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Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception (PSP)
by Bullydc1
After completed ace combat 4:distant thunder I had to play the next in the series. And although this was on PSP, I borrowed my friends and bought this game. This game seperates itself from the plot of the 4th to create its own world. You fight on the side of Aurelia, the ace combat series sets itself apart by having fantastic missions. ... like other ace combat games, you get them all, starting with defensive anti bomber missions, and then going on the offensive with missions against a huge aircraft with fighter escorts. In this game you also get a search and rescue mission, when you have to rescue your downed wingman by providing air cover and ground hits for the Search and rescue teams and also helping to locate her.
Its a new twist that really improves the game. The only problem is that this game like so many other ace combat game finishes off with the same tight quarters, pursuit flying you have to do in the fourth so it isnt that original in this respect...but its still great fun
This game still doesnt allow you to command your own squadron by button control as in Ace combat 5: squadron leader or the HAWX series but it still has over 40 aircraft and a much wider range of weapon packages to use- rockets on the air to ground mission are my favourite.
the inclusion of the extra weapons packages feature nearly makes up for the non-inclusion of the of the ace agressor squadron you could have fought against like in the previous ace combat. I think that was the concept that really drew my into ace combat 4 above all the others.
But it can be hard to keep track of things on such a small screen , as the action moves so quickly
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The Sims 2 (PSP)
by Sweetiepoppet
I have played various sims games before and they have always been very hit and miss with me, I loved sims 2 on the nintendo ds but really didn't like sims pets.
However when I noticed this in the shops I decided to give it a go, I usually buy my games second hand as they are considerably cheaper but they only had it from new so it ... cost me 19 pounds and 99 pence.
Like most sim games, when you first start gameplay you are given a character which you can change their features, make-up, hair, clothing and even personality.
Once you've decided what you sort of person you want your sim to be you can start to play the game.
The game begins with your created sim driving a car along a desert road, something hits the trye and the car swerves to the side of the road and stops, fortunatly this happens infront of a garage with a mechanic sitting outside on his own car.
The two sims talk to each other about the broken down car, but the mechanic is upset that they are not friends and he refuses to do anything about the car until you befriend him.
When the mechanic talks, little speech bubbles form at the top of his head, which contain pictures, underneath the picture bubbles are the symbols of the buttons on the psp that you need to press.
To win the friendship you have to match each of his pictures by pressing these buttons on the psp.
You only have a few seconds to do this though, so if you don't do it on time you don't gain the friendship.
When you make friends with the mechanic he tells you that he'll fix your car but it will take time and so you must go to the shop next to the garage.
There you meet the shop keeper and she gives you tips on how to make friends with different sims, she also tells you about flirting and intimidating sims to learn their deepest, darkest secrets.
Once you are used to talking to sims you get told that your car is ready and that you must go back to the garage, when you go outside the garage has completely vanished and your car is gone.
The game after this gets extremly wiered and wacky as you have to move to paradise place and fulfill a number of different tasks that your fellow sims give you.
During the game you encounter ghosts, zombies, vampires, beasts, aliens and even a giant cow.
As I said it's a completely wiered game but those of you who have played the sims games before will know that it tends to be full of the wiered and the wonderful.
Now to the object of the game, well apart from having to find your car so you can go home you must also defeat the evil Doctor Dominion, who is behind the majority of the craziness going on in the game.
I've always found that you do have to be quite patient to play the sims as it's never just a case of carrying out the tasks given you, but you also have to constantly look after your sims needs.
The sims need to eat, sleep, shower, go to the toilet, talk to other sims and even for some reason throw up in this game.
If you do not keep your sim happy then you can't carry out the tasks asked of you and you won't get any further on in the game.
I thought this game was brilliant to play and it did make me laugh alot, there were some parts of it where I had to do a double take because I couldn't quite believe what was happening.
At one point I was playing it with my fiancee and one of the tasks was to make woohoo, we spent ages trying to figure out what that was and then when we eventually found out we were in fits of giggles.
(Well I suppose sims need love too.)
The only issue I had with the game were that it took a long time to load between each task, sometimes I really wanted to know what happened next in the storyline and it would just freeze for a long time so that it could load the next part of the game.
Apart from that I found it to be a throughly enjoyable game and very amusing especially when I tried to get my sim to go to the toilet and there was another sim using it at the time, so my sim ended up stomping her feet in frustration and then she went on to wet herself, my sim did cry and i'll admit that it didn't stop me from laughing (come on it's a game.)
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Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception (PSP)
by honest-word
Ace combat has been the regular flying action game on the Playstation since its humble beginnings on the Playstation 1, as growth in the series continues , the seventh title flys onto the PSP and the first Ace combat game to do so. Released in 2006 the game set out to show that Ace combat would control the skies of whatever console it ... wanted to.
Set in 2020, the land of Aurelia is at peace. Reclining in its wealth of resources and pleasurable climate, the peace is soon broken as a invasion from neighbours, Leasath, engulfs the country in a war. Unarmed and unprepared , Aurelia falls after 10 days and only one small force still remains in a small airfield. Flying in Glyphun sqaudron, it is your job to save the country and restore happiness to the land.
The story is good enough and the main motives are clear, the narrative travels at a good pace with the aid of cut-scenes during gaps between levels. If it weren't for the difficult names used for everything important to the story , it would be as easy as the ABC's to follow.
The campaign mode takes place in upto 17 missions, as the narrative can change at 3 specific points in the game which limits how many missions happen. This makes the game feel more personal to you, adding to this is the customisation options for aircraft and the ability to be awarded medals for certain actions.
Campaign mode has a handful of different mission types to help the story along, whilst many of these are search and destroy missions where you have a certain amount of time to destroy whatever the target is , either ground to air missile launchers or enemy aircraft. Other mission types include, escort, base assaults, playing with instruments jammed and restriction flights (keeping below a certain alltitude or speed). These all generally link with search and destroy so it can soon start feeling a little bit monotonous due to the lack of variety.
As you go through the campaign mode you earn money which you can spend on unlockables such as paint or aircraft kit. This makes it more interesting to go back and try missions with an improved aircraft, some of the kit you can get includes more powerful engines, better weapons and improved wings for handling.
In addition to the campaign there is arcade mode, which lets you play single missions after unlocking them in the campaign mode.
Multiplayer is put into the game with 2 different modes, CO-OP and versus. In CO-OP you and 3 freinds can fight upto 6 enemy aircrafts controlled by AI.
In versus mode you can fight against 3 freinds, this is in straight dogfights, base attacks, domination, capture the flag and escort. This mix of modes makes the multiplayer really exciting to play and mean that you can have hours of fun in a smooth running group. I play this with freinds on a regular basis and it's always a clean and polished online experience, definatley one of the top online games for the PSP.
Combat is mainly done off of the action buttons and the lock on for attacking enemies is pretty quick, so you don't need to waste any time. As soon as the enemies in site there are the options for missiles or bullets, these aim true and are really effective, although lessons from space invaders shows up and you should remember to aim infront of your target to take in flight time.
All the worlds main military planes are available to use with a range of statistics to give the plane a specific feel, some are fast and some are great at handling, it's important to find a nice mix that suits you if you want to survive. 40 planes and 120 weapons make sure their is something for you to go back to and try the missions with a different style of attack.
The replay value is increased with the support for playing at different difficultys, it increases the AI and number of enemies as well as the damage your aircraft can take. The increased damage is what makes it the most difficult, as the aircraft are made realistically so one missile will mean it's all over.
The AI of your comrades and enemies are both of a good standard and it's good to see the AI getting some kills or a change, the enemies will try to dodge your missiles and attacks with their abilities increasing through the course of the game.
The analoug stick of the PSP handles the flight of the plane very well and makes handling it a dream, controlling as well as any home console game. The acceleration and brake on the shoulder buttons helps keep your speed in touch and the plane really has a weight to it.
The game looks fantastic with water effects that carress the side of the levels and shimmer in the sunlight. Some of the level rises up into 3D but most of it is flat, you don't notice this too much as your flying at speed and altitide but when your close the flat shape is evident. That's not without saying the detail on buildings and roads are good for the PSP, and overall their is a nice polish over the whole game which makes it fun to play.
The game can be quite atmospheric as long as you turn off the rather annoying soundtrack, radio crackle and brief messages boost the excitement and make it feel as though you really are a small group against an army.
The sounds of dogfights are engaging with missiles, explosions and sonic booms going off all around and you have to keep reminding yourself this is all coming out of the tiny PSP.
On Amazon the game retails for £16 , this is a fair price considering the quality of the game. Theirs probably a good 25 hours available before you get tired of the different planes, the only problem is that the campaign is a bit short and the missions are unvaried.
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