Coded Arms (PSP) Review

Coded Arms (PSP) Review

Year of release: 2005

Publisher: Konami

Developer: Konami

Genre: First Person Shooter

Coded Arm is a First Person Shooter that was published and developed by Konami for the PSP in 2005.

When I saw preview videos of it, I was pretty impressed. It looked great, so bought it when it was released (before I got the PSP for Christmas in 2005). Upon playing it for the first time, I thought it was pretty good. There's a fair bit of input lag, but it doesn't seem to hinder the controls or the gameplay in any way. AI isn't excellent, especially when you trying to kill a few enemies with a sniper rifle. Pretty impressive for a PSP launch title. 

In the late 21st century, upgrades in medical and computer technology allow connectivity of human minds to computer networks. It all takes plays inside AIDA, a virtual reality military training simulator that has been abandoned for quite some time. Despite that, the program continues to run, and enemies and levels are still being generated, You play as a hacker who attempts to break the code for AIDA to extract as much valuable data as possible for fame and riches. This is where the player explores sectors (more on that later) that are riddled with enemies including soldiers, security bots, giant bugs just to name a few. Eventually, the player will have to destroy the boss at the end of the sector. 

The game is split into multiple sectors: 

Sector 00 is basically a training level. Sector 01 is split into 3 battlefields: City, Base and Ruin. Each battlefield consists of 6 levels. No boss. Sector 02 is technically an extended version of Sector 01 with 13 levels in each battlefield ending with a boss and Sector 03 is Infinity, which goes on indefinitely (unlimited levels), but the player must defeat all 3 bosses to unlock it. 

The levels are randomly generated, which somewhat increases the replay value and there are plugins to collect throughout the game. The plugins consist of new weapons, armour and grenades.  The player also collects "Opt_Keys" that upgrades your weapons and health (orange for weapons, yellow for health). There are weapons that the player collects throughout the game which are divided into 5 attributes: Physical, Heat, Electric, Viral and Light. Certain attributes take advantage of certain enemies i.e. mechanical enemies are weak against electric weapons. The player can only carry 5 weapons at a time but can be arranged at any point.

Another feature in the games is a 4-player multiplayer mode which consists of three modes: Deathmatch, which is basically free-for-all, Keep The Mark, where the player must obtain said mark to score points and Last Man Standing is similar to Deathmatch, but players get eliminated and the remaining one wins. 

The default controls;

Analog stick - Move/Strafe

D-Pad Left/Right - Switch weapons

D-Pad Up - Zoom in

Square and Circle - Turn left/right

Cross(X) and Triangle - Aim up/down

L - Jump

R - Shoot

Final thoughts: It's a great launch title for the PSP and the randomly generated levels increase replay value (for me, at least). There's a little bit of input lag in the controls, but that doesn't affect the gameplay at all. It has very few RPG elements, but then again, it wasn't marketed as an RPG, it's mainly an FPS. AI isn't the best, but the whole game is enjoyable. I definitely had fun playing it. 

MY RATING: 8/10

WipEout 2097/WipEout XL (PlayStation) Review

WipEout 2097/WipEout XL (PlayStation)

Year of release: 1996

Publsiher: Psygnosis

Deveoper: Psygnosis

Genre: Racing

WipEout 2097 (or WipEout XL as it was known in North America and Japan) is a racing games that was published and deveoped by Psygnosis and released in 1996 for the PlayStation, 1997 for PC and Sega Saturn, 1999 for the Amiga and 2002 for Mac OS. It is the second game of the series and a sequel to the original game. 

This game introduces the F5000 AG (anti-gravity) racing league whereas the original introduces the F3600 league with the former being much, faster, competitive and dangerous. Weapons from the previous game make a comeback with the addition of new ones (some of which are unused by A.I.)

Gameplay is not much different compared to the original, but it introduces new circuits. Streering the crafts can be difficult for beginners and using air-brakes can often help with tight cornering. The player can take damage from weapons used by A.I and eventually blow up, can recharge their energy through the pit stop, but speed is compromised. 

The player can eliminate A.I crafts usually by using weapins (i.e. launching missiles, deploying mines, etc...) or bashing another craft towards the edge of the circuit, but only the player can blow up when their time limit is reached.  

There are 4 classes to races in: Vector, Venom, Rapier and Phantom (guess which is the hardest). Just like the original, difficulty progress is the standard. The player must win the race to move onto a harder. Also the number of laps increases as it gets harder. The player must finish in at least 3rd place in order to move on to the next track. 

While the soundtrack for the other versions WipEout 2097/XL were composed and recorded by CoLD SToRAGE (real name: Tim Wright) the PlayStation version features an exclusive soundtrack by electronic artists such as The Chemical Brother, The Furture Sound of London, Fluke, Phobek, The Prodigy and Underworld and CoLD SToRAGE himself. 

All in all, It's an awesome game with an nice sountrack to it, and I would seriously recommend it to anyone who still owns a PlayStation. One of the essental titles, no doubt

MY RATING: 9/10