Download No Gravity Homebrew from PS Store?

Ok, so No Gravity may not still be called a "homebrew" game but it started out as one. It looks even better than it did and there is a lot more game to be had now too: 32 missions in 6 worlds. Well done, Realtech VR. Check out #14 on my best homebrew list.

Squarez 0.8.1 Retro Review

For some of you this game will be old news. Squarez has been out for a few years but I suspect that the many of us have heard about it but never played it. This is due to the fact that it was last updated in 2005 and required a "fix" to work on later custom firmwares. Well, I found a fixed version for 3.10 oe-a (I think) and KXploited it to work on the 1.5 kernel. Globware is the original developer of Squarez. I take no credit in its development. I will provide these downloads [FileAvenue <<(right click and "Save as ...") or BigUpload Mirror] of the game files as long as Globware has no objection. The readme files included with the download are the unaltered originals so be aware that they are not up to date. Leave comments if you have any problems with the download or files. On with the review...

Squarez 0.8.1 is an action game where you play as a blue square trying to avoid and at times kill the red squares while collecting the green squares. There are many power-ups which allow you smash the red squares, drop grenades, add grenades, slow down the red squares, etc. Most of these power-ups have a time limit so you have to be quick on your feet. There are several different game modes which you can try: classic, arcade, survival, bomber, custom, and timed. You can customize the look of the game by adding themes found at Globware's website. Here is what Squarez looks like:









This game is addictive and frustrating. There are games which are hard and make you want to throw your PSP across the room. Squarez isn't one of those, it frustrates in a way which makes you want to play again and again. The graphics are clean and simple and pleasing to the eye. The controls work the way you would expect and respond the way to you want them to. With that said there will be many times where you think you are going to miss that red square and don't, this means instant death and start over. This is going to be your fault not the game's. That is what makes you want to play over and over.

If there is one flaw with this game it has to be the music. It gets a little annoying and repetitive after you spend so much time playing. And believe me you will spend a lot of time playing this game, it is that good. I will definitely be adding this to my Best Homebrew list.

OpenTyrian: The Review (UPDATE #4)

If you are looking for some background/history/info on Tyrian here are some links:
Tyrian Wiki, Tyrian Fansite, Tyrian Repository.

I played Tyrian a couple of times many years ago. OpenTyrian brings back memories of fast game play, beautiful graphics, and a never ending onslaught of enemies. This review is about the porting of the game not the game itself so I won't be reviewing the game play but the adaptation of the game to play on the PSP. I will say that the game play is addictive and fun. A great game.

OpenTyrian was ported to the PSP by Deniska, best known for Mapthis! GPS app for PSP. I never have high hopes when someone takes a program, app, game, etc. and adapts it to work on hardware it wasn't originally developed for. The outcome is usually disappointing because it was never meant to be used that way. When I think of PSP homebrew ports that work well, Cave Story is the only one that comes to mind. The Cave Story port is perfect, at no time do you realize that this wasn't originally made to work on the PSP.

OpenTyrian isn't there yet, but it's close. I am pleasantly surprised by how well the game plays on the PSP. While in the middle of destroying hundreds of enemies there are very few hints that this wasn't originally meant to play on the PSP. OpenTyrian has two game modes: Arcade and Full versions.

During the arcade campaign the PSP seems to slow down a little when the action gets hot and heavy. This slow down is very slight and does not hinder the game play but it is noticeable.

Now let's get to where I think the OpenTyrian port has a major flaw. While playing the full version you will notice that there are no power-ups like in the arcade version. Upgrades to you ship are made be purchasing better guns and shields with money/points. So if there are no power-ups what do you collect as you play the game? Data. This data is basically how the story of Tyrian is told through the game. The arcade version has cut-scenes between missions to fill you in on what is happening but the full version's story is found in the menu. The full version's data problem is that you can't get the whole story. The text runs off the page and there seems to be no assigned button to scroll the text. This makes it very difficult to follow the story when you only get half the information.

Another flaw, which is more of an annoyance, is that navigating through the menus is quite difficult. Moving through the menu is done with the directional pad (up and down). The problem is that you will constantly go past the item you want. The pad should be pressed each individual time you want to move to a new choice. Currently pressing the pad will highlight the next item, then the next, and so on, with a constant scroll. Believe me, you will go past the item you want several times before landing on the correct one.

If you are only into the game play, and not interested in the story at all, then OpenTyrian is an excellent port for the PSP. The controls respond as you would expect and the only in game problem I found was the slight slow down when there is a ton of enemies and bullets on the screen. Well done Deniska, thanks for all the hard work. I hope that since this is version 0.5 we can expect a solution to these couple of problems I mentioned.

(My first impressions post on this game has download links and some other useful information.)

UPDATE (12/07/07):
Deniska has put out a new version. OpenTyrian v0.6 is a bug fix. All of the bugs I have mentioned have been addressed. Whether they have been fixed is another story. I'll let you know.

UPDATE2 (12/09/07):
Well as far as I can see Deniska has addressed and fixed all the issues I mentioned above. Here is a link to the full KXploited eboot for Deniska's OpenTyrian v06 port. I have nothing but praise for Deniska and the port of Tyrian to the PSP. This is a memory stick "must have". One thing I forgot to mention above and is an issue/problem for me is that currently OpenTyrian isn't able to save games. Since you have to start at the beginning everytime, it can get a little mundane. Since Deniska fixed the bugs listed above in such a timely manner I expect that the "save game" issue will be cured soon too. I will be adding this to my Best Homebrew list soon.

UPDATE3 (2/01/08):
As you will see from the comments, Deniska has released version 1.0 with improvements/fixes. I will find time to play it soon and edit this update with what's new.

UPDATE4 (2/10/08):
I found the time. Deniska has definitely did OpenTyrian right with the latest versions. Version 1.0 has none of the flaws I listed above and I can say it is very close to perfect.







The last major issue I had with OpenTyrian was the fact that you could not save your progress in the "full game". Deniska has granted my wish, back in version 0.7, and now I will be able to slowly but surely reach the end of the game. As you can see from the screen shots above game saves are possible. Unless you read the readme file included with the download you may miss the reference to the OSK (on screen keyboard). I would like to thank Deniska for this addition. I will admit that the OSK is a little buggy. I'll save all of you the trouble of figuring it out:

• In the menu, go to Options.
• Select Save.
• Select an "Empty Slot" and a pop-up screen appears.
• Press the right trigger/shoulder button and there is the OSK.
• Press up and down to select a letter. The readme file says to press the right shoulder button again, this is supposed to transfer your letter back to the pop-up screen. Sometimes it will transfer the letter, I have gone back and forth several times without the transfer taking place. I found that if you select your letter, then press square, then press the right shoulder button, the transfer rarely fails. I'm sure this isn't supposed to work but it does. Deniska will probably fix this soon, not many bugs last long around him.
• Continue to select letters with the OSK and eventually you'll have the name for your game save. See screenshot above. Mine is jackal, go figure.
• To load a game, select Options in the menu, hit Load and choose which game save you want to play.
  

The only thing left for Deniska to do is provide all of us with the holy grail of homebrew: Infrastructure play via the network option. I won't hold my breath expecting Deniska to provide us with servers to play on but it would be nice.

Deniska, thanks for all the hard work.

Polygunwars version 0.4

I did a head-to-head between Trigonometry Wars and Polygunwars v0.2 soon after ahrimanes released it. Here is an impressive update to the Geometry Wars clone. Polygunwars v0.4 is only available for 3.xx cfw.
Some of the major improvements are:

• main menu
• take screen shot with select button
  
• improved graphics
• improved enemy spawning/added enemies
  
• improved scoring system including hi score table
• improved collisions

These advances among others have really brought this game into it's own. One problem that I found after a short time playing is that there is a significant "slow down" or lag in the game which I can not account for. I assume it is due to the number of enemies/graphics which are displayed at one time because it only happens later in the game when things get busy. I suspect this is a coding problem and may be a relatively easy fix.

Even with the lag problem, this is a major step forward over the version I played a while back.

Well done ahrimanes!

site/download

New CFW 3.71 M33-4 is here with Multidisk Popsloader

I mentioned yesterday that Dark AleX and the Devs at Maxconsole were coming out with a Popsloader to allow multidisk PSX games to be created in a single eboot. It is here. DAX and his team have implemented the new Popsloader in an updated CFW to support multidisk games and included in the download is Popstation-md; to create the multidisk eboots. Well done guys. Here is the forum post and downloads (look for the bugfix for 3.71 M33-4 that has already been released). Thank you DAX and M33 team.

Best psp homebrews I've used

(1)IRShell 3.9: Think of IRShell like an alternative operating system for the psp. Listen to music from umd games, use infrared, run homebrew, and lots more. Version 3.90 is Ahman's last public release. It is compatible with CFW 3.80 M33. I will be staying on this CFW for a long time just because of this app/shell.
unofficial site; guide; download.

1.5

3.9


(2)Cave Story: Deep game, good story, game mechanics and controls are flawless. Ported from PC. Homebrew game you MUST have.
site/download; walkthroughs and more.



(3)Lua Player: This app allows you to play lua scripts on your psp. If you are interested in creating your own games/apps then lua is a good choice, especially for beginner coders. Many developers have written games and apps in lua that you can download is you aren't interested in doing your own.
site/info/downloads



(4)Halo Genocide: Side scrolling 2D clone of Halo. Not bad for killing some time.
download



(5)Quake PSP: Very good version of Quake for the PSP.
site; download



(6)Pimp Streamer: Excellent way to stream video from your computer to PSP. Can be a little tough to get set up, but once it's done, it's great.
site; download



(7)Xadrez Chess: Well done 3D chess. Plays the way it should. AI's not bad.
site; download



(8)PSP Dungeons: 3D alternative to doom or quake. A very impressive game.
site; download



(9)Triple Triad PSP: The card game from Final Fantasy VIII comes to your PSP. Just like the original in all it's frustrating glory. Online multiplayer mode also.
site; download



(10)Hexaxis: Challenging 3D puzzle game with dice. Move and flip the dice until the number on the dice matches the number of dice adjacent to each other. Tough and addictive. Avoid ones (snake eyes).
site/download; update



(11)Galactic Breakout: Good breakout clone. They have created a story to go along with the game which is interesting. The game mechanics are good and the graphics are decent. Two versions available: Firmware 1.0 and 1.5. Won the xtreme-lua coding competition. Congrats.
site/download



(12) PSP Wifile Transfer: by Luis Pestana, This app turns your psp into a ftp server. This allows you to add, delete, and change files on your memory stick over wifi. What surprised me was that Wifile is pretty fast. It only took a little longer than through usb. Wifile supports WPA encryption.
site/download, my review.



(13)Freesh: Realtech VR has made evolution difficult. In Freesh you must feed your molecule so it will grow/evolve while repelling other molecules that want to eat yours. This game is addictive and fun.
site/download; my review



(14)No Gravity: Also from Realtech VR, comes a demo including 5 of the levels. Let's call this a space flight simulator shooter. Fly around collecting boxes, shooting enemies, and destroying mines. Flight controls and game mechanics are flawless. There are several types of weapons to choose from.
site/download; my review




(15) PSPWrite v1.0.3: Text editor created by zx-81. This app is very well done like all of zx-81's stuff. You can create, save, and load text files with PSPWrite. Customize your documents by changing the text color, background color/image, and use tab spacing. PSPWrite also has ir keyboard support, adjustable processor speed and cursor mode. You do not have to have your own ir keyboard because PSPWrite has its own virtual keyboard.
Site/Download; my review



(16) OpenTyrian: Ported to the PSP by Deniska. This is an excellent port of an excellent vertical scrolling shooter. Fast and furious fun. Tons of enemies, good graphics and sound, and game save ability. Deniska updates regularly. Put this on your memory stick, you won't regret it.
site; my review



(17) Squarez: Action game where you control a blue square. Collect green squares while avoiding/destroying various types of red squares. Many power-ups and game modes. Very addictive and frustrating. If you start playing you won't stop. Graphics and controls are good; music could be better. You will want to try this game, it is one of the best. Squarez 0.8.1 required a fix and KXploit to be playable on 1.5 kernel. You will want to use my download below because the download on Globware's site is from 2005 and is unplayable.
site; my review; download



(18) Breakthrough: An Inventors Tale: Breakout clone with very nice art, graphics, and sound. Break blocks and defeat "the bad guy" by bouncing the ball off your paddle. Unique control of the ball in flight. Also unique story which goes along with the game. Mini-games are a bonus. Difficult but very fun.
site; download; my review



(19) PSP-Maps: If you have wifi access and need to find out where you are, where you have been, where you are going, or where you will never be able to go then get PSP-Maps. This is your one stop shop for road, terrain, satellite, and aerial maps on your PSP. Increase the size of your cache and take a large map with you on the road as an alternative to GPS. Very impressive app.
site/download; my review;



When I find homebrew that I think is good I will add it to the list so check back often.