Okay, time for some game impressions. The first one, Valkyria Chronicles 2, is the highly anticipated sequel to the first game on the PS3. This title, a PSP exclusive, had a demo show up for it on the Japanese PSN this week. The second game -- Armored Core 3 Portable -- was generously given to me by ran24, and for that I am truly grateful.

Let's get this show on the road, shall we?




Ah, Valkyria Chronicles. It's a game I still have yet to play for the PS3 (but I have a copy sitting in my house that shall be mine come this Christmas), but I couldn't resist downloading the Japanese demo. (I can't read a word of it, so any spoilers present won't matter at all.) This demo is extremely impressive. Have you played the PS3 game, or the demo of that game? Wasn't it awesome how the cell-shading worked so well, and how everything ran so smoothly with a framerate that never once dropped?

This game is exactly the same.

It's a PSP game, yet it honestly looks, feels, and plays exactly like it's predecessor. It's like you're playing the original console version, but in the palms of your hands. The thumbpad is used for movement, the d-pad for precision aiming, and the L and R buttons for camera control. Every other button is exactly the same as the original game.

The graphics are almost completely unchanged. This is one of the reasons cel-shading is one of my favorite graphical styles -- You can port a cel-shaded game to just about any platform with minimal graphical downgrades. The game honestly looks as good as it's PS3 counterpart. Yes, it's a PS3 game on the PSP through and through. It's amazing to look at and to play, and it truly feels like the series -- if kept this way -- will definitely be at home on the handheld. I will now be buying this game as soon as it's released in North America.




The original Armored Core 3 was first released on the PS2 back in 2002, and the PSP version of it is one of the many PS2 remakes coming from From Software to the handheld. I used to love the series, but I hadn't played it in years, so I jumped at the chance to be able to own this game, and I'm quite surprised -- Everything seemed to translate quite well to the PSP. The controls are fairly solid (although I wish you could increase the rotation speed of your mech), going as far as offering full control customization. Hell, if you want to use the R button to move backward and the left d-pad button to move forward, you can actually do that. I love when games give you that much freedom when it comes to the control scheme.

Speaking of customization, this game is insane in that department. The Emblem editing screen almost looks like a toned-down Photoshop, allowing you to cut, paste, crop, recolor, and pretty much everything else you can imagine doing to an image. You can start with pre-made emblems and edit those, or make your own completely from scratch. The mech customization is pretty deep, too, just like the entire series has always been known for. Tons of weapons and parts can be purchased in the game, and they can even be won in arena battles this time around.

Graphically, I like what I see when I play this game. While obviously not quite as good looking as its original PS2 iteration, it's still quite nice to look at, and extremely sharp. There aren't a whole lot of colors, since every single thing in the world is now made of metal, but that metal looks good on the PSP's screen.

I also love how this game is online-compatible. As you progress through your game and add more and more equipment to your mech(s), you can take it online when you feel ready and duke it out with anyone who's around at the time. A one-on-one fight between mechs can be extremely satisfying -- Who doesn't like blowing the crap out of robots?


It's been a very good week for me and the PSP. What do you guys think? Planning on grabbing either one of these games?

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UPDATE: For those of you who don't have/want to make a Japanese PSN account, I've uploaded the Valkyria Chronicles 2 demo myself, which you can download here. The demo played just fine when logged into my North American account on my PSP, so there shouldn't be a problem running this on yours. Just put the entire unzipped folder into the PSP\GAME folder of your PSP's memory stick/internal memory.