Epic fail!!! Not . . .

User Rating: 10 | One Epic Game PSP
One Epic Game is a downloadable PlayStation Mini exclusive to their handheld systems, and it takes on the guise of a classic comic book style adventure. An evil alien mad scientist named Zork is trying to take over the world. Taking control of a hero named Alpha Dog, you must jump and shoot your way through 10 missions and stop this fiend from following through with his dastardly plans. One Epic Game is a side scroller but it's always in perpetual motion, your character is always running from the left side of the screen to the right. You must utilize quick decision making and precise execution in order to survive each level and perform the task that has been set upon you. Each level is linked by cutscenes rendered in a very comic book style, where the game developers take the opportunity to make fun of themselves, their game, and pretty much anything else!

From the main menu of this title you have six options, the first of which is called "Free Run", one of the game's alternate modes. When you enter Free Run you then have to choose one of the game's five environments that you would like to play in (Zombie Outbreak, Nuclear Wasteland, World War II, Alien Invasion or Fantasy Kingdom). Once you select where you want to play you are taken straight to the game action, your task is to simply survive for as long as you can, and take down as many enemies as possible. Depending on your progress you may unlock special awards related to Free Run mode.

The second option from the main menus is "Challenges", another one of the game's alternate modes. In this mode you are presented with seven sets of challenges, each of which is broken down in to three separate levels (bronze, silver and gold). When you enter a challenge you are taken to a pre-determined game environment where you will have to execute a specific task in order to complete it. The challenge categories and their descriptions are as follows: Survivor (run and survive a certain distance with just one heart's worth of energy), Collector (reach a certain level of total points), Pacifist (run a certain distance and NOT kill any enemies in the process), Surgeon (kill a certain number of enemies, but only the marked enemies), Exterminator (kill a certain number of enemies), Acrobat (jump kill a certain number of enemies) and Time Loop (survive long enough to reach a specific speed). As you complete these challenges you will unlock an award related to each challenge. You will need to complete all 21 challenges if you are to work your way towards 100% game completion.

Third we come to the "Story Mode" option, which is the main mode of the game. This is where the story of Alpha Dog and Zork unfolds, as you make your way through 10 levels of One Epic Game's zany madness, en route to saving the world. Of the 10 levels the first couple are more or less tutorials, helping you learn the basics of the game before really getting in to the action. Story Mode unfolds within the same 5 game environments I mentioned in Free Run mode, with the cutscenes each level to the next setting up the action that is about to take place. Each level usually focuses on a different aspect of gameplay, for example you have to make your way through a level primarily using the jetpack pickups instead of the normal running and jumping, or you have to jump kill a certain number of enemies. This theme for each level is usually set up in the cutscenes as well. Survive and complete all 10 levels and you have beaten the game!

"Hall of Fame" is the fourth option on the main menu and is where you view all of the various Awards you have unlocked in this game. There are 12 awards specific to Free Run mode, 21 specific to Challenges mode, and 1 final award you can achieve by simply gaining all of the other awards in the game. In Hall of Fame you can also switch from the Awards page to the Free Run progress page. Listed here are all 5 game environments and the high scores you have set on each course during Free Run mode. The statistics included in these lists are longest distance travelled, highest body count, and highest score.

The fifth option on the main menu is "Options", where you can adjust both the game's sound and music volumes. And the sixth and final option is called "About", where you can view the legal details on the creation of One Epic Game. At the very bottom of the main menu you will see listed your current game completion percentage. This number will increase with each level/challenge/award you complete, and is a good quick look indication on how well you are progressing.

Once you get in to the game there are many things to look out for. First of all are your enemies. Depending on the specific environment you are battling through you'll have to face various types of soldiers, zombies, aliens, dragons, UFOs, helicopters, among many others. Be careful not to shoot innocent bystanders though, if you shoot other people or animals you'll actually be docked points. Environmental objects will also impede your progress, these items include various bits of debris that have fallen in your path due to the destruction going on around you, as well as objects that form part of the normally smooth terrain you find yourself running across. Each time you get hit by an enemy or an environmental object a heart will be taken off of your health meter. Now for the fun stuff. There are actually a lot of powerups for you to collect as you make your way through One Epic Game! Most prevalent are the weapons pickups. You start off with a basic single shot kind of blaster, but there are various weapons pickups available, represented by an octagonal icon with a distinct colour and letter, indicating which type of weapon you are obtaining. The various weapon types in the game are M (machine gun), S (shotgun), R (rocket launcher), L (laser), F (flamethrower) and B (BFG). Earlier I mentioned using a jetpack, the jetpack pickup takes the form of an octagonal icon that has what looks like a shield in the middle. Arrows are another common pickup. The red arrow pointing to the left will slow down how fast Alpha Dog runs through his environment, whereas the green arrow pointing to the right does the opposite and speeds things up. Health is an important aspect to survival in this game. To replenish your health grab the octagonal icon that has a heart in the middle of it, this will restore one heart to your health bar. There is just one last pickup, an octagonal icon with a star in the middle of it. This pickup nets you 5000 bonus points.

The game screen for One Epic Game is pretty simple and easy to read. In the top left corner you'll find your current score. In the top middle of the screen is the ever increasing meter measuring the distance you have traveled so far in any given game level. And in the top right corner is your health bar, which initially consists of 4 red hearts. Lose them all and your dead. Falling down a crevice automatically kills you, no matter how many hearts are in your possession. Similarly the game's pause menu is pretty sparse as well. When you pause the game you are presented with three options: Resume, Restart Run, and Quit . . . all pretty self-explanatory.

As for game controls, these are without a doubt some of the easiest and most basic game controls I've ever come across! Basically there are only really two main actions you perform in this game, jumping and shooting. To jump (and engage the jetpack pickup if equipped) you can press the L button, or any one of the Up, Left, Down or Right buttons on the control pad. To shoot you can press the R button, or any of the Triangle, Square, X or O buttons. The Start button is what pauses the action. Easy peasy!

The presentation behind One Epic Game is just fantabulous, doubly so considering it's a basic PlayStation Mini! The environments are full of colour, very crisp and well-polished, with a seemingly high resolution. The cutscenes that take place between each level are well drawn and full of humour. The soundtrack is loud and intense, fitting for an adventure of this type in today's day and age. And the controls, as simple as they are, respond perfectly and become second nature after just a short while. This game is a delight to behold!

In terms of the pros and cons behind One Epic Game, there are a lot of pros and virtually no cons that I can think of! The first pro is how good the game looks, sounds and responds, as I just discussed above. Second, I like how they incorporated a lot of unlockable material in the form of the awards you can achieve over the course of this game. This provides you with extra motivation to achieve a 100% game completion and explore all aspects the title has to offer. Third, for being just a Mini the plethora of game modes One Epic Game offers up is pretty outstanding. As if the one major story mode isn't enough, there are two substantial alternative modes available that will make sure you play this game to it's fullest! Finally, all of these factors combine to give this game one major fun factor, which I deem most important when playing any type of game. As for cons, I couldn't really think of any . . . well, the last two challenges under "Challenges" mode are a bit too hard, but that's probably my only complaint . . . 

There are a few tips and tricks I can offer future players of One Epic Game. First of all, get used to the jump function. Just tapping it will give you a short jump whereas holding it down will give you a longer jump. There are many obstacles to avoid in this game, and a lot of jump kills to make, so make sure you have your range of jumps nailed down tight as you'll need to be damn well near perfect late in the game. Second, test out the different weapon pickups and find out what you like and what you don't. Picking up a crappy weapon at an inopportune time can put you behind the 8 ball, whereas picking up an awesome weapon at just the right moment can completely turn around a lousy run! Third, try to avoid getting hit as much as possible (duh!!). Stringing together kills (without being hit or running in to an environmental obstacle in the meantime) creates combos and eventually points multipliers. Getting a high point multiplier going can help you set major records pretty quickly. Finally, in most levels of this game you earn a checkpoint you can restart from every 1000 metres you travel. So if the task ahead seems too daunting, try breaking it down in to 1000 metre installments . . . one game at a time as the pro athletes would say . . .

One Epic Game . . . a title with a super cheap price tag, where the action is anything but!! Innovative, ambitious, fun, action packed . . . this could be the best $5 or so you've spent in quite a while.