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Before anyone actually knew what the final design of the PSP would look like, screenshots were made available for Konami's Death Jr. – largely known as the first existing PSP title. At first glance, it appeared that the PSP really could do “next-gen” graphics and the PSP would have its own Super Mario 64 at launch. Well, the PSP launch has come and gone by several months and now we finally have the final version of the game. So how is it? Well let's just say I'd rather it be considered dead and buried in my cemetery of primitive N64 platform games plagued by bad camera angles and poor platforming action.
More than anything, Death Jr. suffers from simply not being ready, and nothing annoyed me more than its unexcusable camera controls. In the past, I've seen reviews that cut down a game for difficult camera angles when they really weren't that bad. Super Mario Sunshine comes to mind as a game that received a good deal of flack because of all the required manipulation to make the camera work. If that was the problem with Death Jr. camera system, I probably would have enjoyed the game. Instead, the game lacks the proper buttons (or a second analog stick) to control the camera, and the only method of maneuvering the camera angle is by tapping the L trigger, which moves the camera behind you (a la Ninja Gaiden on Xbox). Unlike Ninja Gaiden, however, this method rarely works in this title. I found myself haplessly tapping L only to have the camera showing me nothing but a blank wall. The frustrations with the camera alone were enough to make me want to stop playing or just have Death visit me to put me out of my misery. Had I been asked how to fix the camera problems, I would have suggested using both triggers to rotate the camera along with the D-Pad.
Beyond poor camera controls reminiscent of 1996, the game's overall gameplay seems like a primitive version of Ratchet and Clank. Your character goes around in fully 3D environments either hacking or shooting an endless amount of bad guys. Sure the game has some cool weapons, like a rocket launcher and hamster bombs (don't ask), and the action can get a fast and furious from time to time; but the desire to play is hampered by the poor platforming that surrounds the action. I found my hands hurting and my mind going crazy trying to perform wall jumps and other special moves such as using your scythe to jump from hook to hook. Once again, the crappy camera implementation causes problems here – you will find yourself confused by blurry images, and poor rotation of the camera. All this had me dying for Imsomniac Games to produce a quality Ratchet game for PSP.
Like the gameplay, the game's story has it good moments, but has its problems as well. The story unfolds with Death Jr. (or DJ) and the rest of his classmates going to a museum of supernatural history with his equally creepy classmates. At the game's onset, I was excited by the CG intro featuring graphics reminiscent of The Nightmare Before Christmas and great characters like Pandora, Stigmartha, and a dead guppy named Dead Guppy. Unfortunately, after all the characters are held captive following the opening of Pandora's Box, the game's cutscenes are reduced to 10 second clips and the rest of the story in unveiled through lines of text, which I found rather annoying.
For all that is wrong with Death Jr., you could still probably use the game as a good title to show off what the PSP promises. When the gameplay isn't being plagued by confusing camera angles and the game's action actually focuses on action, it's an impressive title to look at. The character design and animation, both of DJ and the surrounding bad guys, is very detailed and on par with early PS2 games. The environments, while generic, also look very sharp. As for the game's music, even my girlfriend walked by and mentioned, I think the music is pretty catchy. At least music can't be affected by a camera angle.
Death Jr. is a perfect example of a game that should have been given more attention to make the game more enjoyable before its release. I am sure Konami was pressured to get it out since it was in fact the first PSP game unveiled. Because of the game's interesting concept and the fact that it looks good on the surface, I'm sure the game will sell pretty well – leaving room for a sequel. If this does in fact happen, I hope Konami can address the issues that killed the fun factor of this one.
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