A while back I took a 6 hour train journey and I thought I'd take a few games with me to play on my PSP anticipating that I would be able to charge my PSP on the train so play for almost the whole 6 hours.
Well, I took 3 games on that journey and if it wasn't for one of them I would have been throwing my PSP at the nearest screaming 4 year old (there were enough of them, and they were begging for it)
First up was
GOW: Chains of Olympus
I'd heard great stuff about this game and so I picked it up on the cheap. Around 1 hour in, after all of the enforced cutscenes (WTF this is a portable game not a bloody cinematic experience) and the mindless bashing of buttons I got stuck. Not stuck because I'm bad at the game, stuck because I couldn't figure out what the hell I was supposed to be doing. This has happened to me with the previous GoW games (maybe it's just me) and I usually look up an FAQ or google because there is some uber cryptic clue I wasn't paying attention to 20 minutes ago.
My biggest issue with this game are that its rules are not consistent, in some levels I can jump of ledges and smash through walls or barriers (not Zelda style off colour stuff, just stuff that I'm supposed to know breaks) but then in the next room, when face with a puzzle I assume I can use my previously acquired vocation of wall smashing to break through this rather measly 3 foot barrier, but no, its a puzzle involving that statue over there which I've already tried pushing.
Sadly I was on a train and the intermittent internet access on my phone wasn't doing anything to help. I turned the game off and I can tell you even now I've found the solution I will never turn that game on again, because I just can't be arsed to have that happen again.
Second up:
Daxter
OK Ready at Dawn, round 2 you bastards. I start the game, watch the cutscenes (seriously?!) I play a level and there's another cutscene, during this cutscene I can only assume I was told something to do because I wasn't paying attention (this is a portable game after all), and now I'm lost. What the hell am I supposed to be doing now, I wander round for a bit, get fed up and quit.
I didn't decide to play my PSP on the train so I could watch cutscenes and get stuck, I WANT TO PLAY
Last and by no means least:
Megaman Powered Up.
OK so I'm around 2 hour in and I'm not holding out much hope, I pop in megaman and I emerge 5 hours later wondering where the hell the time went. This is what I wanted, this is possibly the best megaman game I've played so far, maybe it was just because I was forced to play it, but when I died I didn't want to quit because it was my fault I died. Nothing in this game was unfair, and if I did get stuck I can just play as another character, play some challenges, or just try a different boss.
In my mind Daxter is a platform game, so why not just make it a platform game with a Marion style world interface, I wanna play this level, guess what I just select it, no wandering to place A with item B.
God of War boils down to waves of enemies and boss battles and perhaps a few puzzles, but since I'm playing this on a portable console most likely away from home, why not tell me what I need to do if I'm standing in the same room for longer that 10 minutes. I don't care how ingenious the puzzle is, if I dont get it no amount of running about the room hitting walls is going to help.
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I don't think I ever encountered a problem with the puzzles in GoW: Chains of a Olympus. I'm curious to find out what you were stuck on.
Another thing I don't get is what is your animosity towards cut scenes in portable games? Just because its on a handheld system doesn't mean it has to dumb itself down a be purely action. How else is a game supposed to draw its story? Especially if its a prequel(or in Daxter's case sequel) for a beloved game series that's on a console.
When i had to visit family I unexpectedly lost loads of time in 30 second hero because depending on the mode you're constantly going "I'll do one more and then play another game"
To me a portable game should be instantaneous access to a game, if I have the time I would watch them, but sometimes I just want to play for 10 or 20 mins and it really puts me off.
The point I got stuck on the bit where there is a balcony round the outside of the scene which you can run around and a spiral staircase which leads down to a big statue of what I think is the god of love.
I just think the developers don't always think about when someone is going to play these games, and how they can't just be like other games, perhaps it is personal to me, but it hacks me off and now I mostly just use my PSP for reading comics now
As far as instantaneous access to the game and just wanting to play, you were on a 6 hour train ride. You definitely had time to spare for a 5, maybe 10 minute cut scene. If its instant action you're looking for, find a game with it. You can't expect every game to just be some kind of instant fun gratification machine.
Concerning developers making games, its a very large possibility that they see portables as actual consoles more than just a means of distracting yourself in a boring situation. Which means they put effort into things just beyond gameplay, things like story, graphics, and sound. Why would you want to skip out on someone's hard work.
I think you need to ask yourself what games you actually like and dislike. Maybe you'd enjoy fighting games or shmups. Those or mostly only action oriented.
That said there really isn't a problem with any of the games you listed in this regard. I remember God of War having a fair share of save and checkpoints. Mega Mab Powered up is very clearly a remake of the original Mega Man game, so its flow of play shouldn't really be the surprising. Also, I don't think a Daxter game would bear many problems.
I don't feel that action games are PSP's strength, but rather, puzzle games, RPGs and more digetible games. There's also the downloadable games, both PSP and PSOne classics.
Then again if I was travelling my DS probably would have gotten more time, there's still a better section over there.