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Aug 24 2005
Death Jr. Review
PSP Game Review | Action
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| Summary: The reason I bought my PSP has finally payed off!!!
99
Death, Jr. was THE reason I got a PSP. Sure, some of the other games looked cool but this game looked sweet. How can you go wrong with death AND C4 Hamsters? Well, the game delivers in most areas but it does contain a few flaws but nothing that can't be over looked once you get the hang of it. Let's get this review started!
Death Jr's story is fairly simple. Death, Jr. And pals are at the museum for a fieldtrip. Pandora finds a box that she just can't resist opening. However, she tries and tries but can't get it open. DJ (aka Death, Jr.) uses his trust worth scythe to open it. Now he's gone and unleashed Menoch and he has taken the souls of DJ's friends! Now DJ needs to get those souls back and put Menoch back into that box before his dad finds out. I may have gotten the villains name wrong but oh well. The plot is along the lines of The Nightmare Before Christmas, being that it has a twisted sense of humor. The characters are neat (Dead Guppy is just classic) and I think the creator just had funny (Stigmartha is great also and I love the scene of her hiding her eyes when her soul is taken). The plot isn't deep and never really goes anywhere but it's just fun and entertaining.
The graphics in the game are rather good. Enemies are a tad bland looking at a distance but up close, they look rather good. Fair amount of variation on them also. The levels are full of stuff and a lot of it can be destroyed and they want you to destroy it because you get more points, but more on that later. I really liked the designs of the characters, except DJ, he is kind of bland looking but I guess Death's son wouldn't be all that great looking. I never ran into any jaggies or anything like that, it all runs smoothly, looks smooth and is nicely detailed.
The sound in the game is a bit of a mixed bag. The weapons all sound good, and I just love the sounds of the hamsters as they run to just be blown up within seconds. Enemies let out different types of screams so it's varied there. The music is just wow... It's really good and it actually adds a bit of fun to the game. I really love the music for Seep's levels. The voice acting is a bit ho-hum. Not great but it does work but a few voices were just really bad. All in all though it isn't that bad and it's nice to have voice acting, even if it isn't used all of the time.
Now, most complaints are based on the control in this game. Let me just state one thing quickly. The camera is horrible when you're doing bad run and gun. It's perfectly fine during scythe action. See, for some reason the targeting system goes haywire during the run and gun moments but it isn't that bi of a problem, except in hall ways and that’s only in the 3 school levels which isn't too bad. Of course the camera still isn’t perfect but it's more manageable when you know that. The L button centers the cam; it doesn't work well while having a gun out and you must tap to center because holding L goes into stand still look around mode, which is good for using the electric gun on power stuff. You jump with X, use scythe with square, circle is gun and triangle is dodge. It all works well. The are button is used for strafing which I found myself using a lot during the run and gun stuff but it also targets enemies for you.
Is a lot like that found in the Ratchet and Clank series. There are 17 levels in the game and one thing that I like is out of the first 3 worlds, you can pick any and work your way through the 3 areas in each. Not all have bosses and some of the bosses are in the first level or at the end, it keeps it mildly exciting... While I'm on the subject of bosses, let me tell you about them. They are large and provide a challenge until you figure out what to do. I found the later bosses to be rather hard, even when knowing what to do.
The worlds in the game are rather amusing at times. I love Dead Guppy's levels; Meat World is just a blast to play. The level designs are just fun. There are 2 things you need to do in a level. Kill enemies until you have enough souls to open the giant eye doors and then get the puzzle piece at the end of the level. However, there are 7 power up items hidden in each stage, tons of extra enemies, destructible items, ect. At the end of a level you get a report card and you're graded on each category of enemies killed, hidden items found, combos and destruction. I tried to get it all in 1 run but I found that hunting for the secret items makes combos hard to maintain. The hidden items carry over anyway so you only have to find them once.
The enemies are rather varied. They attack in different ways and require different methods to be killed. Some are a pain, like the blue slug ones. The kamikaze ones are hard to fight because they run at you and instantly blow up. The larger enemies need to be taken out from a distance. I enjoyed scythe action over the run and gun game play but guns are needed in certain spots. Oh and the guns are fun. Some of them stink at first, like the shotgun, but after a while they each have their own purpose. I really liked the upgraded electric gun, great for combos.
Let me explain the power ups. There is the Pandora icons which when you collect four adds an extra special attack thing. Just fill up the Pandora meter and it stocks an attack. You just hit circle and triangle together to use it, deals massive damage and slows down time. I rarely used it but it's neat. There are little heads of DJ which when you collect four give you more life, I never could tell though... There are also weapon widgets which at first are used to buy new moves and then later sued to upgrade your weapons into even cooler machines of destruction. The widgets are a must find I found because it makes the larger swarms of enemies easier and the later bosses are a major pain.
The platformer moments in the game do provide a bit of challenge, due to the camera mainly. It does break up the action a little and keeps the game from getting dull. There isn't a ton of platforming though, but there is enough. Just think Ratchet and Clank, with less platforming and more melee fighting.
The game is fairly short, around 10 hours but it isn't THAT short. There is plenty to do like find all of the power ups. After that, you can always replay the levels, which I actually did a few times. Another complaint is that the game does not give you a check list of the levels and how many power ups you have gotten. So, as a warning, make your own list when you get a report card and keep track.
Should you buy or rent this game? I say buy it if you like this type of game. The game does deliver a lot of action and the levels are fairly long if you search them for everything. Also, who doesn't love the destruction of random items?
REVIEW IT
PRODUCT INFO
BUY IT
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Comments
100+90+80+90+90 / 5 = 99
not in this dimension.
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sthig said: "it's so much easier to burn down a foundation than build one.
Have any of you once ever thought what it's like to be laughed at? It hurts, right? And don't tell me you've not been picked on and/or laughed at before. Perhaps maybe take a kinder approach to things and encourage someone rather than destroy."
If my friend told me this game was a 99/100 game and i went and spent $40 on it i think i would want to punch him in the face if it was really about a 70.
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I am going to go play nintendo donkey Kong i am so pissed about the psp game selection. At least I know thats a fun game.
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Vlad, and PSP093 is your friend? You would buy a game soley on one review? I really really really like brocoli however my wife hates it with a passion. I can tell her how good it is until I'm blue in the face however she will never like it. Such goes with DJ, some people are really going to enjoy it while others hate it. But why spoil the fun of one who enjoy it, and want to talk about? What is it you gain from damning others? To show how much superior knowledge you have on that person? What good will it do for that person? Never write another review? Good, you've shut them up and shut them out of a PSP community thus, theoretically "eating your own" and (on an extreme notion) damaging the success of the PSP. I know the comeback is "that's one person" but a Mountain is made out of pebbles
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DrMoore said: "Rules / Etiquette
PSP411 prides itself on being a great forum for everyone. However, we will in no way tolerate flaming (a user attacking another user) or the posting / discussion of illegal content. Also, we have a large youth userbase, so we request that all users refrain from posting adult or otherwise inappropriate content, discussions and links."
Rules Etiquete, write a none biased review. 99 is just plain rediculous. Their entitled to their views and opinions and so are we. Stop crying about it.
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TheBerg,
How is someone supposed to take you seriously when you use "rediculous" and "their" when it is "They are" or "they're."
I know, I'm a Grammar Nazi and you just woke up (isn't that always the excuse?).
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sthig, because I am an easy to please person. And this is so bad it upset me. I don't ask for much.
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p.s. curiousity killed the cat
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sthig said: "TheBerg,
How is someone supposed to take you seriously when you use "rediculous" and "their" when it is "They are" or "they're."
I know, I'm a Grammar Nazi and you just woke up (isn't that always the excuse?)."
they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're
sorry sir won't happen again sir.
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TheBerg,
Sarcasm doesn't become you. I'm not triyng to start a flame war with you, my friend...but slamming someone and using bad grammar just makes you look stupid. Coming back with a string of "they're" just shows your anger and it was a bad attempt of wit.
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sthig, the problem is not that the reviewer gave the game a 99. Some games deserve that, I argue Lumines is maybe the only one on the PSP so far (and I didn't give that a 99 either).
The problem is that the reviewer threw together a review in five minutes, and assigned utterly random scores. You don't give an aspect of a game an 80 and say the overall score is 99. He throws together many contradictory statements that make no sense. The fact that his score is a 99/100 is only part of it.
The review is just bad. There's nothing else to say about it. I don't flame him for it, but he needs to place far more effort into his reviews. Then again, I also argue that such reviews shouldn't be accepted onto the site at all. I don't care if he reviews a game well that I disliked, if he writes a real review. He didn't.
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Hime,
Perfectly acceptable. I personally find the review "not-so-hot" as well however it's just the attack on the guy that makes me angry. No one deserves to be made fun of or picked on. Like, if people were to say "I find this review horrible" then I'd be fine with it. But when you see crap like
"d00d, ur a looser, kwit meaking stupdi revuwz, their dumb"
It's not about the review anymore, it's a personal attack on the person.
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you tool... I wasted my money on this load of donkey $hit thanks to your review. Get off the Paxil before you review again
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Wow, I didn't realize this reviewer had so much influence on your purchasing decisions.
If he's the tool, then you have been screwed.
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sthig said: "Vlad, and PSP093 is your friend? You would buy a game soley on one review? I really really really like brocoli however my wife hates it with a passion. I can tell her how good it is until I'm blue in the face however she will never like it. Such goes with DJ, some people are really going to enjoy it while others hate it. But why spoil the fun of one who enjoy it, and want to talk about? What is it you gain from damning others? To show how much superior knowledge you have on that person? What good will it do for that person? Never write another review? Good, you've shut them up and shut them out of a PSP community thus, theoretically "eating your own" and (on an extreme notion) damaging the success of the PSP. I know the comeback is "that's one person" but a Mountain is made out of pebbles"
Ya but if in reality your wife thought brocoli was just decent but represented it as being amazing and you bought it at significant loss to yourself (as $40 is to me) and you didn't like it, you would be pissed too. And in fact a mountain is made mostly out of solid rock, followed by huge rocks, and a few pebbles. So to answer your question yes i do like showing my superior knowledge, but usually when i think it will teach someone something or help them. In this case I say that this person does not in fact love this game. According to his own words he points out major flaws, and then gives it a perfect rating. I don't like that and would like him to change his ways, hence my response. I value his opinion and want him and other people to review the games they purchase, but to do it honestly and in a straight up way.edited: Aug 27 2005
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