Seeing the Peace Walker bundle everywhere in Tokyo definitely didn’t make things any easier.
This past weekend, my wife gave me the permission to buy the PSP Big Boss Bundle! Good thing too, since I had already secretly pre-ordered it last weekend (was worried they would stop the pre-orders too close to release date). Originally I thought I would hide it from her, but that’s no fun – I don’t want to play my PSP in secret…so I made some strong arguments: told her that my commute to and from work every day is basically an hour long on the subway, and I’ll probably be on this commute for the the rest of my working career and I need as much stuff as I can do on the train. Plus, Gamestop is having various trade-in deals (50% bonus trade-in credit on anything through the end of this week) so I was able to trade in some older 360 games I’m no longer playing to minimize the cost of my new PSP. That and she got a new job, so I was able to ride off her happiness by sneaking in a request for this purchase.
Now that I’m going to be a PSP owner tomorrow, I’ve sat down and put together a list of games I plan to pick up for it. And like the DS and its classic franchises: Advance Wars, Phoenix Wright, and Professor Layton, the PSP also some excellent titles. Read on to see what titles I am finding noteworthy enough to start tracking down…
I’ve sat down and combed through the PSP library, and decided that the games I’ve listed here are the first ones I want to pick up.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
No brainer, as it’s the game that comes included with my Big Boss bundle and the primary reason I’m purchasing the PSP. Originally titled Metal Gear Solid 5, it’s the real deal and it follows Naked Snake’s exploits after Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. Unfortunately, part of me is annoyed that the game that comes with the system doesn’t even come in its own case – just a cardboard sleeve. Ghetto!
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
One of the sucky things about buying Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is that I can’t play it right away. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops was produced by Kojima, but not directed by him so he didn’t play much of a role in its storyline or game. But, it still takes place between Metal Gear Solid 3 and Metal Gear Solid 5, so I have to somehow find this game and play through it first before I can start on Peace Walker.
Metal Gear Ac!d 1 & 2
I think when these games came out, Metal Gear fans weren’t too pleased since these Metal Gear games were not action games, but instead some sort of card based game. I’m sort of a fan of card-based games (used to play Magic with my brother a lot when we were kids), so the combination of Metal Gear and card-based strategy gameplay seems to be up my alley.
Patapon 1 & 2
I’ve heard a lot of good things about the Patapon games – they seem to be some combination of rhythm and God game as you control an army of creatures to a beat. Very unique and I’m interested to see how the gameplay works.
DJ Max Fever
I never really thought about this game until after I read in several forums that this was a recommended game to get for new PSP owners. I looked into it, and it looks like it’s a Korean developed music game that is not unlike the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games. The music seems techno-y, and you have to hit various PSP buttons in time with the beat of the game. And since the music is techno, the beat can get pretty fast!
Jeanne D’Arc
Level 5 used to be one of my favorite developers since they created the Dark Cloud games on the PS2. Then they moved onto Dragon Quest and I hadn’t really played any of their games since then as I’m not a huge fan of Dragon Quest. But Jeanne D’Arc is a turn-based strategy game, so I’m definitely keen on checking this one out.
PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe
PixelJunk Monsters is a tower defense game that released on PSN for the PS3. It’s pretty popular, but I didn’t buy it since I felt I would rather spend my PS3 time playing something more significant. But now that the complete version of PixelJunk Monsters is playable on the PSP for only $10, I have to pick it up.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions
The original Final Fantasy Tactics on the PS1 is the best Final Fantasy Tactics ever. I still don’t understand why all of the newer Final Fantasy Tactics games are all kiddy and stuff. The FFT remake on the PSP actually has new enhancements like cutscenes and voicework. I would have been happy playing just the original game, since I haven’t played it in probably 12 years or so.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Seems like PSP is home to various Japanese role playing games, and most notably, it has some Final Fantasy games that no other system does. Crisis Core is more of an action game though, but supposedly it’s pretty good so I might as well give it a shot.
Dissidia: Final Fantasy
Surprisingly, Dissidia: Final Fantasy looks to be a 1v1 fighting game with some RPG elements. The last Square-Enix fighting game I’ve probably played is Tobal #1 on the PS1, and with Dissidia allowing you to play as various characters from the Final Fantasy universe like FFIV’s Cecil, FFVI’s Kefka, FFVII’s Sephiroth, and FFX’s Tidus definitely has me intrigued.
Half-Minute Hero
I loved the WarioWare games – especially the ones that were video-game based. In those mini-games, you were given something like 5-10 seconds to do a classic videogame task in Zelda or Metroid. Half-Minute Hero takes that same type of gameplay, but gives you 30 seconds to play all sorts of traditional Japanese RPG related tasks, taking the monotony of grinding out of the game but still managing to keep the fun.
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite
I’ve saved the biggest for last – Monster Hunter is probably the main reason why the PSP is succeeding in Japan, but nowhere else in the world. Something about Monster Hunter keeps the Japanese playing their PSPs like crazy, and since I’ve never played a Monster Hunter game before, might as well see what the fuss is all about. Supposedly people say this game has hundreds of hours of gameplay, and it seems almost like an MMORPG so that could have me busy on the subway for a long time to come.
In any case, this concludes my initial PSP “must buy” list for now as I try to figure out ways to find these games complete and not with the red Greatest Hits labels. If you have any other game suggestions, please feel free to share. Otherwise, stay tuned for Friday when I will share my initial impressions of my new PSP-3000 and eventually later some reviews for these games as well!
Cool. That Peace Walker bundle looks sweet.
I definitely recommend you play Portable Ops before Peace Walker. The story is pretty good and should lead into PW, but I think the main thing would be the controls. PW is set-up similarly to MGS4 using the face buttons to control the camera, but in Portable OPs you use the D-Pad to control the camera (you have to take your thumb off the analog nub), so its frustrating. It took me awhile to find a control scheme I was ok with. The controls in the PW demo were much better.
Another game I would recommend is Killzone: Liberation, which is a fun top-down/3rd person shooter. Pretty good action on the go. And of course God of War: Chains of Olympus, which is almost as good as the PS2 games if you liked those.
I think you get a 4GB memory stick in that PSP bundle too, so you can download some of the games on your list if you can’t find them on UMD. Although it sounds like you want the original versions, so have fun hunting!
Seriously, it’s a good thing wives don’t read this blog! I really want to play Half Minute Hero, let me know how it is. And congrats
Sooo glad you have FFT: War of the Lions and Dissidia on your list. Definitely 2 must plays for your new PSP. I’d also suggest God of War: Chains of Olympus. I know you aren’t a huge fan, and your thumb will get tired of pushing the analog button around, but it’s one of the best action games for PSP, and I enjoyed it.
cool thanks for your recommendations guys – i will put gow and killzone liberation on my list. i’m pretty excited – got my confirmation last night that my bundle will be ready to pick up today so i just need to get through today and go pick it up after work!!
so much for leveling down eh?
I read the IGN review of Peace Walker – 9.5/10. Pretty good I’d say. But they said some of the bosses are nearly impossible to beat in single player. You might need to beat them in co-op with a buddy, but the game only supports adhoc mode, not infrastructure mode. There’s a free download on the PS3 called Adhoc Party that will hopefully allow people to play co-op using the PS3′s online. I might need to use that if I get stuck in the game!
eeyore – touche. but seriously, i actually imagine that my console playing is on the decline while my portable playing will remain high. i’ll probably be commuting for the rest of my life. what else am i going to be doing for 2 hours each day? read? heh
Mark – thanks for the tip. i’ll definitely consider exploring that avenue of adhoc if some bosses get too rough.