PSP Blogger - PlayStation® Portable Fansite

Reviewed by DarCowAlways

This game has been notorious for its abstract simple and enjoyable gameplay since it was first created as a playable game on the creator's website. Since then, it has undergone a port to the PS3, and now has come to us PSP owners with great results.

This is a seamless game with amazing graphics, and the aliasing issues are all to do with the difference in resolution. The music is very calm and relaxing and keeps you wanting more, while not getting in the way of the game or becoming annoying.

The gameplay itself consists of you, a microscopic organism, feeding off of other such creatures to grow and become more powerful. This happens through either eating tiny creatures directly, or defeating other very similar organisms by eating their health orbs. You yourself have these orbs, and can see at any time how much health you have through them. Once you have eaten these orbs, the enemy will break into several tiny creatures which can be eaten to either restore health or make you grow, depending on the type of creature.

Each of the six organisms you can control over the game has different abilities, different looks, and different levels. Some move fast, others lure in enemies, and others yet poison them. This adds enough variety to the game to keep you going strong through it.

The game is extremely self-explanatory, with a very simple yet fleshed out system for moving though levels, changing organisms, and playing locally with friends. There is one screen with a very limited set of basic instructions when the game starts- but thankfully, that is all you will need.

Once you beat the levels (by eating red orbs to get to deeper layers) with one organism you are given the option to play as that organism in their evolved form giving you a new, arguably improved creature to play with.

As you progress through the game the background changes from a light blue to a dark and cloudy black with lighting effects, and several various effects in between. There are different backdrops for each creature you play as, so if you find one boring, the next will definitely change things up for you.

The game itself when you eat all of the creatures, is about 4.5 hours long. Further enjoyment can be found replaying levels and playing with friends over ad-hoc.

If you have a little patience, flOw is a very immersive and rewarding game.

This title can be played directly or downloaded onto the PC (free) from here.

It’s only April but what a year it’s been for PSP gamers this far. We found ourselves performing deadly combo attacks with God of War: Chains of Olympus, reviving past memories with Final Fantasy: Crisis Core, controlling odd looking but dangerous little creatures in Patapon and even took our current music collection to the next level with Beats. It’s without a doubt been a truly spectacular year for the PSP (as seen by the recent PSP sales figures).

P.S. The new firmware update 3.95 can now be automatically downloaded via the network update feature on the PSP.

So is this the end of all spectacular PSP events for this current year? Well we're glad to inform you that it’s just the beginning.

Note: Some of the following titles have already been released in certain countries.

Let’s start by looking at PlayStation Store titles still scheduled for 2008.

• Cool Boarders 2
• Cool Boarders 3
• Destruction Derby 2
• Gauntlet Legends
• G-Police
• Klonoa
• Kurushi Final
• Metal Gear Solid
• Motor Toon Gran Prix
• Namco Museum Series
• Omega Boost
• Ridge Racer
• Ridge Racer Type 4
• Roll Cage
• Tekken 1 & 3
• Vib Ribbon

Then there are of course some major PSP titles we can look forward to such as; Secret Agent Clank, Lego Batman & Indiana Jones, R-Type Command, Space Invaders Extreme, N+, Destroy All Humans, Star Wars: TFU and Iron Man.

There are also a couple of rumored PSP titles for 2008 floating around including; Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Oblivion, Cannon Fodder, Dino Crisis, etc. We do however have no idea of how true these rumors are.

Other things that's also worth mentioning are bigger memory sticks (which will also reduce the pricing on the smaller versions), Firmware release 4.0 (which hopefully includes the long awaited DivX functionality), Qwerty Keyboard and some other secrets that Sony doesn’t want to reveal at this point and time.

All and all, PSP gamers can rest assured that 2008 is still packed with goodies so stay tuned for more information.

As you might have noticed, the PS Store is currently blooming with new content (in certain countries of course) and with a new layout coming soon the PS Store has quite a promising future ahead of it.

Price wise however things don’t seem that promising. As you know all purchases on the store are done via credit card. The store however only allows you to activate your PSP on one country setting. What this basically means is that say you sign up for an American account but change to UK afterwards all your content downloaded from the American store won’t play due to license restrictions.

Well since I live in South Africa I obviously selected the South African store as I prefer viewing the currency (Rand) from my own country for easier purchases. Last night I had a little peak at the American store just out of curiosity and was quite shocked at what I discovered. They are overcharging me!

1 USD ($) currently equals 8 South African Rand (R).

Here is an example:

Beats on the USA store costs $5 which equals to R40 whereas on the South African store the same game sells at R75 ($9+). I haven’t checked the pricing on the stores from other countries but I’m sure there’ll be some differences too. Why is Sony doing this? There is no import costs involved since its downloadable content. If I knew this from the beginning I would have signed up for the USA store, and even if I do that now all my already purchased games simply won’t work. I could have purchased Flow and Beats from the USA store for basically the same price as only one game from the SA store.

Really sucks.

Gauntlet Legends is another title hitting the Playstation Store this year, so let’s go see what this classic is all about…

Originally released on arcade machines by Atari in 1998 the title ported itself to the Playstation, Nintendo 64 and (gasp!) Sega Dreamcast. Gauntlet Legends is a hack ‘n slash RPG (yes, another one) that doesn’t really offer much than the usual killing, collecting, and leveling RPG gamers have gotten pretty use to over the years. Interestingly enough the original title named Gauntlet was released in 1985 and also had an expansion that made it to the Xbox, Gamecube and PS2 as Gauntlet: Dark Legacy.

The Nintendo 64 version was reviewed by IGN in 1999 and scored a pretty decent 7.7 although the score seem to have been focused more on the multiplayer functionality of the game (which obviously won’t work with the store titles). Here’s a quote from IGN:

“This is a very accurate translation of an arcade game to a console and that's a nice accomplishment but how much you'll like it depends on what you thought about it in the arcades. I for one think it's worth a rent first but don't pick it up if you don't like multiplayer co-op games or have no friends.”

Well I’m not really sure if I should get excited by this release although I might just give it a go to see what I’ve missed. If you’re a Gauntlet Legends fan however then this is your lucky day.

Don’t tell me you never heard of Klonoa! Well this game is really similar to that pink cute monster called Kirby if you ever played that before. The title is a side-scrolling action type game with a Pseudo-3D appearance.

Throughout the game you’ll do the usual Super Mario stunts by jumping around, ridding the world of baddies and collecting various items etc. The title did very well on the PSX and even received a 9.2 and editors choice award from Gamespot (God of War only received 8.5!) so check the review there for more information.

There is currently no ETA on the store arrival but should show up in the next couple of months. (Hey, it’s better than waiting for GT Mobile)

I really miss this game! This was seriously one of the best arcade racing titles available for the PSX and it’s finally coming to the PS Store (no exact ETA). I currently only own a PSP (must seriously get that donation button up) so playing PSX games is usually out of the question unless it pops up on the PS Store.

I almost convinced myself to go buy a second hand PSX but since Metal Gear Solid has recently been released on the store (currently only Japanese store) and the fact that other great titles like Klonoa and Tekken 3 are coming soon I might just reconsider.

For those who enjoyed playing Ridge Racer 1 & 2 on the PSP or any Ridge Racer for that matter I would fully recommend getting the Type 4 title when it arrives on the store.

Drivers start your engines! (Hey wait, wasn’t that Daytona?)