Game Title: Killzone : Liberation Free PSP Demo
Firmware 3.02+
Language : English

Killzone : Liberation Screenshots

How To Install Killzone : Liberation Free PSP Demo
1. Download the zip file left.
2. Extract the contents of the zip file.
3. Connect your PSP to your computer using a USB cable.
4. Go to the PSP/GAME folder.
5. Copy killzone folder into the GAME directory. Make sure there are no sub-directories in this folder.

More info on Killzone : Liberation Free PSP Demo

The PSP has come under fire for its lack of original games. But every once and a while a title comes along that helps silence the critics. Just look at Locoroco and Spyhon Filter for instance. The same thing goes for Killzone: Liberation. It belongs in the same family of top-tier portable games that argue in favor of high-powered handhelds.

Here’s why: Liberation makes great use of the PSP hardware and its capabilities - all of them - to establish its place as one of the best games on the system. Even stripped of its technical achievements, Liberation is simply a very fun action game. It has the kind of accessibility required of a kickass portable title, to start. At the same time - and just as important - it offers the kind of depth missing from most PSP offerings. Liberation has its share of annoying quirks, but even these pale in comparison to the entertainment value evident in the rest of the package.

That’s the review in brief. For those who want to know a little more, keep reading. Liberation comes from developer Guerilla Games, the same folk who made the first Killzone title for the PS2. The story for Liberation starts shortly after the conclusion of the original Killzone, with the heroic ISA dealing a massive blow to the sinister Helghast. The ISA offensive slows the Helghast, who occupy much of the planet, known as Vekta. Like any good villainous organization, the Helghast regroup and launch a counterattack, kidnapping several VIP members of the ISA party in the process. A new Helghast general by the name of Metrac is also making things difficult for the ISA.
As Templar - the same guy from the first game - you must infiltrate enemy territory and rescue the hostages. Along the way you get to blast through hordes of enemy soldiers and sabotage a number of enemy installations. You also pilot a variety of craft and generally dismantle anything with a Helghast logo on it. None of which matters if not incorporated into the game well. Fortunately, Liberation nails it. Part of what makes it so rewarding is how it controls and how easily you interact with everything. Navigating the post-apocalyptic gameword as Templar feels refreshingly intuitive. Most actions, for instance, whether planting explosives or healing comrades, are context-sensitive.

This lets you perform a number of tasks in the middle of heated firefights without breaking the flow of battle - a spectacularly good thing considering the intensity of the missions. This level of simplicity extends to basic combat, as well. You can freely aim wherever you please, but the game automatically fine-tunes your aim to account for the location of enemies. Here’s an example: say you need to shoot an enemy standing on the second floor of a building. All you need to do is face the building and start firing. The game handles the angle of your shots so you hit the target, regardless of its elevation in relation to your character. It miscalculates sometimes, but not often — still, it’s a little annoying when it happens. Overall, it If this sounds like a very hands-off approach to action, don’t worry. When facing targets on multiple planes of elevation with half the environment laced with mines, you really won’t mind.
In fact, this brilliant setup keeps the action going at a brisk pace. Not only that, it turns you into a multi-tasking death machine. You can engage multiple foes while disabling machinery and mines, as well as ordering your NPC comrade. Combat flows beautifully, in other words, and Liberation brims with it. Speaking of NPC comrades, the game makes great use of the feature. You don’t get them every mission, but when you do, it’s always a treat. Usually your help comes by way of a gruff soldier named Rico. Fortunately, he’s neither annoying nor incompetent.

Game Title: Medal of Honor Heroes Free PSP Demo
Firmware 3.03+
Language : English

Medal of Honor Heroes Screenshots

How To Install Medal of Honor Heroes Free PSP Demo
1. Download the zip file left.
2. Extract the contents of the zip file.
3. Connect your PSP to your computer using a USB cable.
4. Go to the PSP/GAME folder.
5. Copy moh folder into the GAME directory. Make sure there are no sub-directories in this folder.

More info on Medal of Honor Heroes Free PSP Demo

The PlayStation Portable is home to many great games in a wide variety of genres; however, none of these great games are first-person shooters. The system’s lack of a second analog stick and developers’ inability to find a manageable control scheme have seemingly left the PSP as a machine destined to never have a great first-person shooter. If Medal of Honor Heroes is any indication, all hope is not yet lost. In Heroes, EA Canada has crafted a fine portable version of the Medal of Honor series. While far from perfect, it’s the most enjoyable FPS to grace the PSP to date.

Most of the fighting takes place outdoors, but many secondary objectives are hidden indoors.

Medal of Honor follows the stories of three soldiers, all of whom have appeared in previous Medal of Honor games. The story unfolds in short, narrated black-and-white movie clips of WWII, and orders are doled out via typewritten memos. Each soldier has their own campaign that is divided into five separate missions, for a grand total of 15 in the game. Sergeant John Baker’s (Medal of Honor Allied Assault) campaign takes place in Italy, where you must capture an Enigma machine, blow up a lighthouse, liberate a small town, and more. Lieutenant Jimmy Patterson (Medal of Honor and MOH Frontline) is stationed in the Netherlands, where you’ll steal important papers and retake a number of areas from the Germans. The last five missions of the game follow the exploits of Lieutenant William Holt (MOH European Assault) in Belgium. Here you’ll be entrusted to capture and hold a river base, recover lost documents, kill lots of soldiers, and finally, destroy a German command center. You never actually interact with anyone, and the results of a successful mission are intangible, explained to you only in memos, so you never get the sense that you’re anything other than a faceless grunt whose job is little more than to shoot everything in sight.

It takes a little while to become accustomed to the default control scheme, and it does have a few shortcomings, but overall it works quite nicely. You’ll move with the analog stick and aim/look around with the face buttons. If you need to turn around quickly, double-tapping square or circle will speed up the process, though it’s still not quite fast enough for you to not lose a lot of health when attacked from behind. The right shoulder button fires your gun, and should you feel the need to pummel your target, a quick tap of the left shoulder button performs a melee attack, while holding it down brings up your weapons’ sights. The D pad performs a wide variety of functions, such as reloading, switching weapons, crouching, and using health packs. You can even sprint for short distances by double-tapping the right analog stick up, but you’re limited to running in short bursts. You’ll never have to do it even once, but should you want to hop around, you can jump by pressing the select button. A few of the moves, such as switching weapons and sprinting are difficult to pull off quickly, but they’re the exception, rather than the rule. Three alternative controls schemes are available, one of which relegates movement to the face buttons and lets you look around with the analog stick.

For better or worse, Heroes’ missions are less complex than what is typical of the series on consoles. Each mission consists of a main objective(s) as well as numerous secondary objectives, which almost always require you to find some sort of document. Only the primary objectives must be carried out to complete a level, even on the hardest difficulty. Completing the additional tasks will net you a higher medal upon completion of the level, and these in turn unlock characters for use in multiplayer. There’s not a whole lot of variety to the main objectives. Sometimes you’ll need to take control of an area by standing near a flag for a certain amount of time, and you’ll need to do this in a couple of different areas of the level. The game starts to get repetitive when you’re forced to capture each area twice because the CPU will recapture areas. Other times you’ll simply need to kill everyone in an area or get to a point marked on the radar and press up on the D pad to arm a bomb. Unfortunately, that’s pretty much all there is to it. A little more variety to the mission objectives would have been appreciated.

It’s not always sunny, and sometimes it snows, but it’s always a good day to kill in the name of freedom.

Even though the game is artificially lengthened with repetitive objectives, Heroes is not a very long game. Most levels can be beaten in 15 to 20 minutes, and that includes completing all of the secondary objectives. These short levels are great if you’re on the go; however, there are only 15 of them, so if you have any experience with first-person shooters, the whole single-player mode can easily be beaten in less than four hours. If you choose to skip the secondary goals, it’s possible to beat the game in less than three hours.

It might be short, and it might be repetitive, but Heroes still manages to be quite a bit of fun. Because there are lots of different underground paths, alleyways, and shortcuts through houses, there are many different ways to tackle each level. The game generally lets you play at a pace you’re comfortable with. There are enough health packs laying about that you’re able to play aggressively. Should you prefer to approach the missions a bit more carefully, most levels don’t have a time limit, and when there is one it’s generous, so you’re free to take your time. There are lots of different guns scattered amongst the levels, so no matter what kind of player you are, there’s a gun out there to suit your needs. If you like to run and gun, the Thompson or shotgun will suit your needs. If you’re a little more cautious, the M1 Garand is effective from long range and can hold its own should you stumble into a firefight. And if you’re the type that likes to hunker down and pick off the enemy from a distance, there are plenty of sniper rifles to pick up (though sniping is one of the control’s weak points and is rather difficult).

Title: Warhammer 40k Squad Command PSP Demo
Firmware: 3.52+
Region: Europe

Warhammer 40k Squad Command Screenshots

How To Install Warhammer 40k Squad Command Free PSP Demo
1. Download the zip file left.
2. Extract the contents of the zip file.
3. Connect your PSP to your computer using a USB cable.
4. Go to the PSP/GAME folder.
5. Copy ULJS00138 folder into the GAME directory. Make sure there are no sub-directories in this folder.

More info on Warhammer 40k Squad Command Free PSP Demo

The Good Solid use of Warhammer license and distinctive miniature designs Straightforward, easy-to-understand turn-based interface Excellent level design with loads of destructible terrain.
The Bad Limited and annoying camera angles Odd design choices make it difficult to control troops.
Game Details | About Our Rating System
Certain types of games just don’t easily mesh with handheld systems. A good case in point is the turn-based tactical simulation, which is awfully tricky to pull off successfully without a mouse on which to fall back. Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command could have been a contender if it had only come out on a platform better able to host this style of game. Control limitations of the Sony PSP and some design miscues make this a near miss most appreciated by Warhammer fans too hot for the license to notice any of the game’s problems.

Being able to blow up damn near everything is one of Squad Command’s biggest pluses.
Still, you can’t say that RedLynx hasn’t done a great job with some of the basics. The developer has put together a very good, albeit very basic, tactical engine that should be a snap to learn for anyone who has every played a turn-based squad shooter before. All movement and combat is based on a traditional turn-based battle system where every unit is granted a set number of action points with which to move and shoot during each turn. An us-against-them storyline pitting the Imperium against the forces of Chaos runs through the 15-mission solo campaign and further sets a no-nonsense tone. Plot isn’t much developed here (although the cutscenes feature gorgeous action-movie bombast and the battle sequences come complete with accurate takes on those distinctive Warhammer miniatures), although you don’t have to have any experience with the tabletop game to deal with the mostly straightforward objectives. Most of the time you’re just clearing out Chaos bases and trying to kill every enemy soldier on the map for the glory of the emperor. However, you occasionally have to deal with complications, such as laser turrets and tanks.

This sounds like an awfully bland formula and, well, it is, but great level design makes every assignment feel like a fresh challenge. Solid enemy troop placement along with loads of options for cover in buildings, walls, wreckage, and other landscape features makes combat interesting all of the way through the game. Almost everything in the game can be destroyed too, leaving you an incredible amount of freedom when devising battle strategies. You can hammer away at foes head-on and blast through fortifications with the aid of such heavy weapons as laserguns or rocket launchers. You can flank bad guys and clip them from long distance with sniper rifles. Or you can mix up different approaches to attract the attention of adversaries on one front, then sneak space marines behind enemy lines and let them go to town with their chainswords.

Yet no matter how you choose to take on the Chaos legions, you need to be cautious about how you spend action points. Enemy artificial intelligence isn’t spectacular at putting together offensive battle plans, but it certainly reacts smartly enough to your moves. Chaos foes duck in and out of cover pretty astutely and are quick to carve up any troops that you leave in the open at the end of a turn. A lot of tough decisions need to be made in every mission regarding when to go for it and try to take out an enemy or when to play it safe and hunker down behind cover until the next turn. Of course, the old duck-and-cover maneuver sometimes isn’t the safest move. You’ve got to watch what you’re sheltering behind because an enemy with a rocket launcher or a plasma gun might just be able to blast right through your protection and turn you into a fine red mist. Missions can be incredibly tense because level layout and the destructible terrain make enemy actions anything but predictable.

Multiplayer is another plus. The single-player campaign is a bit abbreviated, clocking in at eight or nine hours depending on your skills as a general. However, full support for ad hoc and infrastructure modes of play let you take the battle to other human players both online and off. Unfortunately, there aren’t that many Warhammer fanatics playing the game online, which makes arranging a match randomly a touch difficult. It also feels a bit stripped-down with just a trio of level styles (ice, desert, industrial) and sizes (small, medium, large). Faction choices are also limited to run-of-the-mill Imperium and Chaos goons, such as the Ultramarines and the Word Bearers. At least matches play out lag-free.

Sure, it looks easy, but poor camera angles and clunky controls make lining up enemy targets awfully awkward.
It’s just a shame that the mechanics are so limited. Although Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command has a lot going for it when it comes to straight-up tactical gameplay, the interface just isn’t quite up to snuff. One big issue is the camera, which is locked in a tight isometric point of view that can only be slightly swiveled with the analog stick. It’s virtually useless during battles because you can’t move it far enough to get a good look at your surroundings. Even worse, the default camera angles frequently make it impossible to tell if you’ve cleared an object and can shoot past it or if you’re still behind just enough cover that your shot will be impeded. Many times there is no way to determine how a shot will turn out unless you simply give it a try and squeeze off a round, which of course is a big waste of action points in a game where you need to hoard them like gold. This problem can also result in friendly fire incidents where you take out a buddy even though it looks like you’ve got a clear line past him to a Chaos enemy. Only the overhead map provides you with a proper look at the battlefield. While it does a great job of displaying a tactical view of what’s going on, the top-down perspective can’t compensate for being able to readily eye up enemies directly and determine good firing positions.

Controlling your troops can be almost as clunky. Just about everything is handled with the four-way directional buttons, so moving and firing on targets is awkward. You get used to it eventually, but it never seems entirely fluid, and you can’t help wonder why RedLynx didn’t swap the controls. It would certainly be a lot easier to use the analog pad for cursor movement and the directional buttons to move the camera. Regardless, either control method would merely be adequate for a game like this, which is in desperate need of a mouse or even a full-sized D pad on a console gamepad. At least you can easily swap between squad members with the shoulder buttons and soldier movement paths are clearly laid out onscreen with icons. These icons show you exactly where you’re going and provide you with a dead-on account of the number of action points needed to get there.

A little more fine-tuning and Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command might have been a winner. However, with all of the interface and control issues, the game is merely passable to OK, depending on your love of space marines.

Game Title:God of War Chains of Olympus PSP Demo
Firmware 3.90+
Region: America

God of War Chains of Olympus Screenshots

How To Install God of War Chains of Olympus Free PSP Demo
1. Download the zip file left.
2. Extract the contents of the zip file.
3. Connect your PSP to your computer using a USB cable.
4. Go to the PSP/GAME folder.
5. Copy ULJM05161 folder into the GAME directory. Make sure there are no sub-directories in this folder.

More info on God of War Chains of Olympus Free PSP Demo

Ever since its existence was first hinted at on the back of God of War II’s game manual, God of War: Chains of Olympus has been one of the most anticipated games for the PlayStation Portable. Now that the wait is finally over, the question is: Does it deliver? The answer is “yes” almost across the board. The combat, level design, gore, sex, and mythology are all here–albeit in slightly stripped-down form.

Chains of Olympus is one of the best-looking games on the PSP.

God of War: Chains of Olympus’ story takes place before the first God of War game on the PlayStation 2, which is a little confusing because you find yourself trying to remember just what had and hadn’t happened in Kratos’ twisted life at the time of the first game. At this particular point in the God of War timeline, Kratos is a general whose sole purpose is to serve the gods of Olympus. During the course of Chains of Olympus, the gods’ orders create a certain moral dilemma for Kratos, and he finds himself faced with the decision of whether or not to do the bidding of his gods or do what is best for him. The story doesn’t play a prominent role here, but this is God of War, so all you really need to know is why Kratos is pissed off so you can go off and slaughter mythical creatures with reckless abandon.

With few exceptions, the combat in Chains of Olympus is just as you’ve come to know and love. The controls are tight and in general quite good. Learning to evade attacks requires a bit of an adjustment, given that you need to hold both of the shoulder buttons and then move the analog stick, but you get used to it and it works fine. Kratos can make light and heavy attacks using his blades of chaos, and you can perform combos by pressing specific, simple button patterns. Eventually you’ll get your hands on a second weapon, the Gauntlet of Zeus, which is essentially a giant glove that Kratos can use to pummel his foes. It’s a great addition to Kratos’ armament and a ton of fun to use. It’s just too bad that it’s the only alternate weapon in the game. Magic is a bit limited as well, but you’ll eventually acquire a few other abilities. Most useful to us was the first one you get, the efreet, which damaged all nearby enemies; the other abilities were of little use. For every successful kill, you’re rewarded with red orbs that can be used to learn new attacks as well as upgrade weapons and magic. Once again you can find hidden treasure chests that contain red orbs, as well as others that offer gorgon eyes and phoenix feathers. If you collect enough of them, you can increase your overall health and magic meters. Treasure chests and red orbs are actually quite easy to come by, so you should have no problem maxing out all of Kratos’ abilities before the end of the game.

As soon as the opening cutscene ends, you’re thrown right into the middle of an epic battle in which you must defend Attica from the Persian Army and a basilisk, a huge, reptilian beast that the Persian forces unleashed on the city. During the course of the game you’ll fight your way through Attica, some enormous caves, and eventually Hades. Each level is linear, though there are a few branching paths that can be explored to find bonus items. Chains of Olympus is much more combat-oriented than God of War II. You sometimes have to manipulate statues and other items to reflect light or activate a pressure switch to open doors, and you’ll find yourself doing a bit of platforming and swimming, but most often you’re on good old terra firma while battling foot soldiers, sirens, medusas, cyclopes, and other mythical creatures so that you can open a door or break through a magical barrier to get to the next area. The heavier focus on action certainly keeps things moving, and the combat is as awesome as ever, but the occasional bit of puzzle-solving and high-wire acrobatics is missed here.

Of course, there are several extras available once you finish the game. You’ll unlock concept art along with one bonus costume and video by finishing the game on the default difficulty. You can also go back and play through on the ultrahard god mode or try to complete the five tasks in the challenge of Hades, each of which quickly reveals the reason behind its name.

Yep, this little minigame is one of many returning features.

Chains of Olympus delivers almost everything you’d want from a God of War game on the PSP. It’s reasonable to expect a few concessions when a series transitions from a console to a handheld, Chains of Olympus does make a few that are worth noting. The biggest issue the game has is that it does almost nothing new. Even the played-out sex minigame is back for another tryst. Granted, it’s the same formula fans of the series have come to know and love, but it would have been nice for at least a few new gameplay ideas to be introduced. Instead, the game goes the other way and actually feels a little stripped-down in parts; there are fewer weapons, levels, and boss fights, though there are still plenty of quick button-pressing minigames–perhaps a few too many.

It’s also rather short. As far as we can tell, we collected all but one of the hidden chests and still saw the ending credits in less than seven hours. You’re left wanting more because the game is a blast, but it’s still over far too quickly. One thing the developer didn’t compromise is load times. Most areas stream instantaneously, and there are probably less than 60 seconds out of the entire game in which you’re waiting for the next area to load.

Few PSP games can match Chains of Olympus from a visual standpoint, either technically or artistically. Simply maintaining a solid frame rate is impressive enough when you’ve got so many characters fighting onscreen at the same time, but when you toss in lighting and particle effects, moving backgrounds, and lots of blood, it’s even more impressive. The cutscenes alternate between prerendered full-motion video, in-game engine, and concept art brought to life by a bit of animation and camera movement. All three types look fantastic. The levels are varied and expansive, but they don’t quite have the same epic feel as in the previous games. This is partially because the first level is the only one that has a lot of action going on in the distance, but also because the PSP’s screen is small. Likewise, Kratos is sometimes quite tiny and doesn’t look particularly powerful when he’s only two millimeters tall. Kratos doesn’t always appear that small, though, and his movements and attacks are always nicely animated regardless of his stature. If you own a PSP slim and the proper cables, you can make the size issue irrelevant (as well as improve the brightness, which is often really dark) by playing on your television. The textures, which look just fine on the PSP, don’t quite hold up on the big screen, but the rest of the game looks fantastic even when blown up several times on your TV.

Headphones are a must when playing Chains of Olympus; it sounds fantastic. T.C. Carson and Linda Hunt reprise their roles as Kratos and the narrator, respectively, and they once again deliver top-notch performances. The well-known God of War theme is also back, and the whole soundtrack fits the action perfectly. After all, it’s hard not to feel like a total stud with timpani and horns bombastically urging you on.

Who’s afraid of a man this big?

Like Grand Theft Auto and Syphon Filter before it, God of War successfully pulls off a console experience on a handheld. Some new ideas and a better mixture of puzzles, platforming, and bosses would have been divine, but Chains of Olympus is an excellent game that delivers most of what you’ve been praying for–more God of War.

Game Title:The Legend of Heroes VI : Sora no Kiseki FC PSP Demo
Firmware: 3.40 +
Region: Japan

The Legend of Heroes VI : Sora no Kiseki FC Screenshots

How To Install The Legend of Heroes VI : Sora no Kiseki FC Free PSP Demo
1. Download the zip file left.
2. Extract the contents of the zip file.
3. Connect your PSP to your computer using a USB cable.
4. Go to the PSP/GAME folder.
5. Copy eiyuudensetsu folder into the GAME directory. Make sure there are no sub-directories in this folder.

More info on The Legend of Heroes VI : Sora no Kiseki FC Free PSP Demo

The sixth entry (and first of two split chapters of this game) in the Legend of Heroes series, a long-running RPG franchise started by Falcom in its founding days and later continued with remakes and all-new games for PSP and PC systems.

Blazers are gallant warriors that consider the well being of others and the safety of the land as their priority, and work hard to defeat monsters and criminals. Estel is an aspiring Blazer who lives near the city of Rolento in Rebel Kingdom. Together with her friend Yoshua, Estel continues to train herself in the arts of Blazers. The story begins when Estel’s father receives a strange letter, starting a chain of events. The Legend of Heroes VI gives players an assortment of gameplay with its Blazer quest system, cooking system, opal arts system and many other features. With highlights like the AT bar and the AT bonus, battles in The Legend of Heroes give players that further tactical edge.

Game Title:Yuusha PSP Demo
Firmware: Unknown
Region: Unknown

Yuusha Screenshots

How To Install Yuusha Free PSP Demo
1. Download the zip file left.
2. Extract the contents of the zip file.
3. Connect your PSP to your computer using a USB cable.
4. Go to the PSP/GAME folder.
5. Copy NPJG90009 folder into the GAME directory. Make sure there are no sub-directories in this folder.

More info on Yuusha Free PSP Demo

Game Title:Portable River PSP Demo
Firmware: 3.90+
Region: Japan

Portable River Screenshots

How To Install Portable River Free PSP Demo
1. Download the zip file left.
2. Extract the contents of the zip file.
3. Connect your PSP to your computer using a USB cable.
4. Go to the PSP/GAME folder.
5. Copy portableriver folder into the GAME directory. Make sure there are no sub-directories in this folder.

More info on Portable River Free PSP Demo

Game Title:Gurumin PSP Demo
Firmware: 2.80+
Region: Japan

Gurumin Screenshots

How To Install Gurumin Free PSP Demo
1. Download the zip file left.
2. Extract the contents of the zip file.
3. Connect your PSP to your computer using a USB cable.
4. Go to the PSP/GAME folder.
5. Copy gur folder into the GAME directory. Make sure there are no sub-directories in this folder.

More info on Gurumin Free PSP Demo

It can be risky business lifting inspiration wholesale from the work of others. After all, someone might actually notice. So when giant diamond-eyed purple monsters and heart-container-containing life gems start to pop up in Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure, it might just give you pause as images of the work of Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro) and Shigeru Miyamoto (Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros.) flit past your eyes. As brazen as it may seem to liberally sample two of the most noteworthy luminaries in their respective fields, Falcom’s newest action role-playing game does just that. While it lacks the artistic creativity of the former and the deep gameplay of the latter, it mostly captures each one’s charm all the same. And Gurumin’s enjoyably complex combat mechanics, likable characters, and standout musical score do go a long way in ameliorating any similarities to other great properties that might crop up.

Meet your neighbor Motoro.

Gurumin tells the story of a young girl named Parin who is sent to live with her grandpa while her adventurer parents go off to have fun without her. With her world-wise outlook and street-smart attitude, Parin is the kind of immediately likable protagonist that you’ll have no problem latching on to. Her grandpa is the mayor of a small mining community, and, quite mysteriously, she is the only child in town. You’ll quickly acquaint yourself with the locals, from the motherly Pamela to the pervy Cylinder, and just when you’ve resigned yourself to a summer of boredom, you happen across Pico, a young female monster. Apparently, a small monster community exists in an alternate dimension just next door to the village, of which the grown-ups of the town have been unaware. Because Parin is the adventure-seeking type, she immediately follows Pico, and Pico’s brother Puku, through a hole in one of the buildings to the monster’s village. Upon their arrival, the village is summarily decimated by a marauding band of phantoms, which causes all of the unhappy monsters to emit a dark mist over their world. Only by lifting the materialistically oriented spirits of the monsters by lugging pillaged dinette sets, coffee tables, and boom boxes back to town can the fog be dissipated, and you’ll commence to do so not unlike rebuilding, say, a triforce. To aid your quest, you extract a mystical drill from the center of the village in a sword-in-the-stone moment and then set out on an adventure to thwart the phantom prince and save the monsters’ world.

The story’s well-written exchanges make it entertaining, but what really brings the adventure to life is the game’s outstanding audio. Pico and the prince aside, the actors who voice the various characters do a great job of evoking their characters and bring a lot of personality to the game. The incidental sound effects are also done quite well; for instance, the drill makes a satisfying clang as you attack enemies, and Parin shouts as menacingly as an edgy little girl can. In addition, Gurumin features a well-composed and varied soundtrack that would be worth listening to on its own merits. The game also features creative character designs that are interesting to look at regardless of the source of their inspiration. It’s unfortunate that the same creativity wasn’t extended to the background environments–most lack detail, and much of the vegetation has a very flat, almost 2D look. The game animates well, and the subdued particle effects look great flying off your drill. There are also noticeable loading times, but these are only an issue during the too-frequent backtracking you’ll have to do.

Backtracking and occasionally obscure plot-advancement keys were a real bummer in Falcom’s other recent RPG forays, so it’s a bit of a mystery that it didn’t learn its lesson from those games and find a more natural way to advance the story here. In light of these tired-out conventions to extend gameplay, it’s a bit of a surprise that the developer absolutely nailed incorporating minigames into the story. There aren’t many of them, but the minigames you do come up against are both fun and addictive, and more importantly, their presence doesn’t feel forced or arbitrary.

You’ll be able to unlock a lot of fashionable apparel.

The RPG elements in Gurumin aren’t exactly groundbreaking, but they’re very accessible. In addition to the standard health and energy-restoring items, you’ll be able to stock your inventory with headgear that’s both fashionable and functional. You’ll start off with goggles that reduce damage taken by water (that notorious video-game-character killer), but by busting up enemies and jars in the stages to collect tokens, you’ll be able to purchase several other pieces. These include a cute bandanna that somehow increases attack damage and a not-so-cute monkey headdress that leverages more tokens out of everything you drill to pieces. Headgear can be upgraded several times by giving your junk to Dink, the bespectacled local craftsman. Junk is acquired from trash cans dispersed throughout the levels, as well as from a good deal of the enemies. Because all the headgear is unique and you’re able to switch them up on the fly, you’ll find yourself cycling through your choices at various points in the game–nothing gets permanently shelved after you get something new.

The only other bit of inventory management you’ll need to contend with is the several elemental parts you’ll acquire during your adventure. Most of the enemies you’ll encounter don’t seem to be too affected if you equip a different elemental modifier, so these are more for solving environmental puzzles. The feature seems a bit tacked on, because it doesn’t add any significant improvements to the gameplay and most of the puzzles that the elemental modifiers factor into aren’t much of a challenge.

What Gurumin does surprisingly well, and certainly much better than most RPGs, action or otherwise, is it maintains your interest in combat. Instead of going the button-mashing route with a few boring combo attacks, special attacks here involve combining a 360-degree motion on the D pad or analog stick with the dash, melee, or jump button, or a combination of any two. It might sound daunting, but the circular motion is forgiving enough that it’ll quickly become second nature to execute any of the special attacks at will. It also helps that instead of encountering hordes of weak enemies, you’ll come up against armored and evasive enemies, which means you’ll have to chain together your special attacks for maximum effectiveness. Most of these special drill attacks have a point-blank area of effect, so aiming isn’t an issue, though you can lock onto a target by holding down both shoulder buttons for those few instances when you want to keep a certain enemy in your sights.

As nice as they are, the combat mechanics do have a few issues. For one, when doing the circular motion you’ll occasionally perform an unintentional and inopportune attack. It can also be annoying when you accidentally transform into a twirling ball of death when you just want to run up to a monster and return a stolen rubber ducky, for example. Though, to their credit, accosted friendlies will applaud your efforts with a “Wow!” or “Cool!” instead of pleading for their lives as you might expect. Also, because of the temporary invulnerability granted by one of the projectile attacks, you’ll probably find yourself falling back on it for all the boss fights, but at least the other attacks will get plenty of play as you make your way through the stages. And in yet another Zelda-inspired moment, your drill mysteriously gains a projectile effect when your energy bar is fully charged.

This probably made perfect sense in Japanese.

Once you’ve fully stomped your way through the game, you’ll unlock several extra difficulty settings. Beginner and normal difficulties are available initially, and normal is definitely not lacking in challenge and will easily take 12 to 15 hours to complete. Plus, full completion isn’t just a matter of getting from the beginning to the end of each level. You’re graded on a lettered scale, with the criteria including enemies killed, jars smashed, game overs, and time spent, and you’ll need to get an S rank on each stage to fully master it. The extra difficulty levels, then, seem mostly superfluous, but you will come across more unlockables as you work through them, and Gurumin is enjoyable enough that some people could conceivably want to play the game over. In addition, you’ll be able to retain a lot of your gear from the first time around, so it isn’t as if you’ll have to start completely over.

Gurumin is a great game, even when its less-than-original elements crop up. This is thanks in no small part to its engaging combat mechanics, pleasing soundtrack, and likable characters. By simplifying the game’s RPG elements and keeping special attacks and equipment relevant, as well as seamlessly incorporating some really fun minigames, Falcom shows it’s got a few things of its own to bring to the table.

Game Title:Eiyuu Densetsu PSP Demo
Firmware: 2.00+
Region: Japan

Eiyuu Densetsu Screenshots

How To Install Eiyuu Densetsu Free PSP Demo
1. Download the zip file left.
2. Extract the contents of the zip file.
3. Connect your PSP to your computer using a USB cable.
4. Go to the PSP/GAME folder.
5. Copy ed folder into the GAME directory. Make sure there are no sub-directories in this folder.

More info on Eiyuu Densetsu Free PSP Demo

TOKYO–Bandai’s Eiyuu Densetsu Gagharv Trilogy: Shiroki Majo was one of two PSP role-playing games playable and on display at the Tokyo Game Show, though it’s probably not as highly anticipated as Namco’s Tales of Eternia. Nonetheless, we were eager to put it through the paces. We discovered that it seemed to be quite far along in development, and came away impressed.

Gagharv is a port from a fantasy-themed PC game of the same name by Falcom. What was rather amazing about this port was that we could actually play around with Gagharv as though it were already a complete product, which was rare for the PSP demos on the show floor. There didn’t seem to be any features obviously missing from the game, such as disabled menus or closed-down roads.

In Gagharv, players will control a boy named Jurio and a red-haired girl named Chris, who start out together in a small village and embark on a pilgrimage through eight countries, following in the footsteps of a great witch. The game takes place in a continent called Tirasweel, and Gagharv is the name of an enormous chasm that separates the continent from the rest of the world.

The graphics in Gagharv seem to consist of prerendered 2D sprites displayed from a top-down perspective, much like in Falcom’s other recent RPG title, Ys VI: Ark of Napishtim. In fact, the field and the character graphics in Gagharv are similar in design to those of Ys VI. However, graphical styles are as far as the similarities go, as Ys is more or less an action game, while Gagharv is a story-driven RPG. Also of note are the in-game illustrations in Gagharv, as they have been newly redrawn by ex-Falcom artist Minako Iwasaki, and they’re looking pretty good, like the rest of the presentation.

Another interesting point about Gagharv is that your characters will fight automatically in real time once you enter a battle, although you can open up a window to make them cast spells or use items. The game doesn’t have random encounters, as you can see the enemies on the field, so if you’re the type who prefers to keep fighting to a minimum, you can try to do so.

Eiyuu Densetsu Gagharv Trilogy: Shiroki Majo looks like a promising role-playing game for the PSP, and hopefully it will see a US release.

Game Title:Doko Let’s Gakkou PSP Demo
Firmware: 3.40+
Region: Japan

Doko Let’s Gakkou Screenshots

How To Install Doko Let’s Gakkou Free PSP Demo
1. Download the zip file left.
2. Extract the contents of the zip file.
3. Connect your PSP to your computer using a USB cable.
4. Go to the PSP/GAME folder.
5. Copy ddi folder into the GAME directory. Make sure there are no sub-directories in this folder.

More info on Doko Let’s Gakkou Free PSP Demo

There’s this video game title called Doko Demo Issho: Let’s Gakkou! released in Japan almost a year ago. It never reached other regions so we thought that you’d be interested to know that we just found a demo for the game. There’s a catch though - it’s still in Japanese.

The title actually means “Everything’s the Same: Let’s Go to School!” and is a sequel to Doko Demo Issho (Always be with you). Basically, Doko Demo Issho is one those games that we could classify as “feel good” games. Gameplay involves being a teacher for a day, teaching Japanese words.

The demo was provided by Benjami, the same dude who recently gave the PlayStation Portable (PSP) community Ultimate PSP Demo Pack 3 which contains 22 video game demos all in all.

Take note that you should be on FW 3.40 to be able to play the demo.