Death Jr. 2: Root of Evil Updated Hands-On

What do llamas, waffles, and gigantic hamsters have in common? They all make appearances in one form or another in Konami's upcoming Death Jr. 2: Root of Evil for the PlayStation Portable. Set for release later this year, Root of Evil is the second Death Jr. game on the Sony handheld. We last saw the game at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, and it seems to have made some impressive progress in the months since. We had a chance to play an updated build of the game today during Konami's press event.

Death Jr. follows the adventures of the diminutive version of Death himself and his goth-chick buddy, Pandora, as they attempt to set things right after accidentally releasing an evil spirit into the world. While the last game featured only Death Jr. as playable, the sequel will feature both the title character and Pandora as playable characters. You won't be switching between characters during gameplay--instead, you'll start out with either one or the other at the beginning of the adventure. As an added bonus, the game will feature full co-op play for two players, one player taking control of Death Jr. and the other playing as Pandora.

Both characters have different strengths and weaknesses. Pandora, for example, is more skilled at navigating dangerous narrow passages, while Death Jr., can use his trusty scythe to swing off of obstacles and slide across ropes to cross chasms. The scythe also doubles as a handy melee weapon. Death Jr. will be able to use various attack combos to wreak havoc on any enemies stupid enough to get near him--one particularly cool attack had Death Jr. leaping into the air after a pair of smaller attacks and then landing on the ground, blasting all surrounding enemies, with devastating results. One other cool use for the scythe was a sort of super-jump, which had the pint-sized manifestation of mortality leap into the air (with a press of the X button) then rapidly twirl his scythe in the air above his head like the rotor blades on a helicopter (with a second press of the X button), allowing Death Jr. to jump longer and farther than he normally could.

One of the biggest criticisms of the first Death Jr. game for PSP was the camera system, which was one of the game's biggest weaknesses. The camera system in the second game has been greatly improved. By pressing the left or right trigger button, you can move the camera to the left and right, thus allowing you to always get a good view of the action around you. Another nice touch is the ability to strafe sideways by tapping on the left and right triggers simultaneously--it makes dodging enemy fire that much easier.

You'll need to make the most of these controls, as well as Death Jr.'s and Pandora's various melee and ranged weapons (each will have eight weapons available to them, including four that are unique to that character) when combating the various enemies you'll run into when progressing through the game. As you might expect from the imaginative team at Backbone, the enemies in Root of Evil are a varied bunch--you'll see everything from ugly mechanical spiders and laser-blasting chickens to giant hamsters strapped with C4 explosives and robotic llamas who fling acid-covered waffles at you. Indeed, llamas play a big role in Death Jr. During one level, we were exploring an underground secret military base located in a secret system of caverns located beneath--you guessed it--a llama farm. Of course, this proves two things: first, that the same warped sense of humor that marked the first Death Jr. game is well intact in the follow-up, and two, even decades after Monty Python's Flying Circus went off the air, llamas are still funny.

As you progress through the game, you will be gaining experience that you can use to get new combo moves (such as the blast combo attack described above), and you'll also gather currency to upgrade your weapons as you go. Most maps in the game will include spawn points where new enemies will be generated; if you're looking to get to the end of a level quickly, you can choose to take out the spawn points. On the other hand, if you're looking to power up your character, you can simply hang around the spawn points and rake in the experience points by taking on wave after wave of spawned enemies.

Root of Evil has certainly made some progress with its graphics. The game still has the same imaginative character design as the last game, and the levels themselves are just as cool. One later mission has you leaping and swinging your way through the kitchen of a Waffle House-like restaurant--the only catch is, your character's perceptions have been "chemically altered" so that the level is a horrific hallucination of kitchen equipment, poisonous syrup, and birthday cake that's probably best experienced in the game than described in text. The technical look of the game has advanced as well, particularly with the lighting. Light bloom and shadow effects were used to great effect to really bring a dynamic look to the different levels we saw, and we just couldn't get enough of the different attack animations displayed by Death Jr. Heck, simply watching his little skull-head bobble back and forth when running around a level is good for a smirk or two.

With a combination of fast-paced action, dark humor, and platforming action, Death Jr. 2: Root of Evil is looking to be a worthy--and more importantly, a better--follow-up to the original handheld game. We'll be keeping our eyes on the game as we lead up to its release this fall, so stay tuned for more.