So I just got finished reading this article about drugs and LAN parties. It was a pretty good read, and about 8 to 10 years ago something I probably would have been involved in, in one way or another. It is interesting to read something like this. On one hand you have the “so this is what kids are doing these days” reaction and you feel like you’re too young to make that statement. On the other hand you get the nostalgia of doing stupid things and wish that things were still as care free.

After looking at the game for a while and watching a friend of mine play it for a little while my wife finally picked up Tomb Raider Legends for the 360. I have never enjoyed any experience related to TR in my life, not even the movie. I had no interest in it from the start. So I picked up Gradius for the PSP even after my terrible experience with it in PSP emulation (the PCE and NES versions).

Tomb Raider 360 is a technical mess. Aside from a horrible frame rate, the resolution has been upscaled. This leaves the image looking a little blurry, and also the text looks terrible. There are also horrible clipping issues with the polygons: many times hands and feet and legs will completely disappear into rocks and chains and the like. Probably the strangest is the inclusion of fake letterboxing.

The game is already in widescreen, yet they decide to go from a 1:85 aspect ratio to a 2:35 aspect ratio by putting black bars on the top and bottom of the screen for cut scenes. No, while I understand why they did this, the black bars don’t completely cover the image behind it. I was giggling hysterically for a good five minutes at this for no really important reason.

Anyways, Gradius PSP turned out better than I hoped as far as the blur and aspect ratio. G4 is affected the most by the blur making it the least playable (but still playable, which some in emulation weren’t) but it is also the least notable/interesting game in the package anyways.

I played one credit (at least) for all the games. I noticed that I was doing really, really well on Gradius, then again on G2 (which is my favorite of the canon numbered series). I checked the default settings, and low and behold they are set to almost the lowest setting. What does this say about how Konami views its American audience?

Moving along. I also noticed that many of the games had an option for smaller hit boxes on many of the older games (where if a bullet hits anywhere on the ship you are killed originally, now the bullets have to hit the cockpit [possibly]). This is a welcome addition for me at least, it makes the transition from newer style STGs to these easier.

The game also features a soundtrack room where you can listen to a full labeled soundtrack from all of the games. I really, really like this feature. I have also lost all of my Gradius Gaiden skills. I knew that playing the game on the PSP would not be like using my arcade stick on a console, but I barely got to the third stage on one credit. At least I don’t have to fiddle with my import versions of the game anymore, and two great parts of the Gradius series have now been released in the US when they never had before. Albeit it is not on the best of systems.