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nathan151 · Fri Apr 14, 2006 7:05 pm CODED ARMS review (game)

In a psp world dominated by sports and driving games (with the odd brain-taxing puzzler thrown in for good measure) its good to see that Konami are ignoring the usual morsels (for now at least) and instead fired off PSP’s first ever first person shooter (as far as I know).
Coded arms is a prime example of style over substance. While being visually impressive (like when enemies explode into data bytes – think Neo when he saw the Matrix for real), but sadly there has been a distinct lack of ideas gone into the actual game play its self. So what is it all about then I here you ask. Well, you play a hacker who’s trying to hack is way into an abandoned virtual reality system. The VR machine was being developed to train troops against an actual alien invasion but somewhere down the line-computerised bots, aliens and bugs became self-aware and its now evolving at an alarming rate. Enter your faceless character chipping away at the program until the core is destroyed and the world can rest easy. Its not exactly genius, but it does add a twist on the whole ‘saving the earth from evil’ scenarios.
Out side of the main story, coded arms although it has an unusual story line, lacks originality, forcing you to endure room after room of unimaginative enemies piling towards you to meet their inevitable death. All the levels look and feel almost identical, give or take a few exploding barrels, and, partly due to the game not giving you any kind of auto aim whatsoever, even the simplest of tasks is actually massively frustrating. So when you should be blasting a laser bot from the sky, you’ll be peppering the floor and ceiling as it’s flambéing your helpless ass. Surly this should have been addressed considering how hard it is to play a first person shooter with one analogue stick and less buttons?
But it’s not all-bad. It comes fully equipped with the standard Wi-Fi link up for some multiplayer action. You can play in a number of arenas with all of the weaponry from single player mode. They have even managed to cram in three more modes; deathmatch, last man standing and keep the mark; to keep the wireless action fresh and a few hours of fun.
Unfortunately, so did the main game. I managed to get through most of the game in a day and that was achievable even in a glare filled car where I could hardly see the screen of my psp.
I sadly had my expectations crushed of this game. So I have to give it a 5/10 this game should really only be rented as it does not last that long
But remember this is my opinion and others may disagree which what I say which is fine, only YOU can judge these games.
PS sorry about the size of the pictures

Admin · Fri Apr 14, 2006 7:52 pm

Great review nathan,
wondering whether to buy now........ :roll:

nathan151 · Sat Apr 15, 2006 8:50 am

well its up to you im not telling you you should or shouldn't. in my view its a game only worth renting not buying.

Admin · Sat Apr 15, 2006 12:23 pm

different people have different opinions 8)
but a first person for the psp...gotta be worth a try
:D

nathan151 · Sat Apr 15, 2006 12:24 pm

yes that is true

PopcOrn DeVil · Sat Apr 15, 2006 12:25 pm

Hey you need to make those screenshots bigger and if you want I can get bigger screenshots (probably not the same).

nathan151 · Sat Apr 15, 2006 12:26 pm

yea i no il make them bigger after i post my next review which im typing up now so it wont be that long

PopcOrn DeVil · Sat Apr 15, 2006 12:28 pm

Whoopie. Will it be on a UMD game or homebrew?

nathan151 · Sat Apr 15, 2006 12:32 pm

UMD im gunna do a couple of UMD reviews to get used to writting reviews and then i will move on to doing some homebrew

PopcOrn DeVil · Sat Apr 15, 2006 12:33 pm

Ok that's cool. I'm looking forwards to them.