Coded Arms is an awesome FPS for the PSP handheld system. This awesomeness wears off after a while, though.
1) All of my scores are based on how the game works with the system, not comparing it to PC or Xbox.
2) I haven't finished the game yet, so this is just a review based on playing the game up until the point I am currently at.
---------------------------------------------Review of Coded Arms---------------------------------------
Coded Arms is the first FPS on the PSP, and the first "real" FPS on a handheld. I say "real", because the previous ones were just ports of Doom and Doom 2, which are fine, but Coded Arms is new.
Coded Arms takes place in the near future when research has made it possible for one to download themself into a computer. You play the role of a hacker who wants to get alot of money by hacking into the military simulator A.I.D.A., and attaining top secret documents which you can sell for huge sums of money.
First part of making an FPS possible is the graphics:
Coded Arms is what I believe to be the most impressive graphics and effects that I have seen on the PSP so far. It is a great example of what the PSP can do and is hopefully what we can expect to see future games looking like, if not, better. As you can tell by the videos here on Gamespot, this game resembles graphics from around the early to mid PS2 era, which is just plain amazing. Aside from the graphics in entirety, there are plenty of neat effects in Coded Arms, such as enemies appearing in bianry coding and wireframes and exploding that way when you kill them. This is also included in the environment such as when you open a door or shoot an explosive barrel. It also is really cool to see the lighting effects around a gateway to another level.
In terms of graphics for Coded Arms, I give it a perfect 10.0.
Next up, is the sound:
The sound effects in Coded Arms are very good, the techno music that starts whenever you engage an enemy is really cool and is further complemented by the PSP's loud speakers when turned up to the max. Gun sounds are fairly basic, from what I can tell so far, grenades make noises when they hit the floor and bounce off, guns make realistic firing sounds, and when you shoot electricity out of the bolt pistol, you can just feel the shocks surging through your own body. The enemies make cool sounds too, such as the bots who sound like heavy machinery and the soldiers who sound like a cross between the helghast from Killzone and the robot from Colossus, The Forbidden Experiment. The only negative thing about the sound in Coded Arms is that there is no music in between battles, but there isn't much time between battles because there are enemies in most rooms.
In terrms of sound, I give Coded Arms, a 9.0.
Value:
Coded Arms has many little cool things to keep with the theme of the computer age. The enemies explode into wireframes, weapons and armor types have different coding, and even menu options have a few computer like features. In terms of if the game is worth your money, it's worth that and then some. The game all around is just amazing and should keep you busy until around September at the minimum.
In terms of value, I give Coded Arms a 10.0
Now the most important part, Gameplay:
Coded Arms is a very entertaining games, and one of the gems that the PSP has to offer, it joins the ranks of Lumines and Twisted Metal as all around incredible games, but in my opinion, it beats the other two by alot. The levels are all randomly generated to keep you busy for a long time. There is a huge variety of content in this game, which includes 23 types of weapons, 10 types of grenades, 16 types of armor (Yes, you heard me, armor), and tons of enemies ranging from the standard grunt like insect to the gigantic hoverbot with propellers bigger than an SUV.
Multiplayer has a fairly good variety as well, it's modes are, deathmatch, keep the marker, and last man standing. You can play with up to 4 people in the same room. In multiplayer, you can take any weapons that you have in single player and use them, or you can choose to use the weapons that the level provides. Multiplayer levels range anywhere from a single box shaped room, to a giant factory filled with elevators and sniper lofts.
Now, what you have been all asking about, the controls. It is true that the PSP isn't the best system for FPS, but after about 5-10 minutes, the controls are easy and you don't have much time to notice any difficulties because you are constantly getting attacked by enemies. If you keep the controls on setup A, and set the sensetivity on the free roam option to 50, then you should have no trouble adapting to the game. Yes, there is a jump button, so you don't need to worry about this ending up like Killzone, and yes, there is a zoom function on every weapon.
In terms of gameplay, I give Coded Arms a 10.0 due to the extreme level of content, replayability, and just plain fun it offers.
Now for my tilt:
Compared to other PSP games, this makes most of them seem non-existant. It is just so overly awesome, that you forget about all of the other PSP games you spent your money on before this. It's graphics are incredible, it's sound is awesome, and the gameplay is more addicting than Lumines.
For my tilt, I give Coded Arms a perfect 10.0.