PSP, the best games to buy before it's too late

PSP

From 2 July it will no longer be possible to buy digital games for PSP via the PlayStation Store: an official deadline, which is fast approaching and which in fact could mean the disappearance of many products available for the first Sony portable console.

To prevent this from happening, there is still some time to turn on your PlayStation Portable, enter the PS Store and buy the titles that it would be a shame to give up forever, which once bought we can then re-download every time we wish it.

We have tried to indicate ten, in strict alphabetical order. If you are curious about our selection for PS3 and PS Vita, you can consult the dedicated articles.

Daxter

Daxter, here is the funny protagonist of the game. Developed by Ready at Dawn, Daxter takes one of the most famous "shoulders" of the Sony franchises and makes it the protagonist of an adventure of its own: a traditional platform, which, however, thanks to the peculiarities of the funny character and an excellent technical realization still remains today one of the favorite titles of PSP owners.

At the command of the cute mammal with thick fur, as part of a story that takes place between the first and second episodes of Jak and Daxter, we will be able to explore wide scenarios using an excellent control system, use the very useful Spray Gun to fight and move between platforms, as well as experience dream sequences inspired by cinematic sagas such as The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions and its chibi-style characters. The Square Enix series has landed on PSP with several episodes, and two in particular deserve to be recovered: we're talking about Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7. Released between 2007 and 2008, the two games offer different but equally valid and exciting experiences, which undoubtedly occupy a place in the hearts of fans.

Despite being tied to outdated mechanics, The War of the Lions can count on a compelling storyline, as well as on enriched and refined gameplay and structure compared to the original Final Fantasy Tactics of 2007. Crisis Core, for its part, starts from the fascinating lore of Final Fantasy 7 to tell us the story of Zack, Cloud's comrade in arms, in a context that effectively blends action and strategy.

God of War

God of War: The Phantom of Sparta, a sequence starring Kratos . Also for God of War we thought it was appropriate to mention both Chains of Olympus and The Ghost of Sparta: in both cases these are extraordinary portable episodes for the action series created by Santa Monica Studio, able to exploit the hardware very well. PSP and to field mechanics that are extremely faithful to those that made the main series so popular.

Released in 2008, God of War: Chains of Olympus serves as a prequel to the long saga of Kratos, translating into timely gameplay of the original God of War but falling back on a somewhat short and inconsistent campaign. A limit that God of War: The Phantom of Sparta, released two years later, brilliantly overcomes, focusing with conviction on the characteristic elements of the franchise.

Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, a spectacular motorcycle sequence. The Rockstar Games series has played a very important role in the PSP game library, and even in this case it was hard to cite a specific episode and put all the others aside. That's why we have seen fit to include both Liberty City Stories, Vice City Stories and Chinatown Wars on this list.

Challenging the hardware limits of the Sony handheld console, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories involve us in an unscrupulous open world experience, which includes some of the most famous characters from the third chapter and Vice City, while Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars stands as a sort of throwback, with a top view and cel-shaded graphics but without sacrificing texture and open structure, on the contrary.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

In our list of PlayStation Vita games to recover first that it is too late we talked about Metal Gear Solid HD Collection and how this collection does not include, culpably, also Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Not a small lack, if we consider the extraordinary importance of this episode, which closes the Naked Snake saga before the events of Metal Gear Solid V.

Peace Walker in fact tells of how Big Boss gave life to the Militaires Sans Frontiers, creating the famous Mother Base and using the Fulton recovery system to forcibly enlist the knocked out enemies, of his first meeting with Paz and how all this is intertwined also on the front of the gameplay and the technical realization, among the best ever seen on PSP. Unmissable!

Patapon

Patapon boasts an absolutely original style. Although it has been revived on PS4 with a remaster, Patapon remains undoubtedly one of the most representative productions in the PlayStation Portable catalog, and even in this case we wanted to include not one, but all three episodes of the series: Patapon, Patapon 2 and Patapon 3, published respectively in 2008, 2009 and 2011.

The formula is simple but captivating: in an original mix between strategy and rhythm game, our task will be to lead a tribe in battle by acting on the "Pata" and "Pon" commands, combining them in different ways according to the action we want to perform and collecting the necessary resources from mission to mission to strengthen the small army in view of even more demanding challenges.

Ridge Racer

Ridge Racer, a driving sequence. Until a few years ago the link between Ridge Racer and PlayStation was reaffirmed at the debut of each new Sony console, and so also in 2005 the Bandai Namco arcade driving game was included in the PSP launch line-up. Yet another success: although the competition has been quite fierce over the years, the drift-based racer has remained in the hearts of PlayStation Portable owners.

Thanks to traditional but still very valid mechanics, of a model of solid and well-tested driving, as well as really convincing numbers: twelve tracks plus the respective mirror versions, the highest quantity up to that moment, to be tackled at full speed aboard eleven different cars.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable, a combat phase. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable made its PSP debut in early 2011 (late 2009 in Japan), offering portable console owners a great take on the amazing RPG experience that landed a couple of years earlier on PlayStation 2. Also strengthened by the unprecedented possibility to choose the gender of the protagonist, the game puts on the table the usual, engaging Persona-style adventure.

Without the splendid anime-style sequences that were used to tell the events of the plot, Persona 3 Portable manages to offer the atmospheres that fans of the series know well, involving us in the exciting battle of a handful of "special" guys, who can move in the so-called "twenty-fifth hour" to face the shadows that threaten people .

Tekken: Dark Resurrection

The PSP toy library can also count on some extraordinary match fighting games, and among these Tekken: Dark Resurrec tion certainly deserves to be recovered. In fact, we are talking about a significant reduction for the famous series produced by Bandai Namco, which starts from the contents of the fifth chapter to deliver us a roster consisting of thirty characters and an improved balance.

Visually one of the most beautiful games ever published on PlayStation Portable, Dark Resurrection combines the spectacularity of the scenarios and animations with a very solid gameplay, which suffers a little due to the poor precision of the d-pad of the portable console on the diagonals but not so much as to compromise the enjoyment of an experience of the highest level for fans of the genre.

WipEout Pure

Wipeout Pure, a dizzying phase of the race. In a sort of return to the classic, WipEout Pure restores some of the historical elements of the franchise, focusing on the driving experience aboard traditional spacecraft with anti-gravity system and putting weapons or excessive development of the tracks in the background. An exciting approach for fans of the first hour, who welcomed the turnaround with open arms.

Moving through sixteen truly inspired scenarios, aboard eight vehicles with different characteristics, in the game we will have to therefore memorize the curves, the ramps and the trajectories to be able to cross the finish line first. All this while the graphics run smoothly and an engaging soundtrack accompanies our maneuvers.

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