The "iPhone as games machine" hype is clearly justified. Dungeon Hunter is just the latest – and rather substantial – gaming treat I've enjoyed on Apple's gadget. But in amongst all this noise it's easy to forget about Sony's PSP. The Go may have got off to a slow start but the last month has seen two very welcome PSP releases – Little Big Planet and Jak and Daxter: The Last Frontier.
The original Jak and Daxter was a gorgeous and rewarding platform adventure that got the right balance between challenge and universal appeal. In many ways it was the Mario game the Playstation never had. It all went horribly horribly wrong in the sequels though. For some reason – probably due to a marketing edict that games needed to be edgier post GTA III – the charm of the original was replaced by a darker setting. The tightly honed action was replaced by free-roaming and the series became an also-ran. Thankfully The Last Frontier sees a return to the original vision and is fantastic return to form for the series.
The action is fairly standard platform stuff – think ledges, double jumps etc – but also throws in a stack of interesting weaponry. Jak gets a pile of upgradable abilities to play with and using them in the right situation is key to progress. The other main gameplay feature is air combat. Traditionalists may grumble about the inclusion of this and they'd have a point – there really is too much of it here. Not that it isn't enjoyable in small doses mind. The controls are responsive and the dogfights satisfying. But the main fun is down on the ground, with numerous moments bringing back happy memories of The Precursor Legacy. Heck, it's even better than Daxter's excellent solo PSP game from 2006.
The other recent PSP biggie is LittleBigPlanet. As you probably know LBP was released last year for the PS3 to general critical acclaim. Now we have an excellent miniaturisation of the gorgeous PS3 platform game/creative tool.
Some compromises have been made. The Sackboy character is less iconic on the smaller screen while the graphics are understandably rougher around the edges. But the charm of the original game still comes through and in many ways this is the more playable game. The controls are tighter for a start. Also the checkpoints seem more lenient – the game is still a challenge though.
Like the PS3 original, playing the game is only apart of the appeal. Creating your own levels is where the potential of the game really takes off. However, like the PS3 version, it takes a long time and lot of skill to create anything even half decent. Or maybe I'm just lazy? The creation tools for the PSP version make the process fairly straightforward for the committed but it still feels a little overwhelming, especially when you think of the time-constricted chunks normally associated with handheld gaming. Luckily then the ability to download user made levels is easy and as addictive as the original. There is no multiplayer but otherwise this is a perfect example of how to port a PS3 game to the PSP.
So there you go – two decent platform games in one month and the PSP release schedule back on form. What do you think then? Pleased that Jak and Daxter are back? Tempted by LBP? Or just too busy on the iPhone or DS?
