Ultimate Block Party!!!

[Aylmer]

No longer does the DS have sole bragging rights to incredibly addictive and original action puzzlers. This game has the most beautiful anime I've ever seen in a game, on any system. Depth equal to Meteos. Awesome music. Digital crack! For real! Beautiful to look at, listen to, and most importantly, to play.

If you have a PSP, get this game! Now!

[Aylmer]

The good...

Imagine Super Puzzle Fighter, but with special moves for each of the many characters (including unlockable ones) along with special pieces that escalate in complexity and difficulty, and several times the depth in terms of strategizing. Now, imagine the AI in CPU vs. mode as being the most sophisticated you've ever seen in a video game. On top of that, imagine a user selectable difficulty level that will have you running back to Easy Mode with your tail between your legs. Add bright, crisp, and trippy anime stills and animation better than any version of Bust A Move on any console (even better than Bust A Move 3000 on the GC). Finally, throw in some killer Japanese electronica, with some awesome bass tracks that really pump the PSP's audio hardware and will truly get your pulse pounding, big time. With ear buds this game sounds unreal...

The bad...

Ad hoc wireless play only (2 player). God, would this game have been perfect for network play.

[Aylmer]

Man, how did I forget this one. No load time!!!

[Glockstar]

Not that I didn't believe you, but I had to do some research on this - I'd never even heard of the game before!

Not surprising, I guess.

Publisher Crave didn't announce the game before its release or list it on its official site, and we at IGN never even knew it was coming out until we saw it on shelves (never mind that there's a quote from IGN on the box -- this caught us totally by surprise.) Astute import watchers may recognize this game from its original Japanese / Korean release, when it was known as Kollon, but even then, few have played it and few expected it to come to America. This game may sound like it's one of those rush-job games dumped into the market for Christmas. But give it a chance, and you may find yourself playing Ultimate Block Party much more than whatever you went to the game shop for in the first place.

--12/23/05

http://psp.ign.com/articles/678/678154p1.html

Weird.

How did you hear about it? Where did you even find it? What possessed you to get it?!

[Aylmer]

Not that I didn't believe you, but I had to do some research on this - I'd never even heard of the game before!

Not surprising, I guess.

Publisher Crave didn't announce the game before its release or list it on its official site, and we at IGN never even knew it was coming out until we saw it on shelves (never mind that there's a quote from IGN on the box -- this caught us totally by surprise.) Astute import watchers may recognize this game from its original Japanese / Korean release, when it was known as Kollon, but even then, few have played it and few expected it to come to America. This game may sound like it's one of those rush-job games dumped into the market for Christmas. But give it a chance, and you may find yourself playing Ultimate Block Party much more than whatever you went to the game shop for in the first place.

--12/23/05

http://psp.ign.com/articles/678/678154p1.html

Weird.

How did you hear about it? Where did you even find it? What possessed you to get it?!

Well, glock, now and then, I get a particular sort of hunger. I go out seeing what's available in gaming, but I do not have a real title or even a genre in mind. I have a shopping area close to me that has 7 or 8 different outlets for games in a two mile radius, so i can check out that many places in less than an hour, usually.

but what I've found over the years is that rare games show up at one place in particular more than anyplace else. that place is toys R Us. for instance, that is where I got Space Invaders, the GBA specific version, which most people have never even heard of. It is the best space invaders ever, but Activison published very few.

anyway, there I was in toys r us, and I wandered over to the PSP section, which i do not do often, since the pickings are slim gamewise, tho they always have movies out the azz. and there, a single copy of Ultimate Block Party sat. I picked it up, read it, and took a gamble, since I had read nor heard nothing about it. Funny thing, tho, I was kind of looking for Bust A Move for the PSP, and I had read about it, it was getting a 7 average around the web, but I love bust a move, and they did not have it.

I have gambled on an obscure game before and lost. but this time I did alright.

I must re-state: If you can find it, get it. For me, it was the first time that I ran my battery down twice in one day. the game truly rocks, man.