Fracture
Jul 9, 2008, 09:36 PM
Hello. I've played both of the main PSU games for the PS2 and was online for about 2 weeks or so before I decided I didn't want to pay money to keep playing online. Been looking forward to a PSP version as I can play it wherever. Anyhow that's enough about me here's the review.
First off let me say this is so damn sweet. It took a little getting used to the Japanese control scheme layout (the O and X button functions are swapped) so once I got over that it was mostly like playing on the PS2. I say mostly because of the lack of a second analogue stick. They used the D-pad as a substitute but as the other stick only controlled looking it wasn't so bad.
The game plays VERY fluidly. I doubt the actual UMD version will run this smooth when it's finally released though as that damn drive is slow as heck at times. Hopefully they will front load a bunch of data to the Memory stick when you first install it, I hope anyways. As for the demo it ran smooth and FAST! Switching between zones was way faster than the PS2. Again that's likely to change on release.
I don't speak Japanese so I have no Idea what anyone was saying, or what options I Was selecting. The menus seem similar to how I remember them so I was able to just do things like assign skills to weapons easily. The story was interestingly presented through static shots of the characters blown up on your screen. They were displayed single when looking at you and side by side when talking to each other. I believe this actually is a totally new story as there was a character at one point I didn't recognize at all (I've not played chapter 3 online though so who knows there).
Game played the same as I remember it, locations were familiar at least in what I played and the boss battle was about the same too. Drops were not too spectacular as it is just the first couple levels. I didn't mess around with classes as I couldn't read the language.
As for modes, the story mode and multi mode both use the same character! So I started out in story mode, played through till the demo's end and then it gave me a screen that I can only guess is the release date screen. Afterwards I was able to go into multi mode and play that same character as much as I wanted in the limited amount of content there is.
Overall this was a great experience. When the Japanese version comes out I doubt I will buy it as I don't really want to be as lost as I was with an actual purchase, but if it looks like the US versions never gonna come out I might crack. I'm REALLY hoping they make a stateside version as right now I'm psyched about going back to the world of PSU on the go.
First off let me say this is so damn sweet. It took a little getting used to the Japanese control scheme layout (the O and X button functions are swapped) so once I got over that it was mostly like playing on the PS2. I say mostly because of the lack of a second analogue stick. They used the D-pad as a substitute but as the other stick only controlled looking it wasn't so bad.
The game plays VERY fluidly. I doubt the actual UMD version will run this smooth when it's finally released though as that damn drive is slow as heck at times. Hopefully they will front load a bunch of data to the Memory stick when you first install it, I hope anyways. As for the demo it ran smooth and FAST! Switching between zones was way faster than the PS2. Again that's likely to change on release.
I don't speak Japanese so I have no Idea what anyone was saying, or what options I Was selecting. The menus seem similar to how I remember them so I was able to just do things like assign skills to weapons easily. The story was interestingly presented through static shots of the characters blown up on your screen. They were displayed single when looking at you and side by side when talking to each other. I believe this actually is a totally new story as there was a character at one point I didn't recognize at all (I've not played chapter 3 online though so who knows there).
Game played the same as I remember it, locations were familiar at least in what I played and the boss battle was about the same too. Drops were not too spectacular as it is just the first couple levels. I didn't mess around with classes as I couldn't read the language.
As for modes, the story mode and multi mode both use the same character! So I started out in story mode, played through till the demo's end and then it gave me a screen that I can only guess is the release date screen. Afterwards I was able to go into multi mode and play that same character as much as I wanted in the limited amount of content there is.
Overall this was a great experience. When the Japanese version comes out I doubt I will buy it as I don't really want to be as lost as I was with an actual purchase, but if it looks like the US versions never gonna come out I might crack. I'm REALLY hoping they make a stateside version as right now I'm psyched about going back to the world of PSU on the go.