Death Jr.

"The Grim Reaper may be badass, but how about his son?"

As we all know, and this is scientifically proven, the Grim Reaper goes around killing people when their time is ready. Death Jr. however is just an ordinary (if you could call his class ordinary) school boy.

Storyline
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DJ and all of his friends are considered freaks. So what happens when the class takes a field trip to the local museum. The teacher leaves them unwatched and the "freaks" seperate from the rest of the class to more interesting stuff. DJ's friend Pandora finds a box standing in the middle of a room on a pedestal. Pandora can never leave anything closed so she tries to open it. Stygmartha, a girl whom's hand bleeds when nervous warns them all of the trouble they'll get in. Pandora who couldn't open it anyway gives up and it's not untill DJ pulls out his trusty scythe that they get it open.

Instantly a demonic substance attacks everyone. After the attack Dead Guppy, (How ironic? He is a dead guppy and that's also what he's called.) Stygmartha, and Seep (an angry wierd boy who's stuck in a water-filled tank.) are pinned to the wall lifeless. Smith and Weston, (two conjoined-twins) and Pandora are unseen. Now it's up to DJ to go into the portals opened by the demon to recapture his friends' soul pieces to bring them back to life.

This is just the opening scene however and other than that, you don't learn much about the interesting characters or other aspects of the story that are introduced. You don't even learn about DJ and his dad. But then again there are comics too.

Gameplay
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For those who have played Super Mario 64, the level system is similar. There are portals inside the museum (the main place) leading to different levels. The levels themselves may become a bit repetetive but they're still amazingly fun. Most of them just involve killing monsters with you're guns or you're scythe.(you start out with a pair of pistols with infinite ammo, but collect more later on in the game.) After killing the monsters you advance to a new section. Other levels are quite different ranging from protecting DJ's house against hundreds of demons to killing a crazy cow. You can also use a move called Pandora's Assist. A move that slows down time and hurts surrounding demons. You gain this move by filling up a meter and to do that, you have to gain high combos.

The Camera is a big problem in this game. It gets tangled up and you're gonna often see yourself being attacked from the back. You can change the options a bit to make the camera a bit better but the camera is obviously the worst part of the game.

For the small number of buttons the PSP has, the platforming bit is suprisingly amazing with DJ using his scythe for all sorts of crazy stuff like wall jumping, hovering, and travelling across hooks. The controls are great and this is the only game I've seen that the analog nub is used greatly. The analog nub feels like a regular analog stick in this game. The main controls are fairly easy to get used to. You use the O button to shoot, you use the square button to swing your scythe, the triangle button to dodge and the X button to jump. It takes a simple 10 minutes to get used to the controls.

Graphics
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The graphics in this game are unusual and I've certainly never seen them before. Everything is detailed well as you can even destroy objects. The explosions and other special effects look great too. The odd cartoon-like graphics work out great in this game. The framerate is solid and it never drops. If you shoot the walls you can even see bullet holes with some weapons. This is the first PSP game that I've played that added a lot of these little things.

Audio
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For a game to have a soundtrack, the music in the game should be pretty good. This game is no exception. (Although you can only get the soundtrack through the limited edition version of the game.) The music can get repetetive as the tracks start to sound a bit similar. The sound effects in the game are very well done too. Each weapon has different sounds (including the C4 hamsters.) Overall, the audio is one of the best I've heard from a platformer.

Load Times
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The load times in this game are unusually short. They normally take about 5-7 seconds.

Replayability and Play Time
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You will find yourself playing this game for around 10 hours. The replayability factor lies in the rank of your performance at the end of a level. If you want to get all A+'s, you'll find yourself playing for slightly longer.

Overall
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I reccomend this game too anyone who's into platforming and/or shooting. Heck, I reccomend this game to anyone with a PSP. It's a great game with an interesting story and different grahpic's style. The music is great, the game is very unique, and it's just plain ol' fun. Do yourself a favor and pick this game up
I'm giving this game a 9/10.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/22/05