Phantasy Star Portable Review

Phantasy Star Portable was released on the PSP in March of 2009 and published by Sonic Team. Having only a little familiarity with the Phantasy Star series back in the days of the Genesis, this game was a great opportunity to play catch-up. How does this release fare?

PSP on PSP (!) follows a non-descript player (you) that the player can create from several races and jobs. All the races have their strengths and weaknesses, same with jobs. Jobs, which are called types, can be changed between missions. Your character has just finished training as a Guardian, the ones responsible for security in the Gurhal system. Recent terrorist attacks have increased your assignments considerably. The monsters are part of the SEED, which is evil and therefore must be destroyed.

After you create your character based on an extensive palette choices (ranging from skin color to eyebrow type) you can create a helper for later missions that can be everything from a sword wielder to a midget with a shotgun. Nice for variety.

Portable's graphics are pretty darn good for 3D on the PSP. Unfortunately it has that look that suggests it was did not make ideal use of the PSP's graphic engine. In many ways, it looks like a shrunk down PS2 game, with muddy visuals and broken textures. This is the kind of game that really needs more of an identity to shine.

Most enemies are non-descript and the environments bland. The big problem is that even though later stages look nicer, the backgrounds still repeat themselves a lot. A huge waste of potential, more than likely poor programming than the fault of the hardware.

Music is suitably epic yet bland at the same time. It has a sci-fi vibe to it, with appropriate rising and falling tension as action pieces occurred. It is fine for in game and not much else.

A lot of the characters have voice acting, and most of it is competent, I dislike some of the shrill voices used for female characters though. Sound effects repeat far too often with lots of "ya's" "ha's" and other Japanese sounding noises. You'll be wishing that there were a mute setting for battle cries.

Phantasy Star Portable's gameplay follows the lead of many a real time role-playing game. All combat is done on the fly, without menus or attacks to choose. This can be a great thing if done well. The problem in this game is that the combat is very repetitive. There are many different weapons with different special abilities called Photon Arts. These arts must be attached to the corresponding weapons and level up just like the player.

Guns are ok for long-range damage, but their aiming is kind of clunky. First person aiming is a little better, but I find that you have to be a lot closer than one would think to hit enemies, which kind of defeats the purpose.

It is true that there are non-melee attacks, magic and suchlike, but it is not able to save a clunky system that relies on and rewards doing the same thing over and over again. If one attack is always effective, why change it if everything you do is working. You'll be forced to change it mostly out of boredom, as Portable doesn't do you any favors on that front.

The game practically requires experimentation to avoid complete boredom, and you can find some variety this way. I like how there are many different weapon types, each with their own photon arts that can be powered up, increasing the damage and number of hits. It doesn't change combat that much, but it makes it SEEM different, and that is sometimes all you can ask for in real time RPG combat. I guess why I am trying to say is that the simplicity of Portable can work in its favor as well as against it.

Challenge is pretty non-existent. Vivienne, your CAST partner from the start, seems to possess attacks that do way more damage than enemies have life, so leveling is simple. As she gains levels, she also has healing magic. Because of this, you never really have to watch what you are doing. Later on, items will be more than enough, as healing works based on a percentage of your life. And of course, if you have trouble with a boss, just keep doing free missions and grinding until you gain a few levels. Simple.

The different classes, both selectable from the start and unlockable, cover replay value. Because you are technically able to play different types of characters (mages, gunners, melee experts) that does count as replay value, even though the combat is pretty much the same. This is the kind of game in which replay value is more a matter of one being able to play it again months down the road rather than immediately after beating it the first time.

Overall, Phantasy Star Portable is an interesting RPG with some good variety, but its repetitive combat kind of does it in. I enjoy this game in small doses, but like many games, it is best experienced in multiplayer. Too bad getting online is needlessly difficult, unlike in the console PS games. I recommend playing this game in short sessions of 10-15 minutes so as to keep the tedium to a minimum. Fans of the series are the ones most likely to have a good time with this entry.

- Ugly Bob

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