Flatout: Head On

Platform: PSP
Verdict: Needs driving lessons.
Rating: 3½/5
Another week, another racer, and where PGR4 varied massively from Burnout Paradise, Flatout: Head On has plenty in common with Criterion's nitrous addict. For starters it centres heavily on crashing, particularly into fellow drivers or for the sole purpose of firing your writhing body through the windscreen for mini-game giggles - obviously no one has heard of seatbelts.
Ostensibly the fourth title in the series, Head On is its first appearance on the PSP, Sony's hand-held machine that often finds ill suited games burdened upon its shoulder buttons. Thankfully racers typically excel on it due to their basic controls (accelerate, left, right... who uses brake?) and its lavish display, perfect for framing the wide screen action.
With comparable nitro based action, exaggerated crash debris and a painful rock soundtrack, Flatout may sound like Burnout but in practice is more reminiscent of the PS1 classics Demolition/Destruction Derby, and is all the more better for it considering the absence of any sequels.
With an emphasis on banger racing, modded rust buckets with wheels, chaotic arena death-matches (Burnout has to get itself some of those) and crazy stunt games (bowling?), Head On ticks all the right, fun shaped boxes. Graphics are satisfyingly chunky, the game generally exudes a decent level of polish and the act of literally destroying the opponent is always welcome. At least it should be.
One thing holds it back - controls. The PSP isn't at issue here though, (unless you want to complain about the hand cramps the analogue nub can induce), the problem lies with the fact that the vehicles handle like a bull in a china shop - hard to control and always smashing into things. The destructible environment may be meant to be crashed through but the sluggish turning and general speed of races remains off putting to all but the determined gamer.
Which is a shame really because things do improve - the extensive career mode allows you to upgrade your car and buy shinier looking vehicles, which goes some way to addressing the handling issues. It would seem that instant gratification has been sacrificed for sense of progression, which is arguable good or bad either way. Cue another pun about my driving...

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions

Platform: PSP
Verdict: Wizard Chess
Rating: 4/5
While I may suck at board games (curse you dice and your random ways!), I tend to fair better with videogames. Funnily enough, stick a board game onto a computer and i'm usually a whizz, although admittedly these tend to be board games that stem from that geekier pursuit of tabletop fantasy gaming, and before that Chess of course.
Final Fantasy Tactics is one such game, (landing on the PSP after brief forays on the PS1 and GBA) and draws from a long history of turn based strategy games like Front Mission and Advance Wars, albeit with more depth and more wizards.
Looking great on the PSP's screen and suiting long, ponderous train journeys, it feels like its finally come home. With a mix of pixel based sprites and isometric 3D it exudes charm and cute character (despite a heady tale of politics, war and betrayal) and is accompanied by gorgeous animated sequences to propel the story forward at times when a little extra drama is required.
Gameplay remains the same with slow paced, tactical battles as you and your opponent take turns to move your squad of soldiers, archers and mages. Stat heavy mechanics decide things like how much damage your characters give or take while job points are earned through engaging in combat.
These job points allow your characters to grow in any direction you choose, such as becoming a gladiator or assassin. The number of job types is massive and each brings its own strength and weakness, allowing you to tailor make a squad to your own tastes, providing masses of depth and replayability.
At times the combination of tall buildings and an isometric viewpoint can obscure your view but map controls help ensure it never becomes too detrimental to gameplay.
The difficulty curve is also a little too steep - a firm grasp of the game's customisation options are required close to the start, meaning new players can be caught unawares. When characters die on the battlefield they remain dead off it too, so pay heed to the brutality of (an admittedly cute) war.
Monopoly leaves scars too.

Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron

Platform: PSP
Verdict: Too big for it's portable boots.
Rating: 3/5
Since the dawning of George Lucas' empire in '77 there have been over 40 videogames with the iconic logo emblazoned on their box art. Mostly they've been rubbish, apart from the odd diamond like The Knights of the Old Republic. After seeing how popular a home made Star Wars mod of Battlefield 1942 had become, Lucas Arts created the Battlefront series. The mixture of epic multiplayer gameplay, vehicular combat and the Star Wars license was a no brainer which saw it become one of the most successful Star Wars games made.
Renegade Squadron sees the traditional template of base capturing and Storm Trooper blasting married with online multiplayer (a first for the series on the PSP) and a new narrative to carry its single player.
Based around the secret group of galactic misfits organised by Han Solo to use guerilla tactics against the Empire, Renegade Squadron weaves its tale around the films with animated illustrations, filling in the gaps between episodes and creating behind-the-scenes tales.
Gameplay remains the same as ever with no dramatic changes other than removing soldier classes in favour of user customisation. Essentially allowing you to pick and choose your weapon sets, Renegade Squadron allows players to create their own style of soldier, restricted only by a credit system that prevents you from becoming a walking armoury.
As well as the rote base capturing, missions are spiced up with varying tasks like destroying generators or protecting friendly characters but they all essentially boil down to the same thing while space combat missions are a twitchy disappointment.
The eternal curse of the PSP's single stick layout detracts from the game immensely, providing an auto lock-on substitute to a second stick. It's an unsatisfying solution that removes most of the skill from the shooter template and makes multiplayer a tedious game of circling opponents while waiting to see who dies first.
To its credit though, production levels are high, customisation options varied and the all too rare inclusion of 16 player online multiplayer is the jewel in its crown - but then that was the whole point of Battlefront in the first place.

SOCOM Fireteam Bravo 2

Platform: PSP.
Verdict: A workable shooter with online strength
Rating: 3½/5
Eternally cursed by PS2 ports in dire need of a second analogue stick, it’s unfair that the PSP hasn’t had a decent run of games that work to its strengths. The original, lengthily titled SOCOM for the PSP was successful due to its online capabilities (an area the PSP is surprisingly weak in) and its reasonable attempt to make up for the loss of a stick.
Bravo 2 takes the baton and runs a similar course with an enhanced single player campaign, tweaked controls and extra online features to warrant its existence – if it aint broke, don’t fix it. As a stripped down version of its bigger brother on the PS2, Bravo 2 continues the tradition of covert Navy SEALs infiltrating risky places to rescue civilians, gain intel on naughty goings-on (as they’re officially known) and generally stop the bad guys from being bad by persuading them with your gun.
Fighting in a squad of two, each mission challenges you and your gun toting AI chum with a wide variety of tasks and allows you to issue orders to him in a satisfying and accessible manner. Levels are sprawling yet linear and populated with willing cannon fodder for your auto-aim to make short, unsatisfying work of.
Online is where it naturally excels, providing a unique and solid experience on the PSP, making up for the distinct lack of other games doing the same. Programmed AI never compares to that of an obsessive American teen either so staying alive is a much greater and interesting challenge.
Naturally, the down side to all that’s good about SOCOM is the control scheme – without that 2nd stick, sacrifices have been made. The use of a lock-on button removes the satisfaction of aiming yourself (unless in sniper mode) and having to manually switch into free view mode to look around means navigation can be clumsy and movement stilted. Thankfully it doesn’t ruin the game but it certainly impacts on what would have been a far greater experience with that extra stick.
Headset support is also provided for online play but only use it if you can stand high-pitched smack talk.

Smash Court Tennis 3

Platform: PSP
Verdict: Needs strawberries n' cream.
Rating: 3/5
With the football season over it's soon to be tennis' time to take over the TV screens of those too lethargic to make it out into the summer sun and what perfect timing for Smash Court Tennis 3 to arrive and provide the tennis enthusiast the canny ability to leave the house and still indulge in some racket based entertainment (apart from playing it for real that is).
Snapping at the heels of the PSP's recent re-introduction to Sega's revered Virtua Tennis series, Smash Court has a lot of work cut out for it to be able to justify its existence in delivering its own top spin on the same game.
Where it immediately differs most is how it controls – each face button is relegated to varying return types – slice and spin etc. So far so similar yet the timing of button presses differs from Virtua Tennis' real time reaction - in a similar way to Rockstar's Table Tennis, as soon as the opponent hits the ball you can tap a button and your player will return it when it becomes near enough. Precise timing is no longer required to just return the ball, instead it's used for accuracy and power - with the timing of each button press and release defining decent returns.
While this is an interesting attempt at a different approach, it backfires by making it feel less immediate, tactile and fun.
Elsewhere, Smash Court 3 seeks to out do Virtua Tennis by offering an overwhelming wealth of features. Alongside Arcade and Exhibition modes, Pro Tour allows you to create, customise and build your own player into a tennis super star. With masses of stats, a tour calendar to plan your season, Smash Court offers a comprehensive and polished career mode yet still treads familiar ground.
For those with shorter attention spans there's Ad Hoc multiplayer between PSPs and some quirky mini games such as Pac Man Tennis but they don't make up for the fact that although Smash Court tries really hard to impress, it just lacks that special ingredient where it matters most – on the court.

Full Auto 2: Battle Lines

Platform: PSP
Verdict: Mardy Max.
Rating: 2½/5
Everyone knows that the future is a barren wasteland where oil is more precious than life and catwalks are filled with leather, spikes and loin cloths. Tina Turner may not need another hero but Full Auto 2: Battle Lines demands you to be one, for better or for worse.
As heroic deeds go however it'll certainly take a concerted effort from the Homer as the road to victory is a particularly disheartening odyssey – the ridiculous quest to overthrow a weather computer by driving like a drunk is a painful and glitchy road to hell.
The expensive licensed soundtrack may delight some but unfortunately belies the quality of the game as Battle Lines comes across as an unfinished symphony of destruction that at least heavy metal fans will glean some joy from.
With a variety of play modes to choose from and only ad hoc multiplayer (yet another PSP game to sadly shun WiFi), Full Auto 2 is a generic and predictable package that ticks the usual boxes but adds little new and as the pint sized brother to the PS3 game, it's lacking the one thing that made it interesting – the ability to rewind time and correct your mistakes.
Anyone who's crashed their car for real will know what the benefit of hindsight brings and with the ability to crash, rewind and avoid that nasty collision, Full Auto 2 on the PS3 allowed the player to be courageous and experimental, safe in the knowledge that an unsuccessful manoeuvre could easily be corrected. The explosions looked nice too.
Without the hook of rewinding time, Full Auto 2 is reduced to an average game of driving erratically and shooting wildly. With the PSP's limitations and some sloppy programming, the choppy frame rate and twitchy controls mean it's functional at best and barely a joy to play.
Those with a penchant for road based destruction would be best advised to plump for Burnout because even though Full Auto 2 is packed with weapons and destructible set piece environments, it still can't match the visceral quality of its nitrous peer. There's also the next Wipeout on the way where the future is decidedly cooler.