First and foremost, I have to say that I absolutely love the PSP. When I first picked the system up, I didn't really expect it, and to be honest, I probably love it for the "wrong" reasons, but I don't care. It's a great product and I am glad I ended up picking on up.
One of the main reasons I like it is for classic gaming. With the PSP store, you can purchase and download PSx classics and play them straight off of the PSP, which is perfect for me. I don't find much time to game lately, but it's a lot more accessible when I just hop into bed and kick some ass before catching a few Zs.
Another reason I love this is that thanks to Sony being so open with their products, if you download a game to the PSP, you can also play it on the PS3. Even better, you can swap saved game files in between each other. So if you beat a few levels on the bus, you can get home that night and continue on the PS3.
Regardless of all this, I've so far downloaded three games since the service has been offered (Jet Moto, Twisted Metal 2, Crash Bandicoot), but Crash is the first one I've beaten all the way through. Granted, the others are "sport" titles, and I've played them a fair amount, but I find Jet Moto a little more difficult on the handheld than on the actual console.
So, if I continue with these classics, I'll write up a little "mini-review" in the forums about it, if anyone finds them remotely interesting. In the future, once TG has a more robust gaming section, I'd like to incorporate this idea into regular content. I hate to say it, but I think I prefer classic gaming than "current" gaming, so I tend to be drawn towards the classics more.
Crash Bandicoot originally came out in 1996, about a year after the launch of the console itself. Once Crash came to light, many considered him to be the "Mario" or "Sonic" for Sony, but it's hard to claim that since he didn't belong to Sony, but rather Naughty Dog. By that logic, Lara Croft, Sweet Tooth and cars from Ridge Racer could be considered official mascots.
But in a way, the game was competing with Mario and Sonic in that it's was a platform game, and a rather unique one at that. Throughout its levels, both 2D and 3D environments were offered, but no level was truly 3D. Regardless of the level you were in, you were always set on a fixed path, without being able to stray. This made the game extremely straight-forward, but it sure didn't make it easier.
I admit, I forgot just how tedious this game was. The biggest gripe is the save system... you can only save once in a blue moon. You either have to earn a rare gem (indeed, rare) or complete a bonus round in the first try, which I did not, the majority of the time. So, lose the bonus round? Better hope you have enough lives to last you to the next.
But that's the biggest flaw... the fact that I had to go back to earlier levels over and over in order to build up many lives in order to continue. Luckily, the PSP allows you to turn the system off without affecting the game, so leaving it and coming back later is simple (though, all PSP functions are unaccessible until you quit the game).
The games length... I think it took about 6 - 7 hours to beat, but that was also while being somewhat of a completest (I still have lots to acquire if I had the desire, which I don't). Overall the gameplay was fine, but sometimes the camera angles left a bit to be desired. Some jumps for example were very difficult to make, since Crash was technically blocking the view most of the time. But, the fact you can control Crash while in mid-air helped recover me from a few near-accidents.
If I had to give a rating to the game as it stands today, I think I'd give it a 70%. The storyline is severely lacking and there could be a lot more to do, but it's a game that's quick to get into and out of (if you don't mind turning off your PSP to halt the gameplay) and the graphics look fantastic on that little screen. Far better than they do on the PSx or PS3. Either way, it's worth the $6.99 asking price to download (although it sucks when you own a hard-copy already, which I do).
One of the main reasons I like it is for classic gaming. With the PSP store, you can purchase and download PSx classics and play them straight off of the PSP, which is perfect for me. I don't find much time to game lately, but it's a lot more accessible when I just hop into bed and kick some ass before catching a few Zs.
Another reason I love this is that thanks to Sony being so open with their products, if you download a game to the PSP, you can also play it on the PS3. Even better, you can swap saved game files in between each other. So if you beat a few levels on the bus, you can get home that night and continue on the PS3.
Regardless of all this, I've so far downloaded three games since the service has been offered (Jet Moto, Twisted Metal 2, Crash Bandicoot), but Crash is the first one I've beaten all the way through. Granted, the others are "sport" titles, and I've played them a fair amount, but I find Jet Moto a little more difficult on the handheld than on the actual console.
So, if I continue with these classics, I'll write up a little "mini-review" in the forums about it, if anyone finds them remotely interesting. In the future, once TG has a more robust gaming section, I'd like to incorporate this idea into regular content. I hate to say it, but I think I prefer classic gaming than "current" gaming, so I tend to be drawn towards the classics more.
Crash Bandicoot originally came out in 1996, about a year after the launch of the console itself. Once Crash came to light, many considered him to be the "Mario" or "Sonic" for Sony, but it's hard to claim that since he didn't belong to Sony, but rather Naughty Dog. By that logic, Lara Croft, Sweet Tooth and cars from Ridge Racer could be considered official mascots.
But in a way, the game was competing with Mario and Sonic in that it's was a platform game, and a rather unique one at that. Throughout its levels, both 2D and 3D environments were offered, but no level was truly 3D. Regardless of the level you were in, you were always set on a fixed path, without being able to stray. This made the game extremely straight-forward, but it sure didn't make it easier.
I admit, I forgot just how tedious this game was. The biggest gripe is the save system... you can only save once in a blue moon. You either have to earn a rare gem (indeed, rare) or complete a bonus round in the first try, which I did not, the majority of the time. So, lose the bonus round? Better hope you have enough lives to last you to the next.
But that's the biggest flaw... the fact that I had to go back to earlier levels over and over in order to build up many lives in order to continue. Luckily, the PSP allows you to turn the system off without affecting the game, so leaving it and coming back later is simple (though, all PSP functions are unaccessible until you quit the game).
The games length... I think it took about 6 - 7 hours to beat, but that was also while being somewhat of a completest (I still have lots to acquire if I had the desire, which I don't). Overall the gameplay was fine, but sometimes the camera angles left a bit to be desired. Some jumps for example were very difficult to make, since Crash was technically blocking the view most of the time. But, the fact you can control Crash while in mid-air helped recover me from a few near-accidents.
If I had to give a rating to the game as it stands today, I think I'd give it a 70%. The storyline is severely lacking and there could be a lot more to do, but it's a game that's quick to get into and out of (if you don't mind turning off your PSP to halt the gameplay) and the graphics look fantastic on that little screen. Far better than they do on the PSx or PS3. Either way, it's worth the $6.99 asking price to download (although it sucks when you own a hard-copy already, which I do).
