteration deliver?
7. Resistance: Retribution - So, Sony decided to turn a FPS into a 3rd Person Shooter? The game seems to promise a lot but will it deliver also? We do have bad experiences with over-hyped games, ain't we?
Also worthy of mention are games like: Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2, Star Ocean: Second Evolution, Prinny: CIRbtH, Mana Khemia. Not bad considering we aren't even in 2009 yet. Things could get even hotter!
As for the rumour mill - we all love it don't we? - Around the net we can hear echoes of a new GTA for PSP, a LittleBigPlanet PSP version, a new Jak and Daxter game, Ready at Dawn's might comeback, the famous vapourware's Oblivion: Travels and GT: Mobile may - or may not - appear, a unnamed and unnannouced CryTek PSP game and a PSP-4000 revision.
Out of my list I left Level-5 Ushiro, for it is yet TBC date in Japan - God knows how long we'll have to wait for that one - But considering Jeanne D'Arc was one of the best RPG's on the PSP, Ushiro promises a LOT.
And I guess that pretty much sums it up, eh? The only question left in my mind is: Where is the hell are the oh-so-promised Ubisoft projects? Oh well...
(The author of this wannabe article encourages criticism, and wants YOUR opinion. If you had the patience to read all that, please leave your comments and opinion, the purpose of this huge chuck of text is also to promote discussion)