Well, it's here, the game that was so hotly anticipated. I picked up the collector's edition pack from work, the cases are kind of nice and the comic is cool, but otherwise it's just the standard game.
Graphics: 8/10
Good graphical style, consistent with all the worlds and the main cast of characters. Stigmartha, Pandora, DJ, they all have really cool character design, reminiscent of Tim Burton. I particularly like the Dead Guppy (He's, well, a dead guppy). You won't be disappointed here, but the majority of the development apparently went into character design.
Sound: 7/10
The game has some good music, and cool sound effects. Unforunately, you know that song you hear at the beginning of the game in the suburbs? Cool song right? That's going to be the song you will hear throughout 90% of the game, outside of the central hub area (The Museum).
Gameplay: 6/10
Interesting, but lackluster. It's a platformer-meets-shooter reminiscient of Ratchet&Clank. Neither aspect is particularly innovative, but it does both relatively well, at first. There's nothing new here (you'll get tired of C4 Hamsters relatively fast). You have the options of using your relatively powerful melee scythe, or choosing from a host of guns that you get at the end of each stage (courtesy of the conjoined twins, Smith & Weston). You can upgrade your weapons and learn new moves, but this only goes so far, and many of the upgraded moves are near useless (like the defensive shield).
It's passable, but really nothing groundbreaking. What ruins it comes next.
Controls: 2/10
Abysmmal. Horrid. Worst controls ever. Any of these descriptions would accurately reflect Death Jr's control scheme. Particularly at fault here is the camera, which can make or break platformers. It broke this one.
The only ways to manipulate the camera are to enter a first person 'free-look' mode (in which case, you're very vulnerable for combat purposes) or to snap the camera behind DJ (which by the way, is very disorienting and not smooth at all). Neither is an option during combat, which this game has a lot of. If one enemy gets behind you and you fight him, you have to manually reposition DJ then snap the camera around to see the rest of the enemies. There's no way to snap around to lock onto enemies behind you, they have to be in your frontal cone of vision.
I've died a good twenty times because of the camera control scheme. Nothing is more frustrating. The camera of course, also ruins the platforming aspects. Just wait until you get to the hook jumping in the advance training level, it'll make you scream (and only gets worse in actual gameplay, with enemies firing at you).
The controls can make or break a game, and they just devastate this one.
Story: 4/10
It seems to be really cool at first, but that first five minutes of story is about the extent of it. There are a few captions throughout the game, but it's mostly just going through random levels to recover pieces of your friend's psyche. Not much to speak of here.
Overall: 6/10
It would have been a strong game if the controls were taken care of, and the developers took advantage of the wonderful characters they made to create more of a story. Mediocre at best, I tried my best to like this game, I really did. It can be fun, but it's frustrating more often than not.
I picked up Death Jr this morning and I thought it was a lot of fun. I am a very casual gamer that has 10-15 minutes to play at a time, so this is perfect for me. So I'm not going to poo-poo too much on this game and personally I thought the controls were just fine.
Zarkon has some serious issues if he doesn't like this game...it is by far the best PSP has to offer, aside from Mercury. This game is extremely swell...I've played it for about 2 hours and I love it. The scythe-platforming and gun-combat is a great combination. How CAN you dislike it in any way?
gi0rgi0, I cannot complain. I hated Coded Arm's controls, but DJ's control are easy for me. I've had much success running through levels and switching from Scythe to Gun. There's very little memorization to the controls unlike say, THUG or NFL Street where you have to remember Square, Square, Triangle, Double R, Double L just to pull off a move. DJ is much easier--in my opinion. Enjoyable game, DJ is a bad ass too
Ooh, its a hoot! I get cramps in my wrist and boy, DJ looks like he is flying when the whole screen is all black! Oh, I love seeing what is behind every polygon wall too! Fun!
The controls are simple. The ONLY problem with the controls in ANY way are that you have to be perfectly still to snap in the direction you are facing. Other than that, they are simple and easy to cotnrol and it is very easy to switch between guns. (Up button to trigger a rotate select, left/right to simple switch) It's really easy, don't worry.
Thats kinda stupid that you have to be still for the camera to snap ? Isnt this an action adventure game ? And wouldnt that take
away from what should be a fun experience ?
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