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While most people were content to play FPSs on the Nintendo64 with
only one analogue stick, it has
become evident since that the freedom of movement allowed through
two sticks is clearly superior. Therefore it does seem a little
strange that the PSP was designed with a single analogue nub.
Despite this glaring omission, developers are still keen to make
numerous FPSs for the console, perhaps the most prominent of these
being
Coded Arms, Konami’s hacker themed sci-fi shooter. Although
hardly anything special, Coded Arms was a decent enough game and, as
such, we’re hoping that it’s sequel Coded Arms: Contagion will build
on the strong parts of the original.
Unfortunately it seems little has changed.
Control is still inaccurate and the enemy AI is still incredibly
dumb. There is also little in the way of animation with shots fired
having little impact on enemies and lacking any kind of muzzle
flash. This making firing unsatisfying and players are unsure as to
if they have actually hit the foe they are aiming at.
Fortunately it seems that good parts of the
original are back too. Randomly generated levels and upgradeable
weapons are still present and despite its flaws, the game it still
quite playable.
 Coded
Arms: Contagion is nothing special graphically and seems to have
improved little on the original. Unfortunately the demo had issues
with framerate, strange considering the lack of graphical flair it
displayed.
Coded Arms: Contagion isn’t really anything to
get exited about if the E3 2006 demo is anything to go by. It’s
pretty likely that it will have some new features when it is finally
released and fans of the original should enjoy this iteration,
however, if you didn’t like the original, you won’t like this. |
