Death Jr.

"You'll die if you pass up on Death Jr."

Introduction: The world of Death Jr. (or DJ as many people call him) is just like our world it just so happens that he is the son of the Grim Reaper. So the game starts out with DJ going on a field trip with his school. His group of friends (everyone from Pandora who has to open everything to Stigmartha who's hands bleed when she gets nervous). The come across "The Box" which Pandora of course tries to open but she can't. DJ then opens the box up with his scythe and unleashes the demons out of the box and his friends souls are now gone and he has to recover them.

Gameplay: Well a similar game to this is Ratchet and Clank if you have ever played. You have a wide variety of weapons and a melee weapon you can use. The camera is a tad awkward since you can't rotate it at free will but you do have a first person view to look around. Tapping the L button also centers the camera behind DJ. You start off with just your trusty scythe and the twin pistols. But you can unlock everything from the powerful shotgun to the exploding C4 hamsters (my personal favorite). Each weapon except the twin pistol has ammo but for the most part ammo is fairly common in the levels. You can unlock new combos for your scythe which for the most part are easy to perform. Shooting with a gun is easy since you use the R button to lock on and the L button to change targets. It is some of the most fun I have had on my PSP in a while. Even though it may seem like a dark game it has quite a bit of comedy in it. I found the game to be fairly easy to play except when hoards of enemies came after you, it got a tad difficult.
Gameplay score: 7.5/10

Story: Well the introduction did describe most of it for you. You go on a field trip and you open up "The Box" which causes demons to be unleashed. Your friends souls get taken away and you must go through 3 levels per person to recover their soul. DJ doesn't want to get his dad involved because he is afraid that he will be sent away to military school so he tackles it all on his own.
Story score: 7.5/10

Graphics/Sound: For the PSP the graphics are top notch. They are some of the better graphics out there. Also this is the first PSP game I have played which has voice overs for some parts. I was fairly surprised at that. The music and sound fits the game well and if you manage to pick up the limited edition version you get the soundtrack as a bonus. You also have some short movies which have great graphics.
Graphics score: 10/10

Play Time/Replayability: Well I have not yet completed the game but I have read online that game lasts about 7 hours. I see myself replaying this game though. Not only is it very fun to play but if you want to get the best rank on levels, or go back and pick up what you missed you can play again. I also see myself playing the game using only certain weapons such as a twin pistol only run and so on. No multiplayer is a bummer but that would be sorta hard to make a multiplayer mode for this.
Play time/Replayabilty score: 7/10

Final Recommendation: If you find your PSP library being too small pick this game up. If you are a fan of the Ratchet and Clank series or even the 3D Mario games then pick this up. It is a great action/adventure game for the PSP. However if you find yourself short on money or not that big of a fan of the action/adventure genre of games then I would have to say rent. If you rent it and turn out loving the game then you can always go buy it from there.
Final score: 80%

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/22/05