Quick PSP Impressions #2

Here is the second batch of impressions from the PSP games I played recently:

Kamen Rider Fourze
I haven't watched any Kamen Riders past Decade, so I don't care much about W, OOO of Fourze.  Mostly, I just wanted to play as all the other riders, and this game delivered that.  There doesn't seem to be much story, just arcade and some challenge matches to unlock other characters.  The combat doesn't seem too deep or difficult, but maybe I just don't know how to play it very well.  Kind of enjoyable, but I'm glad I wasn't the one that bought it.

Tales of the Heroes:  Twin Braves
After hearing of this game and watching the trailer, I knew I had to try it.  However, after playing it...it is actually good.  The game is a hack and slash RPG with Tales characters, and they have 2 playable characters from each game.  Good character selection, but a few too many sword users.  There is 1 attack button, and up to 4 equipable special moves at a time.  The moves are nice, some much more useful than others, but the combat feels a bit shallow.  I was hoping they would copy the Dynasty Warriors style of combat rather than Sengoku Basara.  Once you beat it with a given character, you unlock their partner for the "comical scenario".  I haven't done very many of these, but I have beaten all the regular story levels, unlocking all the characters.  Each story has 5 stages, and there are only so many levels.  More variety to enemies and stages would have helped the game out.  These really stand out when you go through all 12+ characters in quick order.  I had a lot of fun playing it so far, but burnt myself out for awhile, since there isn't much variety.  Still, it's a shame that it won't likely see a western release.

Queens Gate Spiral Chaos
Yes, I tried this fan service game, and I'm even admitting it!  The obvious pandering to their crowd aside (or maybe partially because of it), I really enjoyed this game.  I'm a sucker for strategy RPGs, crossover games, and RPGs with fun battle systems.  This had all three.  It's fun to pick out different attacks to find the best combination for each character fight.  I like that you can get extra attacks (and sometimes damage) when you break a piece of the enemy's armor.  The characters available are cool, and I am tempted to learn more about the characters I use that I don't know about.  I do have a few complaints, though.  First, the shallow one.  Less Flonnes and more Priers.  Second, sometimes the bonus attacks don't do damage, which can mean the difference of killing an enemy or not.  Some battles take a bit too long, and I really don't like it when they just dump many enemies on you in the middle of battle.  The combat is fun and the character selection is great, so try it if you like SRPGs and can get past the fan service nature of the game.