PSP Reboot #6: Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix

This one I have mixed feelings about.  There are some things that it does that most reboots don't typically do.  For instance, they added new levels to the story line to play through.  I don't remember which ones exactly but most of them included levels that were previously in classic mode on the original Tony Hawk's Underground 2 for Playstation 2.  This is actually done quite well as they include new unlockable characters for each of the levels and innovative goals that had the same charm and silliness as the original.  However, some of the functionality of the game is wack.  Sometimes cut scenes don't load the audio or they don't run at all forcing you to skip them.  Also, the SPAT logos that you have to graffiti tag are really hard to find considering that they were hard enough to find on a full size tube television let alone a tiny PSP screen.  The controls are pretty well transferred but occasionally you find yourself fighting with them a bit because you got used to playing these games with a PS2 controller.

The remake is decent.  If you can get this for five bucks, it's worth getting just for the extra levels.  Otherwise, I would stick with the PS2 version.

Image:

 http://1.bp.blogspot.com/kIqxcPW_Vps/T9tKze6qC6I/AAAAAAAACZA/fHelABRYFGk/s1600/Tony%2BHawk%2527s%2BUnderground%2B2%2BRemix.jpg

My Take On Halloween

Halloween is, hands down, my favorite holiday.  I can't really pinpoint why exactly except to say that the atmosphere is something that I find most superb.  The leaves are changing colors, everyday isn't a heatwave, everything just feels surprisingly...pleasant.

Then on top of the things that fall brings, you have all of the decorations and such that Halloween brings.  The aesthetics of Halloween decorations are something that I've really enjoyed for a long time.  Making things look spooky is something that I approve.  Also, unlike other holidays, the lore that's associated with Halloween (and horror in general) is rather interesting.  I'm not going to sit here all day and type about it since most everyone, at least, has a general idea about some of the classic horror stories.  I just really enjoy it all.

A major influence on why I like Halloween so much would have to stem from my best friend's family.  When I was a kid, every year they would set up a haunted house in their garage and throw Halloween parties so that the kids in the family could take their friends through the haunted house.  There would also be a day when the parents would invite family, neighbors, friends, etc. and bring them through the haunted house.  It was all in good fun and also something that I would look forward to every year as the haunted house was very well done, especially for the space that they had to do it in.  In later years, I had much more involvement in setting up, tearing down, and acting in the haunted house.  Even the last year that we did it, I was still impressed at how much someone could cram into a three car garage.  The overall design of the haunted house was incredibly efficient; using every bit of space allotted.

I also got my first official job as a seasonal sales associate at a Spirit Halloween.  This job was a lot of fun.  Especially since I also got a couple of my friends to apply and work with me.  The attitude of the store is laid back and a lot of the people were interesting to work with.  Also, opposed to other retail jobs, the customers are generally excited and enthusiastic about Halloween and you can have an interesting conversation with them.

So, Halloween is always number one in my book.  I can't help but to get psyched every year for the Halloween season.

PSP Reboot #5: Dissidia Duodecim

This game is actually a prequel to the game that I reviewed yesterday - Dissidia:  Final Fantasy.  This game is actually what I consider the perfect sequel (well, sequel or prequel).  Why?  Well, it took everything that the original did and changed it just barely enough where you could say that it is its own game and not call it a DLC, in a case, wrapped in plastic.  Dissidia Duodecim builds on the great gameplay of the first game without destroying any aspects of the major gameplay.  Dissidia Duodecim adds new levels, new characters, an "assist" system where you can call another character to attack the enemy in mid-battle, a revamped story mode that has a bit of the traditional Final Fantasy world exploration (as opposed to the first one which had none of this), and a custom story editor.

If there's a drawback, some of the character additions were a little bizarre such as Gilgamesh or Laguna from Final Fantasy VIII.  Though, admittedly, Laguna does add a very different fighting style to the game since he has his assault rifle.  Also, I think that we can all agree that we would have rather had Balthier instead of Vaan for the second Final Fantasy XII representative (but we all knew it was coming).  Kain from Final Fantasy IV was a great addition considering he's fucking bad-ass (whenever he wasn't betraying Cecil in the original game that is)!  Also, Tifa from Final Fantasy VII was added who also has a varying fighting style from the others considering she fights with her fists.  Also, her jugs bounce around a bit if you look closely enough (I'm not a perv!  I swear!!!).  Yuna from Final Fantasy X was introduced.  She has a pretty unique fighting arsenal as well since she has command over the various Eidolons.  Last but not least, the addition of Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII was pretty sweet.  Though XIII certainly didn't live up to expectations, you have to admit that Lightning is a pretty bad-ass character.  She has an interesting fighting style as well since she can switch between the different Paradigms from Final Fantasy XIII during battle.

Overall, if you haven't bought Dissidia:  Final Fantasy yet, I would say just skip that one and go straight to this one.  The whole main story from Dissidia:  Final Fantasy is actually included in Dissidia:  Duodecim along with the new prequel's story.  This game is great, if you own a PSP, there's no excuse not to have this game in your PSP library.

*********************************************************************************

One quick note I wanted to add here is that these Final Fantasy games for the PSP have pretty impressive cut scenes.  The run of the mill cut scenes using the in-game models look typical. But, the full blown cut scenes look great!  The intro and ending cut scenes look gorgeous in most of Square Enix's games and these PSP reboots are no exception.  In fact, (*SPOILER ALERT*), at the end of Crisis Core:  Final Fantasy VII, the end cut scene was the intro cut scene of Final Fantasy VII redone with modern 3D animation  It looked really amazing and was demoed by Square (at some point).  It led a lot of people to speculate about a remake of Final Fantasy VII for the Playstation 3 with the updated graphics.  So far, it hasn't happened and if it were to happen it would be for a system of a later generation than the Playstation 3.  And of course, a lot of the hardcore fans shun the idea of a remake of such a classic game.  However, I embrace the idea of a  Final Fantasy VII remake.  If done right (a BIG IF), it could further improve some of the breathtaking imagery and action from the original.

Image:  http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/object/065/065792/Dissidia-Final-Fantasy-012_PSP_US_ESRB.jpg

Rocksmith 2014

Rocksmith 2014

Rocksmith 2014 is the sequel of the groundbreaking Rocksmith:  the game that helps you learn how to play guitar.

Immediately, all I can think about is why the game is named the way it is.  It's not even the year 2014 yet.  Why isn't it called Rocksmith 2013?  Also, why even have a year at all?  Why not just call it Rocksmith 2, like Guitar Hero 2 or Rock Band 2?  It's like the game thinks it's a Madden game or a car model.  Though, I guess the full title of the game is Rocksmith:  2014 Edition.  Yeah, whatever, still lame.

What????

Also, the game doesn't seem to know that "Blitzkrieg Bop" came out in the 70s.  Not the 80s!  I honestly don't know how they could have possibly messed this up!  In fact, it's rather insulting to every punk fan in existence that they would make this mistake.

Well, actually, if you look the song up by year in the game it says that it's from 1976.  So why does this screen have "Blitzkrieg Bop" for a song to play from the 80s?   Maybe it's an Easter Egg.  Maybe they were trying to figure out who was truly paying attention.

Well, this is all real nitpicking.  Actually, this game is pretty darn good.  It does what a good sequel does.  It improves on the bad things from the first and keeps the good things from the first.  The game introduces a whole new host of songs.  A lot of them are pretty good songs too.  Like the first game, it has a good variety of genres and has songs from popular hits to unknown indie tunes.  Some of the most notable songs that this game has includes, "Say it Ain't So" by Weezer, "Bat Country" by Avenged Sevenfold, "Blitzkrieg Bop" by The Ramones, "Cold Company" by Minus the Bear, "Everlong" by The Foo Fighters, "Knights of Cydonia" by Muse, "Machinehead" by Bush, and "My Generation" by The Who.  The list goes on and on.  If I'm not mistaking, this game has more songs on it than the first one.  You can check out the whole list here.

One of my complaints about the first game was the sluggishness and glitchiness of menus.  This seems to be completely fixed in this version.  Occasionally, the game will be a little slow loading a song but, in the original, the game had a whole loading screen for this sequence.  So, this is also an improvement.

Another complaint I had about the original is how hilarious the crowd looked during performances.  Basically, in the original, the whole crowd looked like a bunch of cardboard cutouts and the same 4 or 5 people were reduplicated to make up the whole audience.  In this game, the crowd isn't really there so I guess now there's nothing to laugh at.  As far as I can tell so far, there is no concept of doing concerts or performing set lists.  The exception to this is nonstop mode where you select music in the library and the game randomly picks songs that you play.  You do this for a predetermined time.

On top of the previous game's features, the game added a Session Mode.  Session Mode is basically a mode that teaches you improvisation.  Although I don't think that anything or anyone can truly teach improv, this game gives it a good attempt.  It's hard for me to judge how well the game teaches improv since I already know how to improv.  However, even if you already know how to improv, this mode is a lot of fun to play.  You choose background instruments, the starting key signature, how often the key signature changes, the tempo, and get jammin'!  What's pretty nice about playing this mode is that even if you have no familiarity with a certain key signature, the game shows you what notes fall into that particular key so it's very convenient for getting familiar with new key signatures.  For instance, I don't normally play heavy metal but I turned on one of the heavy metal presets and got going.  Within seconds I was having a blast wailing heavy metal solos on my telecaster; something that I had never tried before.

The only complaint I have about Session Mode is that the fastest tempo you can set is 150 Beats Per Minute.  I guess there's no room for punk rock improv in this game...

The game has further improved sound modification as they have more virtual amplifiers, pedals, and soundboards.  Also, you can now put 2 pedals pre and post amp opposed to one pre and post amp in the first game.  The guitar and bass guitar amplifier emulation is also further improved from the first game.  It actually sounds notably good in this game, giving my Line 6 Spider IV a run for its money at times.

The game's riff repeater is drastically improved from the previous game.  You can go in and out of riff repeater anytime while practicing a song.  Also, you can manually set tempo and difficulty to whatever you want for any section that you want.  On top of this, the difficulty that you set certain sections at in riff repeater is also where it gets set when you play the whole song.  This is really great because you don't have to prove to the game that you can play something by playing it flawlessly the first time.  You can move up to the next level when you feel like you're ready.  I like this a lot because playing the first game was rather tedious when playing on these lower difficulties and working up until the game would give all of the notes in the phrase.  For those of you that liked working at it until the game thought you were ready, you have the option of going that route as well.

One thing that really breaks my balls is the price for importing the tracks from the first game to play in the second one.  They want $9.99 for it.  What the fuck?  That is robbery!  No thanks.  I'll just get off my lazy ass and put in the first game, or better yet, learn how to play the song without being reliant on the game (if I cared that much).

Overall, this game is good.  If you want to teach yourself guitar or bass and are familiar with other instruments, this is a pretty good tool to get you started.




Cover Image:  http://images.pushsquare.com/games/ps3/rocksmith_2014_edition/cover_large.jpg

Play a song from the 80s Image is from my phone

PSP Reboot #4: Dissidia: Final Fantasy

For quite awhile, this game was my favorite on the PSP.  However, the story is bland, cliche, and sometimes needlessly complicated.  But, no one plays this game for the story.

If you look past the story, this game is freaking amazing.  It has added value if you're a Final Fantasy fan boy (which I admit that I am).  This game is a compilation game of all the Final Fantasies to date (Final Fantasy XIII didn't come out yet when this game came out).  The game is centered around a 1v1 fighting system in a 3D world (contrary to Tekken, Streetfighter, or Mortal Combat which are all 2D tournament fighters).  The gameplay is smooth and controls are very easy to get a handle on.  Some elements are destructive as well which makes for interesting fight sequences.  The levels are all based on some of the most iconic areas and worlds of the Final Fantasy series such as The Planet's Core from Final Fantasy VII, Ultimecia's Castle from Final Fantasy VIII, or The Old Chaos Shrine from the first Final Fantasy, to name a few.

Each of the previous Final Fantasies are represented by two major characters from each of the first ten games (one protagonist and one antagonist) plus two unlockable characters from Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XII.  This is a huge deal for Final Fantasy fan boys because we finally get to see how the various characters of the series square off against each other.  For instance, all of us had been itching to see how Cloud from VII and Squall from VIII would square off against each other.  I was also interested in the match-up of Golbez (IV) and Sephiroth (VII).  The characters have a lot of the attacks and characteristics that they had in previous games and are all pretty well recreated into 3D models (opposed to Nintendo's sprites).  Also, the voice casting is well imagined as a lot of the characters have voices similar to the ones that you would hear in your head when reading text boxes in the first nine games.  However, there are moments in cut scenes when the voice acting is laughably bad.  But like I said, no one plays this game for the story.

If you're a Final Fantasy fan and don't own this game, you have no idea what you're missing out on.  This game and its followup, Dissidia Duodecim, are the best spin-offs of the Final Fantasy series, hands down.

Image:  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8e/Dissidia_NA_Cover.jpg

PSP Reboot #3: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

Contrary to a lot of reboots on the PSP, this game was really good.  Crisis Core:  Final Fantasy VII is a prequel to the original classic's story and does it very well.  The story is centered around Zack, a SOLDIER operative and entails all of the events leading up to the very beginning of where Final Fantasy VII starts.  For hardcore fans of Final Fantasy VII, this is a must-play.  The characters are enjoyable and it reciprocates all of the emotion that other Final Fantasies deliver.

The gameplay is similar to the battle system in Kingdom Hearts, another Square Enix game.  The battles are realtime and require artful dodging and well-timed attacks for success.  It does this while preserving most of the leveling and materia systems of the original.  Also, unlike other PSP reboots, the controls are very easy to use in this game.

Though I don't think this game is as good as Valkyria Chronicles II, this game is still an amazing game.  This game is definitely the best of any of the Compilation Final Fantasy VII games (minus the original of course).

Image:  http://www.finalfantasykingdom.net/cc7/cccover.gif

Huskiepalooza

This is the profile picture for
Huskiepalooza on Facebook.  I
guess they didn't feel like making any kind
of banner or logo...

Huskiepalooza is a charity event that is held at Northern Illinois University annually (I think).  The event is actually pretty horrendously advertised as there are no banners, signs, or direction of any kind.  All I saw was a set list/schedule along with a location.  Then at the actual event, all that was set up was a stage with microphones, speaker wedges, and PAs.

I still am unclear of what the charity was and how I could have donated money to it.  There was no admission fee as I just kind of walked up to the stage and watched one of my favorite local bands play.

Bet the Levels

Bet the Levels were the first up.  They put on a good show but had one of the smallest audiences to date.  This is probably because most of their fan base lives a good distance away.  It was pretty weird because I was the only repeat Bet the Levels viewer (I think) that was there.  I brought a friend of mine with who recorded the show on one of the band member's camcorders.  I'm not sure when this footage will be uploaded onto the Bet the Levels YouTube channel or if it will even be uploaded at all.
Actually, you can catch a whole set of theirs on YouTube at Pub Yahoo (from back in the summer).  The link to their YouTube Channel is here.  I was at that show but did not write a review of it.  However, I got pulled up to sing along for their cover of Green Day's Brain Stew.  If you want to watch that particular video, you can watch it here.  However, I recommend watching their originals because that's what they're best at.  You'll get the idea despite the poor audio quality of the videos.

Speaking of audio quality, Huskiepalooza is the first show that Bet the Levels has had outdoors.  Well, Bet the Levels did have an acoustic set at a graduation party but that was a private affair.  Therefore, sadly, I was not there to witness it.  However, I suppose that this show was their first electric show outside of the reverby Pub Yahoo or Q-Sports Bar and Grill in Darien, Illinois.  Actually, Q-Sports Bar and Grill had pretty good acoustics.  Bet the Levels also put on a pretty great show and fed off of the energy of the regulars.  Unfortuantely, I did not do a review of that Back to School show either.

Probably the biggest issue with Bet the Levels at Huskiepalooza was that the guitars and bass were drowning out the drums.  This was never a problem in indoor venues because the drums echo all over the place.  Outdoors, the drums just carry.  With no amplification, the drums got somewhat lost.  The show was still very good and is about on par with their other shows.

Unfortunately, they tried doing a cover of The Who's "My Generation" which just sounded like a complete mess.  I don't think anyone truly knew what they were doing.  Upon asking Dan about it after the show, he said that they had only practiced it once before that.  Well, that explains it.

Overall, it was another good show. It's just a shame that they could not get more of their fan-base to show up and that the drums were getting drowned out.  The guy working the soundboard should have been more proactive about that.

A note about the sound guy:  I don't think he really knew what he was doing.  Which, sadly enough, is all too common.  I've been to concerts with professional bands and professional sound crews that were still pretty inept at their jobs.  In fact, probably one of the worst soundboard jobs I've ever heard was Minus the Bear at Riot Fest 2012.   The Bass was so loud that you could hardly hear anything else.  That's just inexcusable.  I don't know if they just really don't realize how bad it is or if they just don't care but, come on man!  

But yeah, the guy working the soundboard for Huskiepalooza was not quite with it.  I don't mean to pick on the guy.  He could have been a complete novice at it for all I know.

And now to get back on track...

Say it With Cookies

So, Say it With Cookies...interesting name.  I'm pretty sure the guy said that they were from Rockford.  I'm not positive about that.  Regardless, only one member from the whole band showed up.  I felt pretty bad for the guy, even though I was immediately prejudging based on his greased/gelled hair (not sure which), his fancyish scarf, and his flamboyant persona and voice.  Oh, and did I mention is clear complexion?

Despite all of my prejudices, I thought he was a pretty talented singer.  Without the rest of his band, he had resorted to doing an acoustic set.  He did some originals, he did a Two Door Cinema Club cover along with a "Sweater Weather" cover.  To my surprise, he did a "Teenagers" cover:  a song by My Chemical Romance.  It wasn't half bad.  He also did a cover of "Dammit" by blink-182... on the ukulele   Now that was pretty interesting.  Actually, I liked it a lot.  It was cool new flavor of a 90s punk classic.

Through the whole thing, his voice was very pure and refined.  He also sang generally high.  I actually thought that he could really pull off doing Dashboard Confessional covers.  But then again, I happen to like Dashboard Confessional quite a bit.

So, who's the flamboyant one now?

The Island Dwellers

The Island Dwellers are from Westmont..........if that means anything to anyone.  Anyways, The Island Dwellers were actually a pretty cool cover band with a couple of originals thrown in.

I hate to sidetrack again but I suppose now is when I mention that this stage is set up so that the bands have their backs right up against a residence hall.  For those of you that it means something to, this residence hall is Neptune North with the stage being set up on the lawn on the south side of the building.  Of course, the people in the residence halls are going to be able to hear the loud music literally right outside their windows.

Lucky us, we had Bet the Levels in attendance which includes the goofy Dan who insisted on waving at people whenever they decided to look out their windows to see what was going on.  It was a rather interesting location for a concert to say the least.

The Island Dwellers definitely stand out compared to other local bands.  The lead singer and guitar player of the band was so nerdy that he made  Rivers Cuomo from Weezer look like a freaking jock.  But I tell you what, that made it all the more awesome.  He was an average singer but a very passionate guitarist.  The band also has a thing going where they all wear superhero shirts every concert.  

They did covers of "Kids" by MGMT, "House of Gold" by Twenty One Pilots, "Creep" by Radiohead, and a couple of covers by the The Black Keys.  They covered "Gold on the Ceiling" and another one which I can't quite remember at the moment.

Probably most memorable was their cover of "Dammit" by blink-182.  Yes, that's right.  "Dammit" again!  This time we heard a rendition that had a reggae first verse that then cranked into top gear:  sounding like the original for the second and third verses along with the choruses.  For the last stretch of the song, someone in Bet the Levels shoved another member of Bet the Levels which then just kind of resulted in a mosh pit happening.  This is really weird considering that there weren't a ton of people.  But also, there was this one guy that just came out of nowhere and started moshing.  In this brief moment of time, he tore both his sweatshirt and his shirt off and threw them toward the stage.  Then, amongst all of that, his glasses got broken.  But never fear!  The pieces of the frames got found and the missing lens was found intact.  

But I must say, I don't think I've ever been so surprised in my life.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the last two bands, Love Party or Trident Deep, since I had to leave early.  I was actually somewhat disappointed because I know of the band Trident Deep but have not been able to see them yet.  I know of the band Trident Deep because I met the guitarist of the group Daniel Baker back before Trident Deep was really a live performance.  You see, Trident Deep actually started as Daniel Baker's solo project and later on he recruited other members for a live adaptation of his music.  The recordings I've heard a couple of years ago were pretty interesting.  You can definitely hear a post-rock influence as everything feels very enormous, like something very big is about to happen.  Unfortunately, I have not taken the time to look more into what Trident Deep has done lately.  Perhaps I will soon.

But anyways, thanks for reading.  Later... 

PSP Reboot #2: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

The story of this game takes place in-between Metal Gear Solid 3:  Snake Eater and the very first Metal Gear game.  The story is typical with cut scenes in a comic-like style.  This is probably because the PSP doesn't have the space for all the full-blown cut scenes that Metal Gear Solid games typically have.

The game play is about as broken as you think it is.  The controls in the later Metal Gear Solid games were extensive ever since the introduction of CQC in Metal Gear Solid 3.  They try keeping some of that here with hard to work with controls.  The worst part is that they have the third person perspective here like in Metal Gear Solid 4 instead of the still camera views that we had in previous games.  The third person perspective works in MGS4 because we have a right stick to control the camera with.  In Peace Walker, you're trying to move Snake with the pseudo joystick while trying to control the camera with either the directional buttons or X, circle, triangle, square (depending on what control scheme you pick).  Either way, you sacrifice something, which makes intense combat just about impossible.

They included a PS3 version of this game in the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection compilation.  I haven't played it on there yet but I would imagine it's boatloads better since you can play it with a controller that supports the control scheme.

Image:  http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/object/965/965242/mgs_peacewalker_esrb.jpg

PSP Reboot #1: Blitz: Overtime

So, with the first of the PSP reboots, I gave you a review of Valkyria Chronicles II, arguably the best game on the PSP.  For the official start of the PSP reboot series, I will start with what I think is the worst.

Blitz:  Overtime is a real piece of crap.  The game is virtually unplayable.  The game pisses you off as soon as you put the disc in.  Why?  Well, you find out that it's the same exact game as Blitz:  The League for Playstation 2.  Well, what the hell?  Now I have two of the same exact game!  On top of that, the PSP can hardly even run this thing.  The developers didn't even attempt to downgrade the game so that it would be playable on the system.  So, the whole game runs at about half speed.  It takes forever to finish a football game.  The controls are also a struggle.  The PSP doesn't have enough buttons to truly be able to handle the extent of the controls like a PS2 controller can.

Don't ever buy this game.  It's utter garbage.

Image:  http://www.housegamesonline.com.br/product_images/r/114/932869_75342_front__73454_zoom.jpg

PSP Reboots

Yesterday I talked about Valkyria Chronicles II:  one of the best games on the Playstation Portable (PSP). In this review, I briefly mentioned that there were a lot of bad remakes/sequels/prequels for the PSP as well.

I started going through my PSP game library and separating out all of the reboots.  At the end of the day, I only had one pile:  reboots.  That's right, the only PSP games that I have are prequels, sequels, and remakes of games/game series' that started on other consoles.  I'm not sure how many games I have but there's a pretty substantial number of them.

So, I've made a decision.

Everyday starting tomorrow, I will post a brief review (one or two paragraphs) of every PSP game that I own.  Though most of them aren't as bad as I may have made them out to be, a lot of them do beg the question of why it wasn't made on the Playstation 3 as you find yourself short on buttons and fighting the controls more than anything.

Stay tuned for the first review tomorrow!

Valkyria Chronicles II

Valkyria Chronicles II is one of the best games on the Playstation Portable (PSP).  Though, I suppose this isn't saying much considering that much of the PSP library is littered with lazily done remakes of old Playstation games.  Sometimes they're even disguised as a sequel.  I will probably discuss these in a later post.

However, before we talk about the shit, I would like to talk about the best of what the PSP has to offer.  Valkyria Chronicles II is clearly one of the best.

One of the main reasons this game works so well is because it knows its limitations.  In fact, I've seen developers make the mistake of not knowing limitations even with the Playstation 3.  Some good examples of this are Star Ocean:  The Last Hope and even critically acclaimed games like Fallout 3.  Don't get me wrong, I love Fallout 3 but if you're playing it on the Playstation 3, don't play it for more than three hours at once or else you'll beat your head against the wall waiting for the game to unfreeze itself (yeah, if you're patient, it does eventually start working again but I wouldn't walk away from the game because you'll walk back to a game over screen).

Anyways, all tangents aside, I would like to talk about Valkyria Chronicles II.  Valkyria Chronicles II is not only as good as the first, I would say that it is even better than its Playstation 3 predecessor.  Valkyria Chronicles II not only builds off of the most innovative gameplay since Battlefield 1942, it also improves it by including new soldier classes, a revamped leveling system, and a plethora of vehicle mods.

Probably the most definitive aspect of the Valkyria Chronicles series is the general gameplay.  The gameplay is centered around a turn-based, first person shooter style.  Yes, you read that right.  Turn-based, first person shooter.  It sounds like the dumbest idea ever on paper but this game is a ton of fun.  It's kind of like playing Company of Heroes if you got to control the movement and combat of ever soldier at your discretion (and it wasn't real time).

You select what soldier you want to
control from a top down map of the area

Each turn involves a troop movement phase and a combat phase.  You select which troop you want to move, then it goes into a third person kind of perspective as you move them into the position you want.  When you're moving, you want to avoid land mines and certain enemy troops as you have no means of defending yourself until you enter attack mode.  Once you get into position, you can go into attack mode.

You move your troops into position
and fire away

Most troops have their main weapon to choose from (rifle, machine gun, anti-tank lance) or hand grenades.  I'll talk more about soldier classes in a moment.  You choose what weapon you want to use and aim like you would in a first person shooter.  Most of the time, you will want to aim for the head.  However, not all of your troops are going to be champion marksman so sometimes it's more worth your while to aim for the chest instead.

The tactical portion of the game is a critical skill to master.  Using the special abilities of each soldier class and applying them to situations are pretty vital to being successful in the game.  This is one of the first tactical games I have ever played where you can't just recycle the same or similar strategy for each level (unless if you spend a needless amount of time leveling up your troops).  Really, this goes for the whole series (which is one of the reasons why I love it so much).  You will find yourself trying all sorts of strategies in different situations to try and penetrate an enemy's defenses depending on soldier classes and positioning.  Probably the one way that the sequel falls short of the original is with the addition of the Fencer class.  The Fencer class basically has a huge-ass shield that can block bullets and a giant broadsword that can cut the heads off of infantry.  The drawback is that they can't run that far.  However, the Fencers can travel far enough where you can send them into a hail of gunfire and have them cut down a pesky machine gunner.  Basically, the Fencer class is a bit overpowered.  Situations where you found yourself screwed in the first game aren't so bad in the second game.  In fact, there are levels in the first game that are similar to WWI battlefields where you find yourself in trench warfare situations.  Imagine how easy those levels would have been if you could just lumber down the field with a giant-ass shield to block all of the bullets flying around.

Haha bitch!  Sandbags don't stop a sword swung from over the top!

Anyhow, for those of you interested, I made a breakdown of all the soldier classes in the game.  The soldier classes are divided into three tiers.  A particular soldier has to be a soldier class in the previous tier before being eligible for a soldier class in the next tier.  A soldier also has to be in a soldier class that falls within the realm of the starting soldier classes (ie, a scout can only upgrade to a scout veteran or a sniper).  Along these lines, a soldier can only upgrade to an elite soldier class that falls under the realm of the veteran soldier class that they were in (ie, a sniper can only upgrade to the sniper elite or AT sniper classes).

Starting Soldier Classes	Interception Fire/ Counter Attack	Description
Scout	Yes	Most mobile:  Shoots a semi-auto infantry rifle, has a grenade
Shocktrooper	Yes	Moderately mobile:  Shoots a submachine gun, has a grenade
Lancer	No	Moderately mobile:  Shoots what's essentially an anti-tank rocket called a lance.  Has three shells.
Engineer	Yes	Second most mobile:  Shoots a semi-automatic pistol.  Also has access to first aid and vehicle repair wrench
Armored Tech	No	Least Mobile.  Swings a giant battle hammer.  Has a shield making them just about invincible to bullets from the front.  Also can lay mines, remove mines, and fix demolished sandbag implacements.  Does not fight back on enemy turns
Veteran Soldier Classes
Scout Veteran	Yes	Improved stats from the regular scout
Sniper	No	Very immobile.  Does not shoot at nearby enemies out of turn.  One shot sniper rifle.  Has three bullets
Shocktrooper Veteran	Yes	Improved stats from the regular shocktrooper
Gunner	Yes	Gets a massive machinegun that shoots in a sweeping motion.  Most valuable for defending points as they shoot straight during the enemy's phase.
Lancer Veteran	No	Improved stats from the regular Lancer
Mortarer	No	Shoots a mortar lance instead of an anti-tank lance.  Great against infantry.  Has no effect against armor
Engineer	Yes	Improved stats from regular engineer
Anthem Corp	Yes	Supports troops by boosting stats through playing music.  Has pistol like an engineer would
Tech Veteran	No	Improved Stats from armored tech
Fencer	No	Focuses on infantry combat.  Swings a massive sword.  Capable of taking out multiple targets at once if they're close enough together.  Has the shield like an armored tech.
Elite Soldier Classes
Scout Elite	Yes	Improved Stats from the Scout Veteran
Heavy Scout	Yes	Similar to the Scout Veteran but rifle has a grenade launcher and a larger magazine
Sniper Elite	No	Shoots a three round semi-auto sniper rifle
AT Sniper	No	Shoots a one shot sniper rifle that can penatrate armor
Trooper Elite	Yes	Improved Stats from the Trooper Veteran
Commando	Yes	Has a submachine gun that has a flamethrower attachment.  Good for taking out troops in cover from a moderate distance.
Gunner Elite	Yes	Improved Stats from the gunner
Heavy Gunner	Yes	Similar to the Gunner Elite but has a 60 shot machine gun .  Mobility is limited
Lancer Elite	No	Improved Stats from the Lancer Veteran
Mobile Lancer	No	Can move farther than the Lancer Veteran
Heavy Mortar	No	Improved Stats from the Mortarer
Mobile Mortar	No	Can move farther than the Mortarer
Engineer Elite	Yes	Improved Stats from the Engineer Veteran
Medic	Yes	Does not have a wrench but first-aid can revive fallen comrades
Anthem Elite	Yes	Improved Stats from the Anthem Corp
Melodist	Yes	Can inflict status ailments on enemies through music
Tech Elite	No	Improved Stats from the Tech Veteran
Spec Tech	No	Throws Flash Grenades that can suppress enemy interception fire and counters
Fencer Elite	No	Improved Stats from the Fencer
Mauler	No	Similar to the Fencer Elite but has lowered attack against infantry and improved attack against armor

Another aspect that makes this game unique is the visual style of the game.  It is similar to a game for the Playstation 2/Xbox called XIII.  The Valkyria Chronicles series uses an anime style art design (well, I guess that XIII wasn't anime) and is animated similar to that of a comic book.  When explosions go off you have "BAAAAMM!"  and when people scurry off you have "shuffle shuffle shuffle."  The environments are also beautifully illustrated.  The colors grasp the right mood that this game is trying to portray.

This game has the best story telling that I have seen on the PSP.  The overall story arc is basic but the sideplots and character arcs are what really make the story great.  In between missions, random events will happen that are irrelevant to the game's main story but unveil important information about characters and character relationships.  As you progress through the game, you will be given opportunities to help characters with their own personal problems (which all conveniently involve going to battle).  But as you accomplish these, those particular characters will have potentials unlocked that change their stats in battle.  It's kind of like when someone gets emotionally charged going into battle since they have truly found something to fight for.  For instance, someone might be fighting alongside another character that is their best friend so they unlock a potential which improves firing rate and firing accuracy.  I think that's pretty cool.

Along the same lines, I would also like to emphasize that this game does not have generic characters in your squad.  What I mean by this is that you don't ever take control of faceless characters or regular grunts that you have no reason to care about.  Every soldier has their own face, own body type, own stance, own voice actor, own unique personality, and their own unique back story.  This is highly unusual, especially for a game that has 34 playable characters (not including bonus characters unlocked at the end of the game).  This truly blew me away.

The soundtrack for this game is also pretty good.  I wouldn't say it's one of the best of all time but I think it definitely makes the top 20%..

I guess one other thing to mention here is that the guy to girl ratio of characters is about 1:1 which is not typical for a story about soldiers going to war.  Though, this game is particularly about students going to a military academy who find themselves fighting in a war.  So, that might be part of the reason. However, the first game also had about the same number of female soldiers to male soldiers and that game was about a militia so, I think in this game's universe, it's just normal for women to fight wars.

Overall, if you like strategy based video games and own a PSP, you ought to give this one a try.  I can't see how you could possibly regret it.

Valkyria Chronicles II Cover:  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b6/Valkyria_Chronicles_II.jpg
Map Image: 
http://static.gamesradar.com/images/mb/GamesRadar/us/Games/V/Valkyria%20Chronicles%20II/Bulk%20Viewer/PSP/2010-09-07/20823Valkyria_38--article_image.jpg
Gameplay Image:  http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/1/12799/1505245-961429_20100901_790screen006.jpg
Fencer Image:  http://clgamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Battle-Swipe.jpg