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Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Five handheld games to look forward to in 2009 - PSP and DS


1 Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars
The folks at Rockstar have been working on this first DS "GTA" for years. It's still not clear how they can provide a "GTA"-quality soundtrack in a DS cartridge. But I do expect Rockstar's knack for great characters and creative chaotic gameplay to be in full force. This one is rated M and will be out in March.
2 Mario and Luigi RPG 3
Good things about the "Mario" role-playing game series include the frequent use of Luigi as a projectile weapon, the industry-leading comedy scripts, the exhaustive cameos of many great Mario series characters big and small — and, my favorite, the "Mario" role-playing games are big without being bulky, sporting a streamlined RPG structure that requires a lot less time spent fiddling with menus and more time in action and expanding the story. This DS game probably won't be out until the second half of 2009.
3 Patapon 2
This PSP sequel follows up last year's rhythm war-strategy game. That's right — rhythm war strategy. As with the 2008 "Patapon," players control an army of soldiers that almost look like a bunch of punctuation marks, marching from left to right across the PSP's screen in a battle against birds, dragons and other beasts. The player doesn't control the army. Instead, the player taps out the drumbeats that send the army marching forward, back or into various types of attacks. Keeping the rhythm keeps the combat going. Play this one with headphones, and you'll be hooked.
4 Loco Roco 2
The first edition of this PSP blob-rolling game was one of the most cheerful and creatively illustrated games I had played on any platform. The blob-rolling is back and looks to be even more imaginative this time. This game is already out in other parts of the world and will be released in America in the spring.
5 Rhythm Heaven
How do I describe this one? It's a weird music game that involves tapping and swiping the DS stylus — not just in sync to the game's music, but to characters on the screen who dance or punch or karate-chop things — or all sorts of other oddness. The Japan-only original, "Rhythm Tengoku" for the Game Boy Advance, is one of my favorite games ever. This DS sequel will hopefully be at least half as good. Nintendo says this one is coming out in the first half of the year.

Source: MTV