I played quite a bit of Hot Shots over the weekend on my PSP and I really like it. Tycho just downloaded a save file from the internet and immediately had access to all the courses and gear. I on the other hand decided to earn my content the old fashioned way...I wasted my entire weekend paying golf on my PSP.
It's worth mentioning that this game gets really fucking hard pretty quick. I blew through the first set of challenges and unlocked the second course only to hit a wall. Once you have that new course opened up they really want you to master some of the more difficult types of shots. Pars just don't cut it anymore. Not to mention the fact that the course don't just get more difficult, they get down right diabolical. I'm talking about a topography inspired by the jagged cliffs of hell. There are no rolling hills to gently guide your ball towards a wide and welcoming green. Instead you are faced with tortured spires of rock that clutch impenetrable greens in a tight fist of bunkers. To breach these defenses and come away with anything less that a triple bogey you'll need to learn and master every shot in the game.
The upside is that success feels real good. I actually screamed and flipped off one computer opponent after an especially difficult round that ended up going eight holes into sudden death. I'm excited for the plane ride down to E3 as those flights are always full of local geeks making the same pilgrimage. I'm hoping to find myself on a plane with some fellow Hot Shot enthusiasts so that we can get some bigger games going. Over all it's another solid game for the PSP. Unless you really hate yourself I recommend just grabbing a save game off the intertron and getting immediate access to all the courses.
I also picked up Stella Deus last week and tired that out. Honestly it's a great tactical strategy RPG. The problem is that you can't play a game in that genre without comparing it to Phantom Brave or Disgaea and when you do that everything else can't help but come up just a bit short. It's fun and full of great art but Nippon Ichi has taken those games to such a crazy place that if I just place a guy on the map instead of placing him in any one of a hundred different objects that each have different stat modifiers and then remain with the character to become weapons that also level up alongside the character and that I can actually travel into and fight through thousands of levels in order to unlock new abilities then I'm just bored.I mean take a look at the overview for their new RPG Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana. Does that make any sense to you? Sea Urchin? That's going to be some crazy shit.
If you're starved for a game in this genre then I'd say grab Stella Deus. It’s got a solid story and some really great artwork.
-Gabe out :o:
