PSP's
unlocked firmwares give access to the world of home-made entertainment, you all know that. But many people forget that cracked firmware unlocks is more than just playing pirated games, which, sadly, is one of its main uses. Modified firmware allows for running any code unauthorised by Sony, written by anybody having enough skills to use PSPSDK and write something new. In short, it gives the user the freedom of choice concerning what they want to use on their PSP.
My personal favourites are numerous emulators that run on the PSP. Having a single device in my pocket that plays ZX Spectrum, Atari, Commodore, Amstrad, Atari ST, Amiga, Neo Geo, SNES, Genesis, Gameboy, and GBA games is something that my geeky mind considers extremely cool. There also is a good number of homebrew utilities available, such as synthetizer (
PSP Rhythm), alternative environment (
IRShell), PDF reader (
Bookr), Kanji flashcards (
PSPKanji) and others.
But every now and then a new homebrew game pops up on
DC-Emu or
PSPUpdates. And by new game I don't mean just yet another implementation of chess or Go, but something fresh and original. I am carefully checking almost every new release, because one can really find some little gems of creativity present out there.
In this lengthy post I would like to present a couple of homebrew games that have captured my attention and gained well-deserved place on my Memory Stick. The list is very subjective and is by no means a compendium of homebrew games - the aim of it was to highlight a couple of games that I consider worthy trying.
And now for the list itself :
SnakeSP 7.1
SnakeSP doesn't exactly qualify under "a novel concept", but I think it is a very promising piece of homebrew. It takes the old idea of snake game and builds up on it in its own way. The influence of
flOw is clearly noticeable - both snake's looks and the fact that the creature can grow in two ways (regular segments and 'fast' segments).
The screens don't do it justice. The whole thing about this game is that it has its own particular sense of style, the vector art is really nice and the waves that snake generates give it very trippy and yet futuristic feeling. Also, there is a great music track to it, although the mood gets slightly spoiled by snake's burping.
I am just disappointed that the development of this game has stopped. It was already showing promise and I think that adding some more gameplay features (levels, two player mode, obstacles, moving creatures and whatnot) would really turn it into full fledged game. Nevertheless, I turn it on and play every now and then.
Droplets
Droplets is a logic game, designed and coded by Drakonite from PS2Dev forums. Even though it has both simple mechanics and simple looks, it is a very nice and polished game.
The idea is to add water to droplets occupying the slots of the board. When a droplet has too much water in it, it explodes and disappears, sending drops of water in four directions. These drops can "overload" other droplets thus causing chain reactions.
The game is very relaxing, easy on the eyes and really enjoyable. The only minor drawback is that there is no saving or password system, so if the player fails on the last level, they must start from zero.
Callisto
This is a variation on the subject of classical shoot'em ups. Player's vessel travels from left to right and shoots everything in its way,
Callisto is as simple as that. It is, however, very nicely executed. Sound is nothing special, but it doesn't get in the way, graphics are interesting and captivating enough. The main advantage of the game is that it is very well balanced and playable. It is also one of the first full homebrew games on PSP written entirely from scratch. So even if there are prettier games around, don't underestimate this one. You will be pleasantly surprised.
No Gravity
No Gravity is not yet finished, but it deserved a mention. This is essentially a space 3D shoot'em up / simulation kind of game in the vein of Wing Commander, TIE Fighter or Privateer. I won't be saying much about it as far as the gameplay is concerned, because this has never been my kind of game, even though I liked Privateer a lot. There are different kinds of weapons and enemy ships and lots of things are blowing up leaving space debris behind.
What is extraordinary, however, is No Gravity's audiovisual prowess - frankly, I have seen commercial games that are less spectacular in terms of how they look (beautiful flare and lightning effects here) and sound (I love the music with "searching for the sun" voice motive in the backround). This shows how much you can squeeze out of PSP even without official SDK.
Definitely worth a try.
Ozone
Ozone is a strange element on this list, because it is not so much a game but an experience. All of the ten levels are accessible from the very start, there are no points, and playing is just something that happens. It reminds me slightly of a ZX Spectrum game, the name of which has unfortunately slipped my mind (if you happen to know what I mean, let me know through comments).
The game sounds just like
Electroplancton on DS (or at least it makes me think of it) - every time the bubble player controls comes in contact with the walls, they make a delicate sound. And since your bubble loses little bubbles of oxygen every time it does that, player usually tries to steer it clear off the walls, but rapid corrections of the course make it bounce even more and the whole symphony starts playing...
With Ozone (which should be called Oxygene, since it's all about oxygen) it's hit or miss - some will love this game, some will immediately hate it. But there is no denying that it stands out and therefore it deserved to be mentioned here.
Biohazard 2
This game made the list not so much because it is so good (which is in fact not true), but more because of the potential I see in it.
Biohazard 2 has a fair share of issues - sprites seem to be flickering every now and then, it seems to be impossible to finish the first level, it is very hard, and so on.
Nevertheless, it is one of these games that keep player on their toes. You have to struggle hard to not get eaten from the very first second after starting the level. Sprites are original and have sense of style, sounds are gloom and spooky, and all in all I think that it would be a nice little game if the author sat down and worked some more on it. So I am not too impressed by it, but I mention it here because it promises to be something really interesting. Hope it makes it there.
Pollo Pollo
Pollo Pollo is a
Puyo Puyo clone (d'oh), but what makes it interesting is the care for audiovisual aspect of the game. A lot of effort went into everything in this game, from sounds and voices, to fully animated intro. I admit that the effect beats some of the commercial games - I won't name the exact titles, but I have seen worse menus in some recent games.
The only thing that annoyed me a little was the colour scheme - violet blocks are barely distinguishable from dark blue ones for a partially colourblind person such as me (yes, unfortunately - 5 to 10% colour vision impairment, but still).
Nevertheless, this game is a very interesting free alternative for all Puyo Puyo lovers out there.
Trigonometry Wars
Famous Xbox Live! game
Geometry Wars was so immensely popular that it spawned a couple ofremakes. My favourite was a PC version called Grid Wars. Its author was
threatened with legal action by Microsoft, but you can still find
the game on the internet. I loved it for its crazy difficulty and customisation options.
Trigonometry Wars is another remake, this time for the PSP. Unfortunately, it lacks the polish of either of its older brothers. Somehow it is neither as shiny and spectacular as PC or Xbox 360 version, nor as playable. It goes to show that making a good game is really a difficult task and requires getting all the components right.
But putting these bitter remarks on the side, it is the best Geometry Wars clone for the PSP, with customisable controls and decent gameplay, so if you like the original and would like to experience it on the go - give Trigonometry Wars a try.
Cave Story
I am not an expert when it comes to
PC version of
Cave Story, but the game has a great number of fans and that probably means something. I appreciate its retro style, reminding me of old-school platform games from the past, I am not too fond of the game itself (meaning that it just somehow didn't captivate me), but there is a lot of content here, lots of playing and if you happen to like platform games, this is obligatory position to play. Also, I really think that game's author, Pixel, was very nice to actually allow homebrew coder ufo_z to port his game and ufo_z did a great job porting it to the PSP.
Hexaxis XXI
So far I have written twice about Tim Hackett's
Hexaxis - you can read my initial impressions
here and my opinion on the newest release
here. Although the gameplay itself is not really my thing, I cannot overlook the amount of work that author has put into his game and the originality of the concept. Don't miss this one!
Go! Go! Goo!
I have already
presented Go!Go!Goo! here on Bart's News some time ago. Basically, it is a nice game that is almost a copy of an old game called
Troddlers. And although copying is the ultimate form of flattery, I consider it would be nice to at least give some credit to the original.
Apart from this qualm, which can be sorted out by authors very quickly (just mention Troddlers in the documentation guys, and I'll shut up once and for all), the game is a great example of homebrew : nice visuals, decent sounds, interesting graphical style, and great fun factor.
Go!Go!Goo! has my recommendation (with some meaningful coughing accompanying it, but still).
R-Gear
And yet another game that I have
already reviewed, but the compilation wouldn't be complete without one of my favourite homebrew shoot'em ups. Great retro-styled execution, fiendish difficulty level, great music, faithful recreation of great classic (
R-Type, in case anyone didn't know) and a touch of humour make
R-Gear a must for every homebrew-enabled PSP owner!
EDIT: I have found two excellent games that absolutely should have made the list - I present them
in this post.
And so we have reached the end of my lengthy list. This was supposed to be split in many posts, each concerning a single game, but it was getting delayed on and on, so I have finally decided to push it out as a whole megapost.
Maybe you would like to point out an interesting game that I have missed? Maybe you don't agree with some of the reviews? Feel free to let me know your impressions through comments.
