Die!
For the uninformed, the game centres around Death Jr, who is the teenage son of the grim reaper. Along with a scythe, Death Jr. also possesses a large range of weapons, such as guns and explosives. The basic premise of the game revolves around when Death and his friends go to the museum of supernatural history. Whilst at the museum Death and his friends discover a pandoras box and as you would predict, they open it. When the box opens it unleashes a demon and it is up to Death to save the day. Whilst the storyline could have been a little more scoped out, Konami seemingly forgets about the story after the first FMV, so you will too.
Many people would be forgiven for thinking the title is a platformer, whereas it is actually a mixture of a platform and action title. The game appears to be emulating the direction that Ratchet and Clank went in, except not as well. There are platforming elements in the game, such as jumping and swinging from areas, but most of the game involves killing enemies with your scythe and other weapons, this isn't necessarily a negative thing but it does become repetititve after a little while.
One of the notable omissions from the game is any form of multiplayer wi-fi support. Most PSP titles these days have some form of wi-fi support but Death Jr doesn't. There are plenty of ways that multiplayer could have been implemented into the game, for example a deathmatch areana styled mini game would suit the title well. Unfortunately it seems like we'll have to wait for the sequel to see any multiplayer with the little grim.
Looks like Destroy All Humans
As we mentioned above, it is unfortunate that the game starts becoming really familiar after about fifteen minutes. The combat is very repetitive, and certain areas of the game won’t progress unless you fulfil a certain criteria, such as killing a set number of enemies. Proceedings also aren’t helped by repetitive enemies that look exactly the same as the enemies you fought five minutes earlier. Unless you're excited by the idea of killing enemies that look similar to the ones you just defeated then you're likely to get relatively bored quite quickly.
The camera can also be a bit of a distraction at times. Whilst it isn’t as problematic as it could be, it is basically impossible to navigate the camera around if needed, if you’re in a tight spot and the camera is an annoyance you have to quickly move away from the area, which can actually turn the camera into a a hidden enemy. We’re pleased to report that there is barely any loading in the game at all, which is a welcome change though, some of the recently released PSP games seem to have really cut down on the loading from the launch titles, which can only be a good thing.
Graphically the game is fairly solid, the graphics engine is impressive at times, and the levels (whilst looking a little uninspired) all look okay. We did notice a little bit of pop-up in the background when navigating through the levels, but it’s never in the field of play. The FMV at the beginning of the game is a highlight, and we really wish that Konami would have scoped the storyline out a bit more with FMV, rather than static cut-scenes. Death Jr himself also looks decent and the supporting cast are all very detailed, we wish more effort was put into the enemies character designs though, as the enemies don't look like they've had much effort put into them at all.
The sound is also a little bit disappointing and comes across feeling a little underdone in comparison to what we had expected. The voice acting is pretty good, but there simply isn’t enough of it too be a highlight. Not too much effort has been put into the audio, and it definitely shows.
Repetition, thy name is Death...Jr
Whilst playing through the game is not possible in one sitting, it is possible to complete the game in a little under seven hours and when this is done there is close to no reason to play through the game again unless you’re direly in need of value. A multiplayer mode really would have helped the game, it also would have been good if there was some incentive to play through the title a second time.
Death Jr has the potential to be what Crash Bandicoot was to the PSOne, that is the unofficial mascot of the PSP. There are comics, licensed toys and a rumoured movie in the works, so it is apparent that the franchise isn’t going to go away with this first incarnation. However, the game just isn't that impressive. The repetitive combat, short lifespan and under developed story really don't help and even those who approach the game after a platforming game are likely to be unimpressed. A sequel for the game seems inevitable, but until then platforming fans may want to wait for Daxter.
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