It wasn’t that long ago that the PSP was seen as a revolution in the gaming world. Rather than playing at home, gamers had the option of taking their favourite console everywhere.
Even though it’s been a while since the PlayStation Portable first appeared in the gaming world, there are still plenty of great games to come out of this generation. Check out some of our favourite selections.
Burnout: Legends
Burnout Legends takes the high-speed racing from Burnout 3 Takedown and adds several tracks and game modes from the first two Burnout titles to create a complete and extremely enjoyable set for racing fans.
Burnout Legends once again offers fan-favourite tracks and game modes, such as Pursuit mode, in which players can take control of a police car and attempt to take out illegal street racers before they escape.
In all, the game features 95 unlockable cars, 18 distinct maps, and nine unique racing types. Something to occupy your thumbs for days.
Daxter
A mobile story set between Jak and Daxter and Jak II, one of the most iconic gaming franchises of all time, has gone mobile with this 2006 release, emphasizing pure platform games and simplicity.
Daxter is a complete game, full of personality and humour, which perfectly complements the light, skill-based platformer that dominates the gameplay.
The PSP’s visuals are a bit dated at this point, admittedly, but Daxter’s vibrant colours and subtle details inject the game with a ton of whimsy. Add to that a few mini-games that take inspiration from popular movies, and you’ve got a pretty cool handheld game on the PSP.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories and Liberty City Stories
Just because you don’t have a car doesn’t mean you can’t have fun on the road! With Rockstar Games, you can steal cars and stage heroic shootouts with the police, all from the back seat of a public bus.
Liberty City Stories, a preliminary series to Grand Theft Auto III, follows Antonio “Toni” Cipriani as he ascends to the top of the hierarchy. Cipriani rose through the ranks of the Italian Mafia in Liberty City.
Vice City Stories, a prequel to Vice City, centers on Private Victor Vance building a crime empire in Miami-Esque Vice City.
Regulars to Grand Theft Auto won’t see much of a difference to console titles in terms of gameplay or features, although they take place in a smaller “portable” open world.
The distinctive charm of the series is ever-present, whether it’s the humorous scenes or the cops who don’t know when to stop. If you’re a fan of the brand, you won’t want to miss these two PSP games.
Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles
The game Castlevania Rondo of Blood was released in Japan in 1993 and received critical acclaim, but a French version of the game never saw the light of day, well, until 2007, when Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles arrived on the PSP. Chronicles bring together both Rondo and its famous sequel, Castlevania: Symphony of Terror, in one vampire destruction game.
In Chronicles, you take on the role of protagonists Richter Belmont and Alucard and try to make your way through perilous 2D, side-scrolling castles and dungeons in an effort to take down Dracula.
Old-school Castlevania fans and newcomers alike should appreciate the game’s excellent soundtrack and updated graphics.
God of War: Chains of Olympus & Ghost of Esparto
Everyone’s favourite fighting machine, which brings down combos and kills the gods, returned for God of War: Chains of Olympus in 2008 and God of War: Ghost of Sparta in 2010.
Both games, made by developer Ready At Dawn, feature a clever adaptation of God of War’s control scheme and are some of the most visually impressive titles on the console.
In Chains of Olympus, we find Kratos during his ten years of service to the gods of Olympus, as he attempts to save Helios, whom he will later ironically kill and save the Greek pantheon of Morpheus, the god of dreams, and of Persephone, the queen of the underworld.
Ghost of Sparta follows Kratos after the events of the first God of War, as he searches for his missing brother Deimos and confronts Thanatos in his Death Realm. True to Greek tradition, Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta offer a glimpse into Kratos life before the events of God of War, making them must-see games for fans of the series.
Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core
The Final Fantasy series fans will feel right at home in this real-time action game that follows the PlayStation classic. In the shoes of the protagonist Zack Fair, a member of Soldier and the secondary character of FFVII, your search for the missing soldiers Angeal and Genesis and discover the truth about the Shinra society.
The game features real-time combat, creating a seamless experience, and the emails Zack receives throughout the game provide additional context and a greater sense of immersion.
Crisis Core is designed exclusively for on-the-go play, as dozens of short side quests keep you entertained during the bus or train ride.
Lumines II
While the first Lumines won audiences over with its unique blend of rhythm and strategy, the sequel appealed to renowned artists such as Gwen Stefani and Missy Elliott.
This simple and challenging puzzle game looks like Tetris at first glance, but it offers so much more in its stylish packaging. The player must keep their board free by creating square shapes using solid colours. Each stage has two sets of coloured blocks that fall into boxes of four blocks with random patterns.
The game synchronizes a swipe bar that moves across the screen from left to right with a number of music tracks composed of varying speeds. The speed of the rhythm determines the speed of the bar, which in turn determines how quickly you’ll need to make your squares to keep the board clean.
The game is designed in such a way that you can complete the tracks in a linear fashion to unlock the next track, which is an inconvenience for some and an obsession for others. Either way, the game is ideally suited for short periods of mobile gaming.
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
While we’ve now played Kingdom Hearts III and even the massive Kingdom Hearts III: ReMind expansion, they were little more than a beacon of hope for Square Enix when Birth by Sleep appeared in 2010.
Birth by Sleep takes the popular Kingdom Hearts 2 combat system and adds a few popular elements to it. Notably, the command system allows players to customize a Command Deck for combat and a Focus bar that replaces the old magic point system. The plot follows Terra, Aqua, and Ventus, three apprentice Keyblade wielders, on their journey through various Disney environments.
Secret Agent Clank
As the ultimate underdog, Clank has captured the imagination of fans over the years. No wonder, then, that we finally have a game that tells the story of Clank, and it does live up to it.
Secret Agent Clank follows Clank on a TV show in Up Your Arsenal, which also happens to be the third installment in the series.
One of the best moments is when we see Clank playing James Bond and working on the infamous theft of gems from the Eye of Infinity.
Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters
Gamers will be delighted that Sony’s Ratchet and Clank series is made available on PSP thanks to the engineering of developer High Impact Games. In their latest mission, Ratchet and Clank attempt to save a young girl named Luna, who has been trapped by technomite tyrant Otto Destruct.
In the last episode, players can work with new bells and whistles. Ratchet features a host of new weapons and Clank new puzzles while retaining the classic charm and excellent gameplay of the original series.
Ratchet & Clank’s game supports all the features you know, and love, like titanium bolts, skill points, and R.Y.N.O. Best of all, Ratchet & Clank works on consoles of all sizes.
