Press Start: March 2009 -- I Use a Mouse and Keyboard for Fighting Games!
DJ Max Fever for the Sony PSP; Publisher: PM Studios; Developer: Pentavision Ent.; Release Date: January 27, 2009; ESRB Rating: T for teen; Genre: rhythm; Players: 1-2; Support: wireless multiplayer; Online: N/A
Holy crap. How long has it been since I even touched my PSP? The multiple layers of dust that have accumulated on the screen would indicate... a really, really long time. I put together a "Press Start" a long time ago talking about the importance of exclusive titles on the PSP -- or any system for that matter -- and how exclusive titles can either make or break the life of a system. Needless to say, if you've shelled out some dough for a PSP, chances are, you're probably pissed. There's just not a lot of titles for this system that'll make you geek-out. Leave it to the small-time game developers like PM Studios to come to the rescue of PSP owners before gamers abandon their PSPs into the waiting arms of Gamestop.
DJ Max Fever is a throw-back to old-school rhythm games like Beatmania and Hip-Hop Mania. The main game has players choose a song, which then takes you to a cell phone screen with notes falling from the top to the bottom of the screen. Players then press buttons at the right time as notes fall to the bottom line of the screen to progress through the song. Players have to hit the right button for each note in order to get the highest score possible. DJ Max Fever offers multiple levels of difficulty with game modes that start at using only four buttons for beginners all the way up to eight buttons for experts with easy, medium and hard difficulties for each mode. The songs you'll hear in Fever aren't any popular songs but rather various underground techno, dance and electronica beats as well an assortment of Korean songs. As you progress through Fever you will unlock a surplus of content, which has multiple effects on the game, such as turning your notes from simple dashes to hearts and changing the look of your cell phone. Players can also edit the speed at which the notes fall and even make the notes disappear altogether, creating an extreme challenge for players who have memorized the notes of the song.
Previous games in the same vein as DJ Max Fever, such as Beatmania, were often times unmercifully hard. Fever offers a little bit of leniency, if you want. Although you are required to hit the right button for each note, hitting any button will actually count as hitting the correct button. This means that you can complete an entire song with one button. This, of course, makes the game way too easy, but on the other hand, you also receive a 20% penalty for hitting the wrong button for each note. Fever also has a meter that fills as you hit the right notes during a song. Once the meter is full players can activate Fever Time, which is a lot like star power in Guitar Hero, giving the player double points for each correct note.
DJ Max Fever is fun because it is a great Beatmania-style rhythm game without having to purchase a special turntable controller. It's also worth the bucks because the music selection is catchy and enjoyable. The sheer amount of content in Fever will make you scream; modes that allow you to hear the songs by themselves as well as view the music videos are, in themselves, great reasons to own this title. My only regret about Fever is that there is no way to turn off the ability to hit any note with any button. Also, some of the music videos that play in the background during gameplay appear to be a little pixilated, but you'll probably be too busy hitting notes to really pay attention to the background videos. DJ Max Fever is great fun if you love rhythm games and playing it will definitely make your thumbs sore in the morning.
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin for the Sony PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC; Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Ent.; Developer: Monolith; Release Date: February 10, 2009; ESRB Rating: M for mature; Genre: first-person shooter; Players: 1; Support: N/A; Online: ranked and player matches
Anyone who remembers the first F.E.A.R. remembers the embarrassment of being scared like a little girl by a little girl. F.E.A.R. first made its debut on PC, then made the move on over to the home systems. Plenty of expansion packs for both versions soon followed and F.E.A.R. soon became a mainstay among FPS fans. F.E.A.R. 2 continues where the first F.E.A.R. left off; well... sort of. You play as Sgt. Michael Becket; you and your squad are en route to capture a high-level target. All this is supposed to happen right before the very end of the first F.E.A.R. so it's kind of like what is happening in a different area of the F.E.A.R. story. The story of F.E.A.R. revolves around a little girl named Alma. When she was young, Alma's father discovered that she had powerful mental abilities that allowed her to manipulate people's minds as well as manipulate the physical world around her. Alma's father then locks her up in order to study her and make use of her abilities. You can probably guess what happens next. She breaks out of daddy's cage and now -- thanks to dear old dad -- she kills, maims and drives people insane. This is the story of the first F.E.A.R.; as you play through F.E.A.R. 2 you come to a point where you find out that Alma has actually grown up into a woman, only she doesn't realize it.
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Haha, shouldn't you be charging for that kind of knwodelge?!
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