Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars PSP

Having recently picked this one up for a steal of a price (£10) from my local Cex, I've been really impressed from the get go. In terms of how the game mechanics and controls work, this game would make sense to a casual GTA player. It's mostly top-down view so sometimes your view is restricted but once you get familiar with controlling your vehicle of choice and become more familiar with the layout of the city, it gets easier to judge. There are options to let the camera move a little more freely, like a helicopter is following you around the city, but I found that I much preferred the dead cental.

Unfortunately, where this game is really lacking is the storey progression as there is no voice acting for the characters, its all put over by text and art frames without animation - which for a handheld console with the ability to play video files is very disappointing, however the game does make up for it with mini games. These can get annoying having to do them repetitively but is a nice addition. 

Lets talk about the drug dealing feature... Theres an ongoing side quest that helps you generate more money which at the start of the game is very useful if your not one for using cheats. Basically, you buy the cheapest and resell for higher. The higher value the drug, the better the profit margin. It involves a lot of travel, although some dealers are very close buy in the city and once you've dealt with them before they will appear more clearly on your map which is helpful. The game helps you, marking which ones you should buy and lead you to a profit which arguably makes it too easy, but with every deal, there's always a chance there could be a bust!

The style of the world matches up to the PS2 games, GTAIII and the Stories series but with a more oriental focus in sound design. Another main difference being how the protagonist is animated. He appears a little more 2D as with the rest of the NPCs but it fits well. I find it to be a nice ode to the original GTA games on the PS1 too with the topdown view. It's very enjoyable. I don't usually play my PSP all that much these days but I've put a good few hours (3-4) in and it's certainly a game I want to play to at least story completion. Also, unlike GTAV it's actually fun to grind money. The shooting element and target locking is simplified but I think that is because of the top down style of this game.

Does it still hold up today? I'd say so. If you can pick this game up for the same sort of price, I wouldn't hesitate.

I'm back, for certain this time...

Sorry about those false promises all those years ago. I want to start this again though and hope to keep it semi-regular, either fortnightly or monthly as I have other projects to keep in check. I've missed doing this though and I have some recent retro purchases that I would like to voice my opinion on. I'll be putting together a few drafts tonight, I certaily want to aim to have my say on everything in my current collection, even those that are more filler.

So, we've had a long break...

Good news!! This blog will be back up and running again by next month. I've personally had a big break because I've been so busy over the last year (see my personal blog) I'm not going to go too in-depth but, I got a job so I have been very busy. I may even have a special surprise for you all in a couple of days.

- Kim

The Sims 3 DS/3DS

As I own both versions of the game I thought I would do a comparative special. There are many differences between the consoles alone with the 3DS and it's Spotpass features but the difference in this particular game over the two handhelds is quite an issue. I personally, am a keen player of The Sims series even though the first Sims game I ever played was The Sims Bustin' Out for the Nintendo GameCube and got addicted to the amount of control, power and influence I had within the game. Basically, I liked that I could ruin someones virtual life. I've followed the series through and own the majority of The Sims 2 expansions. When The Sims 3 was released, I was a bit on edge at first especially with The PC version though, I must say with the right specs for the game to run smoothy it really is ace. I particularly liked that you could freely go between your own and your neighbors houses and the ability to direct your Sim anywhere around the town almost instantly. This certainly sparked something within me, wanting to know what these handheld versions gave back to what we might as well call the original version. Everyone knows that The Sims series is truly for PC.

So, I will start with what I most enjoyed of the two. Even though, the graphics and loading times let it down quite a lot, the original Nintendo DS version plays it better for me. The camera controls are much easier to operate as you use the directional buttons to move around within the play aera, buttons A,Y to rotate the camera and B, X to zoom in and out. This is a lot easier to adapt to that what the camera controls for the 3DS have to offer. On the 3DS version you do not use buttons to move the camera, in fact, you do not use buttons for anything, marking them useless. The 3DS version offers a control system where everything operated on the touch screen and I find this rather annoying. When I first brought the 3DS version I expected the camera controls to similar to that of the original DS version, my predictions were far from right. A thought that srung to mind however, is that this may just be OK and bearable on the 3DS XL as the screen will be a little bigger leaving more room for all the controls that have been tightly packed in. At least the plus side is that the graphics are much better to that of the original DS's especially when you play with the 3D feature on full. Admittedly, I was fairly impressed with that after looking at the pixel-ed preview images on the back of the box.

One thing, I should mention is Creat-a-Sim modes. The 3DS wins this purly for the graphics and extra facial design options whereas in the oringial DS version the graphics really do let it down and as the above suggests there are less options to get creative with.

My overall summary is that The Sims 3 for the original DS has better control making it more addictive for your Simming needs but, the 3DS version looks much prettier.

Tropico 4

Written by, Josh Cook.

Do you dream of a salt mining game? Games such as Tropico are considered niche. Most scoff at the mention of salt trading or management of wages and unemployment and the "Call of Duty" generation would refuse to even contemplate the purchase of the banana republic stimulation.

Yet here we are at the fourth Tropico, something must be working if it’s survived for 4 installment, someone must be buying it. It’s franchises like good old Tropico that prove PC gaming could never become obsolete.

So how does Tropico 4 fare compared to its predecessors? Well, for the most part it remains unchanged and for the first few hours I thought of Tropico 4 as nothing more that just a large DLC for the 3rd installment, however the current incarnation feels like every action has been refined with nothing left to want for such as the inclusion of parliaments and juntas, although there has not be much added in the way of buildings this is more than made up for with it's vast economic simulation and island management.

The main source of income is the exporting of goods by managing an island’s natural resources to both feed your Tropicans and sell to countries across the globe, with it comes the necessary massaging of the populace’s happiness either through careful attention to their needs or ruling with a iron fist with your loyal army.

The biggest success of Tropico 4 is its gradual expansion of each city, turning an hour’s play into a late-night session. The majority of game play occurs throughout its missions (which I ended up only completing a few) Set in the Cold War era. You might well expect more from Tropico 4’s story line as your small Caribbean island must court the favor of the US or the Soviet union, making friends with one will have benefits such as more profits on tobacco or salt, however this puts you at risk from other nations how dislike your allies and places your tiny island at risk for all out nuclear war.

This means a string of questions and decisions will be sent your way that include objective-based tasks, or forced events. With the latter you’re given a situation and a choice of options; in most cases the decision you make will have a negative effect on at least one faction, and in this sense toying with politics is a nice touch and adds depth to a already deep game. Tropico 4 never really manages to capitalize on this feature since politics affect little more than who you can and can’t trade with. The truth is, however, upset one faction and it’s likely you won’t even notice its effect, especially considering the ease with which favor can be gained.

 7/10

Driv3r (Driver 3)

Over the last couple of days, this has been the main game that I have been playing. This game was released back in 2003 for various platforms such as the PS2, Xbox, PC and Nintendo's GBA. The story line is quite short but, very in depth and remains almost exactly the same across the different platforms. Though, the story line is seemly short for a game this well designed, the missions within the 'Undercover' mode can be very challenging. When I first played the game, I found myself restarting missions many times so that I could progress further. Going back to the story, the game shows you how it is all going to end at the very start. The undercover story mode, is built as the progression to the ending in which you have already seen at the very start.

It is easy to compare this game with the Grand Theft Auto series because of the ability to use weapons which are unnamed in the game yet, easily recognizable.Guns such as the M1911 Pistol and the AK-47. You may be asking 'Well, if there is just a story mode then why are you saying that this game can be compared to the Grand Theft Auto series?'. Well, there is an alternative free play option which lets you roam around one of the *three cities (the third has to be unlocked though story mode). On the back of the case, there is some text that reads 'Good. Bad. Both', to me this suggests that you can chose how you want Tanner to behave. The free play option is listed on the menu as, 'Take a drive' which doesn't hint at anything specially other than driving. With the cities being as detailed as they are on the PS2, Xbox and PC games, it is very relaxing to just driver around and discover new places based around real locations of the world. If you look at the real maps of these cities and then compare them to the game, they are very closely matched minus a few streets and exact details.

I thoroughly enjoy this game (even if I did get stuck many times). This game has so much to offer. I mainly play the PS2 version but, I recently brought into the GBA version. As you can imaging, on a smaller console the graphics are not the same at all though for a GBA the graphics are ok even though they can be hard to work with. The GBA version offers the same feature just with less great graphics by miles, that is my summary.

Definitely worth buying!

Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

Hello and thank you for reading the first ever blog from Big Screen Little Screen. I thought that it would be good to start on what I believe is one of the PS2's greats, 'Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy'. The platform game developed by Naughty Dog I must say, the game is brilliantly designed. Not only is the world very colourful but, we are tricked onto believing that there are no loading screens. I think some have under-rated this game, maybe even misjudged though it isn't exactly Crash Bandicoot all over again, you can most definitely see a resemblance in the comical shorts and the bounciness of the characters. I remember playing this game for hours on end when I was younger, finding all of the powercells and scout flies. There are certainly plenty of collectibles to keep you on your toes if the monsters aren't enough.

The game, like many great games was released in 2003 which is exactly a decade of technology ago. The content of this game was so good and advanced for it's time and it all worked so smoothly. In addition to this, the game was free roaming enabling you to do and go anywhere you pleased.

Sandover Village is the beautiful starting point, starting in The Green Sages Hut on the top of a small island that links into the village by a set of wooden bridges. This is when you meet the main characters I've always liked the beginning of the game (after the tutorial level, Geyser Rock) as it lets you look over the entire world in the near distance that you are about to embark on an adventure in.

For those that haven't played the game,  to the left is the windmill where you will find the mayor and to your right there are two huts that you can enter and discover the contents. Further into the village, if you take the left bridge you will reach the sculptors house and a path that leads to Sentinel Beach. If you take the right bridge you will reach the bird keepers hut and also the farmers. This way also leads to the Forbidden Jungle. Out of all of these areas, I would rate the Forbidden Jungle the most heart wrenching. Whether it be for getting bitten by snakes, knocked out by swinging logs or even being beaten up by a plant, some of these antics remind me of some of the tragic deaths similar to Crash Bandicoot. The Forbidden Jungle sure is the scariest of the easier areas that you are forced to venture to... (Those lazy villagers!).

Anyway, I will not bother tp list just about every area in the game so I can single them out for their own 'award' of some kind, no matter how much they may deserve it. Every area to it's own, they're all fantastic! As you expect with any game, the further you get the more difficult the challenges that lie ahead become. Though, my most feared areas were the Precursor Basin, Snowy Mountain and the Spider Cave. The sad truth is that these days I can complete the game almost by memory if you give me about three days, I would play a couple of hours per day even though it's easy to get hooked and play for hours on end (which has been done before). I'm not bragging, I'm merely setting a challenge.

I've always enjoyed the simplicity of Jak and Daxter. The game is focused and built around helping people in order to progress and aid your own journey, only to find (SPOLIERS) that it may have indeed been all for nothing. I highly recommend this game if you have not played it already. It is certainly one of the classics and has the makings of a true game. Lucily these days it's not just available on just the PS2. The whole trilogy has been remastered in HD for the PS3 and I can only make bets that it is an impovement. More recently, the trilogy has become available for the PS Vita, nicely putting it into our hands to play on the go!

Great game! I give it 10/10 and the full five star rating